Statistical Mechanics - Physics at Oregon State University

X INTRODUCTION
In chapter nine we discuss methods that go beyond the mean field theory,
and that allow us to calculate critical exponents as well. We give a very brief
introduction to renormalization group theory, just enough to understand how
it works. For more detail see the textbook by Plischke and Bergersen.
Missing from these notes is material on computational methods. The Monte
Carlo method is extremely suitable for investigating phase transitions. In its
simplest form it is very easy to implement. There have been many additions,
though, and the Monte Carlo method is very well optimized. But we leave
the discussion to a course on computational physics, since the Monte carlo
method has applications in many other fields as well. Similarly, one can perform
molecular dynamics calculations. Here, too, are many details that one needs to
know in order to perform efficient and reliable calculations. We leave these
discussions to the course on computational physics as well.
History of these notes:
1991 Original notes for first seven chapters written using the program EXP.
1992 Extra notes developed for chapters eight and nine.
2006 Notes of first six chapters converted to L ATEX, and significantly updated.
2008 Notes of the remaining chapters converted to L ATEX, and significantly updated.
Corrections made.