Exactly Solvable Models in Statistical Physics

The present textbook deals with exactly solved models and their diverse applications in several branches of physics such as mathematical physics, statistical physics, condensed matter physics and so on. Exactly soluble models are currently considered as an inspiring research field in its own right, which regrettably requires a considerable knowledge of sophisticated mathematics. Accordingly, my primary ambition was to provide an intro- ductory course for undergraduate students that would cover the simplest exactly solved models, whose rigorous solutions are available even after modest calculation. The present textbook should be therefore regarded as an auxiliary graduate-level textbook, which should serve as the student’s guide on this beautiful but surely intricate subject.

Even although I attempted to write largely self-contained textbook for undergraduate students, it is worthy of notice that the course on Exactly Solvable Models in Statistical Physics demands essential knowledges from the quantum mechanics, statistical physics, phase transitions and critical phenomena, which are its indispensable prerequisities. The most crucial fundamentals of these theories are briefly recalled in introductory remarks just for remembering and not for substituting those comprehensive courses. The rest of this textbook is entirely devoted to exactly solved lattice-statistical models with the main emphasis laid on their possible applications in the condensed matter physics. It is the author’s hope that the presented exact solutions are detailed enough in order to be easily followed by undergraduate students even without a support of tedious proofs, cumbersome theorems, longer argumentations, or obvious facts. This rather necessary compromise has of course a certain unadvisable impact on ’exactness’ of the presented solutions.

Finally, it is worthwhile to remark that the present textbook makes just a slight introduction into the simplest exactly solvable models and thus, the interested reader is referred for the follow-up study to several excellent books on exactly solved models quoted in the bibliography list on the next page. Note that the listed books were the major knowledge sources used by creating this textbook and they might be regarded as more advanced literature on this exciting research field.

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