Download or read book Quantum Theory of Collective Phenomena written by G. L. Sewell and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1986 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study provides a systematic approach to the quantum theory of collective phenomena, based principally on the model of infinite systems. The author sets the theory within the framework of modern statistical mechanics, formulating it in rigorous, though relatively simple, mathematical terms. This approach leads to a generalized form of statistical thermodynamics, and to useful characterizations of such collective phenomena as phase transitions, irreversibility, and metastability, going beyond the scope of traditional statistical mechanics of finite systems.