Nonequlibrium Statistical Mechanics in One Dimension

This work arises from our teaching this subject during many years. The vast majority of these exercises are the exams we gave to our students in this period. We carefully selected the subjects of the exercises to cover all the material which is most needed and which is treated in the most well known texts on these subjects.

In this book we describe the elementary theory of operator algebras and parts of the advanced theory which are of relevance, or potentially of relevance, to mathematical physics. Subsequently we describe various applications to quantum statistical mechanics. At the outset of this project we intended to cover this material in one volume but in the course of develop­ ment it was realized that this would entail the omission of various interesting topics or details. Consequently the book was split into two volumes, the first devoted to the general theory of operator algebras and the second to the applications. This splitting into theory and applications is conventional but somewhat arbitrary. In the last 15-20 years mathematical physicists have realized the importance of operator algebras and their states and automorphisms for problems offield theory and statistical mechanics. But the theory of 20 years ago was largely developed for the analysis of group representations and it was inadequate for many physical applications. Thus after a short honey­ moon period in which the new found tools of the extant theory were applied to the most amenable problems a longer and more interesting period ensued in which mathematical physicists were forced to redevelop the theory in relevant directions. New concepts were introduced, e. g. asymptotic abelian­ ness and KMS states, new techniques applied, e. g. the Choquet theory of barycentric decomposition for states, and new structural results obtained, e. g. the existence of a continuum of nonisomorphic type-three factors.

This book presents a variety of techniques for tackling phenomena that are not amenable to the conventional approach based on the concept of probabilities. The methods described rely on the use of path integration, thermal Green functions, time-temperature propagators, Liouville operators, second quantization, and field correlators at finite density and temperature. Also exploring the statistical mechanics of unstable quantum systems, the book is intended as a supplementary or reference text for use in one-semester graduate courses on Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, and Mathematical Methods in Physics.

The present Special Issue, ‘Entropy and Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics’, consists of seven original research papers. Although the issue has a long history, still it remains as one of the most fundamental subjects in physics. These seven papers actually cover various latest relevant topics, ranging from gravity as an entropic force to exotic statistics, including conservation laws, dynamics generated by entropy production, quantum measurements and the limits on the constitutive laws in classical gaseous systems.

More than a generation of German-speaking students around the world have worked their way to an understanding and appreciation of the power and beauty of modem theoretical physics-with mathematics, the most fundamental of sciences-using WaIter Greiner's textbooks as their guide. The idea of developing a coherent, complete presentation of an entire field of science in a series of closely related textbooks is not a new one.