Thermodynamics: A Modern Approach

Thermodynamics is a field of very broad application, as it is of fundamental importance in physics, chemistry, and related areas of engineering. This book presents a novel treatment of thermodynamics that is more rigorous, more complete, and easier to understand than the conventional treatments presented in the vast majority of existing textbooks. Beginning with a few assumptions based on empirical results, the entire theoretical framework of thermodynamics is derived in an intuitively clear, logical manner, leaving no important questions unanswered. Each step in the book's construction of this theoretical framework is grounded in clearly explained physical considerations. In addition, the text also presents philosophical discussions that elucidate fundamental points of science and clarify the status of thermodynamics within science as a whole. Aimed at undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers in physics, chemistry, engineering, and related areas, the book includes numerous exercises to provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental theory and its applications.

1 - What Is Thermodynamics?
2 - Thermodynamic Systems, Operations and Equilibrium States
3 - Isothermal Operations and the Helmholtz Free Energy
4 - Adiabatic Operations and Energy
5 - Heat and Carnot's Theorem
6 - Entropy
7 - Helmholtz Free Energy and Variational Principles
8 - Gibbs Free Energy
9 - The Thermodynamics of Multi-Component Systems
10 - The Thermodynamics of Ferromagnetic Materials
Appendix A - Supplement to Chapter 2
Appendix B - Uniqueness of the Entropy
Appendix C - Upper Limit on the Efficiency of a Heat Engine
Appendix D - The Thermodynamics of the Triple Point
Appendix E - On the Treatment of Mechanical Potential Energy
Appendix F - Summary of Complete Thermodynamic Functions
Appendix G - Convex Functions
Appendix H - Legendre Transformation

Hal Tasaki received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1986. After spending two years as a postdoc with Professor Elliott Lieb at Princeton University, he settled at Gakushuin University, where he has been a professor since 1999. He received the Kubo Memorial Prize in 1997 and the Nishina Memorial Prize in 2025 for his contributions to the mathematical-physical studies of quantum many-body systems. He has been an Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Statistical Physics (JSP) since 2018, an editor of two series on mathematical physics from Springer, and an executive committee member of the International Association of Mathematical Physics (IAMP) since 2024. Glenn Paquette received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992. Since then, he has held various research and faculty positions at Kyoto University in the Department of Physics, where he was Associate Professor, the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the Faculty of Engineering. He is presently a freelance physicist and continues to hold visiting faculty positions at Kyoto University on a regular basis.