Books With Flair

A collection of essays by many of the closest co-workers of Raphael Høegh-Krohn.

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.

This volume and Stochastic Processes, Physics and Geometry: New Interplays. II present state-of-the-art research currently unfolding at the interface between mathematics and physics. Included are select articles from the international conference held in Leipzig (Germany) in honor of Sergio Albeverio's sixtieth birthday. The theme of the conference, ``Infinite Dimensional (Stochastic) Analysis and Quantum Physics'', was chosen to reflect Albeverio's wide-ranging scientific interests. The articles in these books reflect that broad range of interests and provide a detailed overview highlighting the deep interplay among stochastic processes, mathematical physics, and geometry. The contributions are written by internationally recognized experts in the fields of stochastic analysis, linear and nonlinear (deterministic and stochastic) PDEs, infinite dimensional analysis, functional analysis, commutative and noncommutative probability theory, integrable systems, quantum and statistical mechanics, geometric quantization, and neural networks. Also included are applications in biology and other areas. Most of the contributions are high-level research papers. However, there are also some overviews on topics of general interest. The articles selected for publication in these volumes were specifically chosen to introduce readers to advanced topics, to emphasize interdisciplinary connections, and to stress future research directions. Volume I contains contributions from invited speakers; Volume II contains additional contributed papers.

This is a systematic mathematical study of differential (and more general self-adjoint) operators.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, August 6--19, 1993

This book contains expository papers and articles reporting on recent research by leading world experts in nonstandard mathematics, arising from the International Colloquium on Nonstandard Mathematics held at the University of Aveiro, Portugal in July 1994. Nonstandard mathematics originated with Abraham Robinson, and the body of ideas that have developed from this theory of nonstandard analysis now vastly extends Robinson's work with infinitesimals. The range of applications includes measure and probability theory, stochastic analysis, differential equations, generalised functions, mathematical physics and differential geometry, moreover, the theory has implicaitons for the teaching of calculus and analysis. This volume contains papers touching on all of the abovbe topics, as well as a biographical note about Abraham Robinson based on the opening address given by W.A>J> Luxemburg - who knew Robinson - to the Aveiro conference which marked the 20th anniversary of Robinson's death. This book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in nonstandard analysis, measure theory, generalised functions and mathematical physics.

Most of the interesting and difficult problems in statistical mechanics arise when the constituent particles of the system interact with each other with pair or multipartiele energies. The types of behaviour which occur in systems because of these interactions are referred to as cooperative phenomena giving rise in many cases to phase transitions. This book and its companion volume (Lavis and Bell 1999, referred to in the text simply as Volume 1) are princi pally concerned with phase transitions in lattice systems. Due mainly to the insights gained from scaling theory and renormalization group methods, this subject has developed very rapidly over the last thirty years. ' In our choice of topics we have tried to present a good range of fundamental theory and of applications, some of which reflect our own interests. A broad division of material can be made between exact results and ap proximation methods. We have found it appropriate to inelude some of our discussion of exact results in this volume and some in Volume 1. Apart from this much of the discussion in Volume 1 is concerned with mean-field theory. Although this is known not to give reliable results elose to a critical region, it often provides a good qualitative picture for phase diagrams as a whole. For complicated systems some kind of mean-field method is often the only tractable method available. In this volume our main concern is with scaling theory, algebraic methods and the renormalization group.

Lectures on Selected Topics in Statistical Mechanics is a collection of lectures given at the 1971 Simla Summer School of Statistical Mechanics held in India. The lectures explore a wide range of topics related to statistical mechanics, including occupation number representation; the Green function method; the pair Hamiltonian model of an imperfect Bose gas; fluctuations in a perfect Bose gas; and the equation of state of an imperfect gas. A simple derivation of the Bloch equation is also presented, along with the statistical mechanics of stellar systems. Comprised of eight chapters, this volume begins with a discussion on the occupation number representation by considering some relevant formulae from ensemble theory. Classical petit and grand ensembles are described, together with quanta1 petit and grand ensembles. Subsequent chapters focus on the Green function method in statistical mechanics; the pair Hamiltonian model of the imperfect Bose gas and its solution in the absence of Bose-Einstein condensation using Green function methods and diagrammatic techniques; fluctuations in a perfect Bose gas; the equation of state of an imperfect gas; and a simple derivation of the Bloch equation. Finally, the statistical mechanics of stellar systems and an approach to equilibrium are described. This book will be of interest to physicists.

Notes after each chapter.

Provides a detailed introduction to classical and quantum statistical physics, including modern applications within current research.