Author: A.B. Zamolodchikov
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9783718648634
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Author: Malte Henkel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662039370
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Critical phenomena arise in a wide variety of physical systems. Classi cal examples are the liquid-vapour critical point or the paramagnetic ferromagnetic transition. Further examples include multicomponent fluids and alloys, superfluids, superconductors, polymers and fully developed tur bulence and may even extend to the quark-gluon plasma and the early uni verse as a whole. Early theoretical investigators tried to reduce the problem to a very small number of degrees of freedom, such as the van der Waals equation and mean field approximations, culminating in Landau's general theory of critical phenomena. Nowadays, it is understood that the common ground for all these phenomena lies in the presence of strong fluctuations of infinitely many coupled variables. This was made explicit first through the exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model by Onsager. Systematic subsequent developments have been leading to the scaling theories of critical phenomena and the renormalization group which allow a precise description of the close neighborhood of the critical point, often in good agreement with experiments. In contrast to the general understanding a century ago, the presence of fluctuations on all length scales at a critical point is emphasized today. This can be briefly summarized by saying that at a critical point a system is scale invariant. In addition, conformal invaTiance permits also a non-uniform, local rescal ing, provided only that angles remain unchanged.

Author: Philippe Francesco
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461222567
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 908

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Book Description
Filling an important gap in the literature, this comprehensive text develops conformal field theory from first principles. The treatment is self-contained, pedagogical, and exhaustive, and includes a great deal of background material on quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, Lie algebras and affine Lie algebras. The many exercises, with a wide spectrum of difficulty and subjects, complement and in many cases extend the text. The text is thus not only an excellent tool for classroom teaching but also for individual study. Intended primarily for graduate students and researchers in theoretical high-energy physics, mathematical physics, condensed matter theory, statistical physics, the book will also be of interest in other areas of theoretical physics and mathematics. It will prepare the reader for original research in this very active field of theoretical and mathematical physics.

Author: C Itzykson
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814507598
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 992

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Book Description
This volume contains Introductory Notes and major reprints on conformal field theory and its applications to 2-dimensional statistical mechanics of critical phenomena. The subject relates to many different areas in contemporary physics and mathematics, including string theory, integrable systems, representations of infinite Lie algebras and automorphic functions.

Author: Philippe Christe
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540565043
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The history of critical phenomena goes back to the year 1869 when Andrews discovered the critical point of carbon dioxide, located at about 31°C and 73 atmospheres pressure. In the neighborhood ofthis point the carbon dioxide was observed to become opalescent, that is, light is strongly scattered. This is nowadays interpreted as comingfrom the strong fluctuations of the system close to the critical point. Subsequently, a wide varietyofphysicalsystems were realized to display critical points as well. Ofparticular importance was the observation of a critical point in ferromagnetic iron by Curie. Further examples include multicomponent fluids and alloys, superfluids, superconductors, polymers and may even extend to the quark-gluon plasmaand the early universe as a whole. Early theoretical investigationstried to reduce the problem to a very small number of degrees of freedom, such as the van der Waals equation and mean field approximations and culminating in Landau's general theory of critical phenomena. In a dramatic development, Onsager's exact solutionofthe two-dimensional Ising model made clear the important role of the critical fluctuations. Their role was taken into account in the subsequent developments leading to the scaling theories of critical phenomena and the renormalization group. These developements have achieved a precise description of the close neighborhood of the critical point and results are often in good agreement with experiments. In contrast to the general understanding a century ago, the presence of fluctuations on all length scales at a critical point is today emphasized.

Author: Roberto Fernandez
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662028662
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Simple random walks - or equivalently, sums of independent random vari ables - have long been a standard topic of probability theory and mathemat ical physics. In the 1950s, non-Markovian random-walk models, such as the self-avoiding walk,were introduced into theoretical polymer physics, and gradu ally came to serve as a paradigm for the general theory of critical phenomena. In the past decade, random-walk expansions have evolved into an important tool for the rigorous analysis of critical phenomena in classical spin systems and of the continuum limit in quantum field theory. Among the results obtained by random-walk methods are the proof of triviality of the cp4 quantum field theo ryin space-time dimension d (::::) 4, and the proof of mean-field critical behavior for cp4 and Ising models in space dimension d (::::) 4. The principal goal of the present monograph is to present a detailed review of these developments. It is supplemented by a brief excursion to the theory of random surfaces and various applications thereof. This book has grown out of research carried out by the authors mainly from 1982 until the middle of 1985. Our original intention was to write a research paper. However, the writing of such a paper turned out to be a very slow process, partly because of our geographical separation, partly because each of us was involved in other projects that may have appeared more urgent.

Author: P. Bouwknegt
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789810217624
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 916

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Book Description
W-symmetry is an extension of conformal symmetry in two dimensions. Since its introduction in 1985, W-symmetry has become one of the central notions in the study of two-dimensional conformal field theory. The mathematical structures that underlie W-symmetry are so-called W-algebras, which are higher-spin extensions of the Virasoro algebra. This book contains a collection of papers on W-symmetry, covering the period from 1985 through 1993. Its main focus is the construction of W-algebras and their representation theory. A recurrent theme is the intimate connection between W-algebras and affine Lie algebras. Some of the applications, in particular W-gravity, are also covered.The significance of this reprint volume is that there are no textbooks entirely devoted to the subject.

Author: Alexander Altland
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521769752
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 785

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Book Description
This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.

Author: Andreas Recknagel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107511801
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
Boundary conformal field theory is concerned with a class of two-dimensional quantum field theories which display a rich mathematical structure and have many applications ranging from string theory to condensed matter physics. In particular, the framework allows discussion of strings and branes directly at the quantum level. Written by internationally renowned experts, this comprehensive introduction to boundary conformal field theory reaches from theoretical foundations to recent developments, with an emphasis on the algebraic treatment of string backgrounds. Topics covered include basic concepts in conformal field theory with and without boundaries, the mathematical description of strings and D-branes, and the geometry of strongly curved spacetime. The book offers insights into string geometry that go beyond classical notions. Describing the theory from basic concepts, and providing numerous worked examples from conformal field theory and string theory, this reference is of interest to graduate students and researchers in physics and mathematics.

Author: Franck Gabriel
Publisher: American Mathematical Society, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University
ISBN: 1470456184
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
This book introduces the mathematical ideas connecting Statistical Mechanics and Conformal Field Theory (CFT). Building advanced structures on top of more elementary ones, the authors map out a well-posed road from simple lattice models to CFTs. Structured in two parts, the book begins by exploring several two-dimensional lattice models, their phase transitions, and their conjectural connection with CFT. Through these lattice models and their local fields, the fundamental ideas and results of two-dimensional CFTs emerge, with a special emphasis on the Unitary Minimal Models of CFT. Delving into the delicate ideas that lead to the classification of these CFTs, the authors discuss the assumptions on the lattice models whose scaling limits are described by CFTs. This produces a probabilistic rather than an axiomatic or algebraic definition of CFTs. Suitable for graduate students and researchers in mathematics and physics, Lattice Models and Conformal Field Theory introduces the ideas at the core of Statistical Field Theory. Assuming only undergraduate probability and complex analysis, the authors carefully motivate every argument and assumption made. Concrete examples and exercises allow readers to check their progress throughout.