This book is a very early systematic treatment of the application of the field-theoretical methods developed after the Second World War to the quantum mechanical many-body problem at finite temperature. It describes various techniques that remain basic tools of modern condensed matter physicists.

Many-body theory stands at the foundation of modern quantum statistical mechanics. It is introduced here to graduate students in physics, chemistry, engineering and biology. The book provides a contemporary understanding of irreversibility, particularly in quantum systems. It explains entropy production in quantum kinetic theory and in the master equation formulation of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The first half of the book focuses on the foundations of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics with emphasis on quantum mechanics. The second half of the book contains alternative views of quantum statistical mechanics, and topics of current interest for advanced graduate level study and research. Unique to textbooks on this subject, this book contains a discussion of the fundamental Gleason theorem. Quantum entanglements are treated in application to quantum computation and the difficulties arising from decoherence. The relativistic generalization of the Boltzmann equation is derived, and modern transport applications to reservoir ballistic transport are developed.