Imperial College Press Statistical Dynamics: A Stochastic Approach to Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics

How to construct dynamical systems obeying the first and second laws of thermodynamics: mean energy is conserved, and entropy increases with time? The book answers this question for classical probability (Part I) and quantum probability (Part II). A novel feature is the introduction of heat particles which supply thermal noise and represent the kinetic energy of molecules. When applied to chemical reactions, the theory leads to a nonlinear reaction ― diffusion equations exhibiting oscillations or convergence to equilibrium. Review "Basic concepts, such as entropy, are thoroughly explained, with an emphasis on useful technical details ... minimal requirement on the mathematical preparation of the reader. This makes the book attractive for a wide range of physicists and mathematicians." EMS, 1999