I know this is a big question. But as a graduate student, my research is somehow related to nonequilibrium thermodynamics/statistical mechanics. TBH, I hate how some research treat this subject like a mystery and use some theories carelessly. So I want to learn the subject at my own pace. I have finished Fermi Enrico's "thermodynamics" for a start. And I'm reading Terrell Hill's "introduction to statistical thermodynamics." Although I am pretty satisfied with the content of these two books, I have no idea where should I go from here.  Because I expect my future research will still be based on nonequilibrium thermo/stat mech, I need a booklist to guide me from "knowing something" to "knowing something advanced." In the meantime, I hope I can equip myself with advanced mathematics by going through the booklist. Can anyone provide some ideas on this?  Thanks for the reminder from Endulum. To be more precise, my research interests include the particle diffusion in crystal materials and phase transition. And I also expect to do some research in the future about the transport of heat and charged species in the liquid or solid phase.  P.S., I am not looking for working understanding of this subject. A solid but accessible booklist would be perfect.
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What is a good textbook on statistical field theory,  with an emphasis on applications to non-equilibrium phenomena?  I am a final-year undergraduate, have already taken introductory classes in statistical physics and quantum mechanics but do not know a lot of quantum field theory yet. I would like to better understand nonequilibrium phenomena, phase transitions and spontaneous symmetry breaking in condensed matter systems.
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I'm a pre-doctoral researcher (does it exist?) figuring out my true interests and learning the craft. When I start exploring a new (that is, unfamiliar) area, I try to find the most influential literature and scholars in that area through a haphazard and unsystematic process (such as starting with some highly-cited papers, consulting their list of references etc.). And because this is an unsystematic process, I'm never sure that I've not left unexplored some really important work.   I wonder if there's a more efficient process. How do you all go about this?  Also, (and this is a more specific question) what are some online forums where I can ask for more experienced researchers' opinion about what they consider to be the most important literature in a particular area?  Edit: To add some context, I work as a researcher in a US business school. My main area of work is entrepreneurship. Since this is an interdisciplinary subject, I have to consult literature in a wide variety of fields (some recent examples: psychology, complexity science, economics; of course, I access a very small part, the part that is the most relevant to my question). Entrepreneurship itself is in the process of defining its own scope and boundary.
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According to 2nd law of thermodynamics, it is not possible to convert heat 100% into work.   Well, investigating about the Carnot Cycle, I have found out that in the first step, the process is to heat a gas without rising its temperature, this is, converting all the heat into work. Isn't this a violation of the 2nd law?  I clearly don't understand something about the law or about the Carnot Cycle. I would like to know where I'm failing in my understandig. Thank you.
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I am a second year undergraduate and studying quantum mechanics from sakurai's 'Modern Quantum Mechanics'. Is it a good idea to solve problems from sakurai, which are mostly mathematical in nature? I need a textbook that has physically relevant problems, maybe going even into condensed matter, or field theory in its exercises. This would probably help me to appreciate and understand qm better. Sorry if this question is too localised but I just had to post it.
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Would like to ask a question, but first i would like to say Hello Everybody in a way that plays the system, since some geniouses decided that one should not be able to say hello in a question.  The  in quantum mechanics is well known and considered one of most basic properties of natural reality. The  is also well known and also considered one of the most basic processes of natural reality.  The uncertainty principle uses and is related to . Planck's constant has the dimensions of action and in a statistical mechanics approach, also relates nicely with the partitioning of the phase-space providing the basic measure for the entropy functional ( provides a nice outline of this).  Apart from that, there are  which relate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in quantum mechanics directly and intuitively to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.  Is this relation correct? And if so can we derive one from the other?  Thank you  PS. One can also check , which although not the same, is related in an interesting way.  UPDATE:  anna's answer is accepted since by mentioning the derivation of (part of) the 2nd law from unitary dynamics, answers the question at least in one way. Please consider this as still open so you can add another answer. There are more alternatives (and one of which is my stance, ie thermodynamics -> uncertainty)
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recently wrote an  on  in collisionless , where at least one topic discussed confused me.  Besides discussing the issue of how a process can be microscopically  and macroscopically , he mentions something regarding a "entropy-preserving relaxation mechanism" that is irreversible.  Am I missing something?  I think the article is suggesting that something can preserve entropy but still be irreversible.  This begs the following questions:   Are  and irreversibility synonymous? Or are they distinct entities each with their own fundamental properties?
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How do you prove the  from statistical mechanics? To prove entropy will only increase with time? How to prove? Please guide.
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I have my bachelors degree in engineering science: computer science, option electrotechnic. I have a good understanding of basic mechanics and dynamics, calculus (differential equations).  The books I'm now having a look at are:       What book do you recommend for studying fluid dynamics on my own and why?
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We can imagine many changes to the laws of physics - you could scrap all of electromagnetism, gravity could be an inverse cubed law, even the first law of thermodynamics could hypothetically be broken - we've all imagined perpetual motion machines at one time or another.  However, the second law of thermodynamics seems somehow more 'emergent'. It just springs out of the nature of our universe - the effectively random movement of physical objects over time. Provided you have a Universe whose state is changing over time according to some set of laws, it seems like the second law must be upheld, things must gradually settle down into the state of greatest disorder.  What I'm particularly wondering is if you can prove in any sense (perhaps using methods from statistical mechanics)? Or is it possible to construct a set of laws (preferably similar to our own) which would give us a universe which could break the second law.
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Jaynes wrote a paper called information theory and statistical mechanics (1957). I tried to read this but found it somewhat hard to follow, and I suspect it's because it's one of the earlier works, and that a modern text might be more refined since we've had time to work it out. On the other hand, what I've read from physics textbooks don't explicitly talk about information theoretic concepts like shannon entropy.  Is there a good modern introduction to the information theoretic view of entropy?
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Need to brush up on my late-undergrad and early-grad physics and was wondering if anyone can recommend books or lecture notes (hard copy, or on-line) that also have solutions.   Two that I have come across are:  Princeton Problems in Physics with Solutions - Nathan Newbury  University of Chicago Graduate Problems in Physics with Solutions - Jeremiah A. Cronin  Spacetime Physics - Taylor &amp; Wheeler (favorite book on special relativity; has a lot of problems with solutions at the back; a lot of the problems really enforce the material and discuss paradoxes)  If possible, please also provide a reason why you like the books as opposed to just listing them.
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I would like to teach myself measure theory and I am looking for a good introductory textbook at the advanced undergraduate or early graduate level. A reader-friendly text with plenty of examples would be ideal.
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I am looking for references (books or web links) which have "simple" examples on the use of group theory in physics or science in general.   I have looked at many books on the subject unfortunately they usually require extensive technical coverage of the basics, i.e. the 1st 100 pages or something, to be able to start discussing applications.  I believe that there is an easy way to explain anything (it's just hard to find it).
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In the Landau theory of phase transitions, one typically considers a "free energy" $F$ as a function of the temperature $T$ and the "order parameter" $\psi$: $F(T, \psi)$.  For the sake of clarity, let's consider the liquid-gas transition, in which the order parameter is usually taken to be the difference of densities between the ordered phase and the disordered phase.  In this case, it looks that the order parameter $\psi$ is closely related to the the volume $V$, a global variable of state.  What is the correct interpretation of $\psi$ as a thermodynamic variable?   I consider several logical possibilities, but all interpretations look troublesome to me:    $\psi$ is a variable of state replacing the volume. In this case I have a few related concerns:   Is the "free energy" $F$ the Helmholtz or the Gibbs free energy?    If $F$ is the Gibbs free energy, $F$ should depend on the temperature $T$ and the pressure $p$ (the conjugate variable of the volume), so it shouldn't depend on $\psi$.  If it is the Helmholtz free energy, it's ok that it depends on $\psi$, but the experiments are usually carried out at constant pressure, not constant volume.  Usually, state variables are something one can select at will [for instance, think of the phase diagram $(p, T)$]. However, the order parameter $\psi$ is not selected at will, but it is selected by the system as a result of the minimization process according to the Landau theory.  $\psi$ is yet another variable of state in addition to volume and temperature.    Why the pressure is not usually taken into account as a variable of state, and only the temperature is considered? What is the conjugate variable to $\psi$? Can really $\psi$ and $V$ be taken as independent?  $\psi$ is not a variable of state, is something else.   What else can $\psi$ be from the thermodynamic point of view? Same question as above, why is pressure not usually taken into account in Landau theory?
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Having studied parametric Bayesian statistics during the two last years, I plan to begin to self-study non parametric Bayesian model during this summer and look for recommendations. I would like the book(s) to cover both the theoritical aspects and the practical ones (with implementation, examples of models ...) Thanks for your recommendations.
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Hello Physics StackExchange!  I will put the TL;DR in the beginning: I need a self contained, relatively hand-holding sequence of textbooks that covers up from the end of Griffith's Intro to QM to relativistic QM/particle physics to QFT.    This will be my first post. I'm a medical physics grad student who majored in biomedical engineering for my undergrad, with serious regrets about not doing math/physics double major in hindsight. Oh well. I've made it my goal to eventually understand QFT.  My background in relevant subjects is Calc 1 to 3 and Diff EQ, 2 part freshman physics, an E&amp;M course that used Griffiths Electrodynamics, a summer of self studying Griffith's QM (got most of the way through). I will also be officially taking a class in QM using Griffith's textbook this next spring. I am aware of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian approaches to mechanics as well. In addition I have familiarity with special and basic general relativity using tensors and all this. What would be the best way for me to get from where I am now to a strong understanding of QFT autodidactically? I have no aversion to studying pure maths where I need to.  EDIT: My question is much different than simply asking for a handholding explanation of QFT. Generally these textbooks assume a certain amount of physics/math background, and I was asking for a sequence of textbooks leading up to QFT from the end of a specific textbook, Griffith's QM. Did you even read my question? Did you read the thing you linked me to?
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I've been looking for questions about dark matter, and I've read some very interesting answers. However, I desire too look into it deeply.   This is not actually a question. I'm asking the community to recommend interesting references to understanding dark matter and dark energy.   I accept all sort of references: notes, books, scientific papers etc.  Let us assume some background on classical physics, thermodynamics and basics about quantum theory.