Gibbs Measures and Phase Transitions

Georgii (mathematics, U. of Munich) examines systems of infinitely random variables attached to the vertices of a multi-dimensional lattice and depending on each other according to their positions, limiting his discussion here to concepts and results that are significant for physics, where the phenomenon is known as classical equilibrium statistical mechanics of infinite lattice systems. He takes a probabilistic rather than physical approach, and assumes readers have a basic knowledge of measure theory at the level of a one-semester graduate course--particularly conditional expectations and probability kernels--but no prior knowledge of statistical mechanics. The first edition was published in 1988, and few changes were found necessary for the second. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)