Foundations of statistical mechanics. Vol. II: Nonequilibrium phenomena (Q1210835)

Volume II extends the equilibrium discussions of Volume I [see the preceding review] to nonequilibrium situations. The contents of this volume, after the preface and prologue, are the following: Chapter 1. The equations of classical hydrodynamics, Chapter 2. General theory of nonequilibria, Chapter 3. Theory of dynamical response, Chapter 4. Dynamical response of real systems, Chapter 5. General nonequilibrium processes, Chapter 6. Analysis of covariance functions of simple fluids, Chapter 7. Thermally driven systems, Chapter 8. Transport processes and hydrodynamics, Chapter 9. Sound propagation and attenuation, Epilogue, Appendix A. Operator calculus and identities, Appendix B. Diagrammatic analysis of covariance functions, Appendix C. The density covariance function. This volume is as well written as Volume I, but neither the choice of topics nor the physical or mathematical foundations are as well established as in the equilibrium case. The inclusion of hydrodynamics in Chapter 7 and again along with transport processes in Chapter 8 is unusual and useful. A good discussion of the Kubo theory of dynamical response and sound waves is given. The appendices are complete and make these two volumes self-contained. Despite budgetary pressures, research libraries in mathematics and physics must obtain these volumes. [Reviewer's remarks: Again, it would have been useful to see Kadanoff's complexity structures, and the omission of Brownian motion in the nonequilibrium volume with a paragraph in the preface (on page xii) is passing strange. Still, these are good scholarly volumes which will elicit discussion and controversy. The reviewer expects the principle of maximum entropy to hold up better and last longer than its critics.]