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What are some good books or papers on statistical mechanics, for someone who:

  • is familiar with information theory and statistics
  • has a relatively weak physics background (1~2 year undergrad level)
  • wants to learn key techniques in the stat mech literature
  • doesn't care much about physical interpretations of such techniques
Qmechanic
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LYH
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  • You are probably already aware of this one, but just in case. Are you looking for something more specific? – Yvan Velenik Feb 21 '20 at 06:56
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    There is also this question, although this is more about basing statistical mechanics on information theory... – Yvan Velenik Feb 21 '20 at 14:25
  • @YvanVelenik Thanks for the recommendations! I wasn't aware of the book you mentioned. Just to be completely sure of all my options, do you have any other resources to recommend? – LYH Feb 24 '20 at 08:07
  • Unfortunately not. Books focusing on techniques from statistical mechanics, but not on the physics itself, are pretty scarce. There are some books for mathematicians, of course, but this is probably not what you are after. – Yvan Velenik Feb 24 '20 at 08:32

2 Answers2

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A good and readable book :
S. Lokanathan & R.S. Gambhir, Statistical and Thermal Physics an Introduction, Prentice-Hall India, 1991.

Hantarto
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I would recommend Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Molecular Simulation from Tuckerman.

It is a good introductory book and it is easy to read. It complements the theory parts with chapters about the numerical algorithms that are used in statistical mechanics.

You will realize soon that only a handful of problems in statistical mechanics can be solved analytically.

Davide Dal Bosco
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