This popular, often cited text returns in a softcover edition to provide a thorough introduction to statistical physics and thermodynamics, and to exhibit the universal chain of ideas leading from the laws of microphysics to the macroscopic behaviour of matter. A wide range of applications illustrates the concepts, and many exercises reinforce understanding. Volume II applies statistical methods to systems governed by quantum effects, in particular to solid state physics, explaining properties due to the crystal structure or to the lattice excitations or to the electrons. The last chapters are devoted to non-equilibrium processes and to kinetic equations, with many applications included.

Quantum Gases Without Interactions.- Elements of Solid State Theory.- Liquid Helium.- Equilibrium and Transport of Radiation.- Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics.- Kinetic Equations.- Problems.- Conclusion: The Impact of Statistical Physics.- Subject Index.- Units and Physical Constants.- A Few Useful Formulae.