Generalized Statistical Thermodynamics: Thermodynamics of Probability Distributions and Stochastic Processes (1st ed. 2018) (Understanding Complex Systems)

By: Themis Matsoukas

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Synopsis: This book gives the definitive mathematical answer to what thermodynamics really is: a variational calculus applied to probability distributions. Extending Gibbs's notion of ensemble, the Author imagines the ensemble of all possible probability distributions and assigns probabilities to them by selection rules that are fairly general. The calculus of the most probable distribution in the ensemble produces the entire network of mathematical relationships we recognize as thermodynamics. The first part of the book develops the theory for discrete and continuous distributions while the second part applies this thermodynamic calculus to problems in population balance theory and shows how the emergence of a giant component in aggregation, and the shattering transition in fragmentation may be treated as formal phase transitions. While the book is intended as a research monograph, the material is self-contained and the style sufficiently tutorial to be accessible for self-paced study by an advanced graduate student in such fields as physics, chemistry, and engineering.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9783030041496
Related ISBNs:: 9783030041489
Publisher:: Springer International Publishing
Date of Addition:: 07/11/19
Copyrighted By:: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: Nonfiction, Science, Computers and Internet, Earth Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.