Statistical Mechanics : Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, 2/e (Paperback)

Statistical mechanics is our tool for deriving the laws that emerge from complex systems. Sethna's text distills the subject to be accessible to those in all realms of science and engineering -- avoiding extensive use of quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and molecular physics. Statistical mechanics explains how bacteria search for food, and how DNA replication is proof-read in biology; optimizes data compression, and explains transitions in complexity in computer science; explains the onset of chaos, and launched random matrix theory in mathematics; addresses extreme events in engineering; and models pandemics and language usage in the social sciences. Sethna's exercises introduce physicists to these triumphs and a hundred others -- broadening the horizons of scholars both practicing and nascent. Flipped classrooms and remote learning can now rely on 33 pre-class exercises that test reading comprehension (Emergent vs. fundamental; Weirdness in high dimensions; Aging, entropy and DNA), and 70 in-class activities that illuminate and broaden knowledge (Card shuffling; Human correlations; Crackling noises). Science is awash in information, providing ready access to definitions, explanations, and pedagogy. Sethna's text focuses on the tools we use to create new laws, and on the fascinating simple behavior in complex systems that statistical mechanics explains.

統計力學是我們推導出從複雜系統中產生的法則的工具。Sethna的著作將這個主題精煉成適合所有科學和工程領域的人士理解的內容，避免大量使用量子力學、熱力學和分子物理學。統計力學解釋了細菌如何尋找食物，以及DNA複製在生物學中如何進行校對；優化了數據壓縮，在計算機科學中解釋了復雜性的轉變；解釋了混沌的開始，並在數學中推出了隨機矩陣理論；解決了工程中的極端事件；並在社會科學中模擬了大流行和語言使用。Sethna的練習使物理學家了解了這些成就和其他一百個成就，擴大了實踐和初學者學者的視野。翻轉課堂和遠程學習現在可以依賴於33個課前練習，測試閱讀理解（新興與基本的區別；高維度中的奇異現象；衰老、熵和DNA），以及70個課堂活動，以闡明和擴大知識（洗牌；人類相關性；爆裂聲）。科學充斥著信息，提供了對定義、解釋和教學法的便捷訪問。Sethna的著作專注於我們用來創造新法則的工具，以及統計力學解釋的複雜系統中的迷人簡單行為。

James P. Sethna, Professor of Physics, Cornell University

James P. Sethna is professor of physics at Cornell University. Sethna has used statistical mechanics to make substantive contributions in a bewildering variety of subjects -- mathematics (dynamical systems and the onset of chaos), engineering (microstructure, plasticity, and fracture), statistics
(information geometry, sloppy models, low-dimensional embeddings), materials science (glasses and spin glasses, liquid crystals, crackling noise, superconductivity), and popular culture (mosh pit dynamics and zombie outbreak epidemiology). He has collected cool, illustrative problems from students
and colleagues over the decades, which inspired this textbook.

James P. Sethna，康奈爾大學物理學教授。

James P. Sethna是康奈爾大學的物理學教授。Sethna利用統計力學在各種不同的領域做出了實質性的貢獻，包括數學（動力系統和混沌的開始）、工程學（微結構、塑性和斷裂）、統計學（信息幾何、模糊模型、低維嵌入）、材料科學（玻璃和自旋玻璃、液晶、爆裂噪音、超導性）以及流行文化（搖滾音樂會的動力學和喪屍爆發的流行病學）。多年來，他從學生和同事那裡收集了一些有趣的問題，這些問題啟發了這本教科書的創作。