Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena

Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena PDF Author: Philippe Christe
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540475753
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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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.

Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena

Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena PDF Author: Philippe Christe
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540475753
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

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.

Conformal Invariance and Critical Phenomena

Conformal Invariance and Critical Phenomena PDF 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.

Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena

Introduction to Conformal Invariance and Its Applications to Critical Phenomena PDF Author: Philippe Christe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Conformal invariants
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description


Conformal Invariance And Applications To Statistical Mechanics

Conformal Invariance And Applications To Statistical Mechanics PDF 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.

Fourth Granada Lectures in Computational Physics

Fourth Granada Lectures in Computational Physics PDF Author: Pedro L. Garrido
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662141485
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
The methods developed to deal with the computational aspects of physi cal problems are useful in an increasing number of situations, from chem istry, biology and geology to engineering, communications and economics. In fact, computational physics has evolved into a trans-disciplinary field now concerned with the creative use of computers in scientific research. More over, computational methods often help students to develop a deeper under standing of key concepts, and enhance their problem-solving abilities. There fore, computational physics is recognized as having an important educational value, and educators face the task of outlining appropriate curricula to take advantage of these unique features. This is an important motivation for the publication of the contents of the Seminar on Computational Physics which is held in Granada every two years. The seminar aims at bringing together small groups of students and active researchers on different aspects of computational physics. It is part of the doctoral programme of the University of Granada. The proceedings of the previous editions were published as II Granada Lectures in Computational Physics (World Scientific, Singapore 1993) and Third Granada Lectures in Computational Physics (Lecture Notes in Physics, vol. 448, Springer, Berlin 1995) by the same editors. The present book contains the invited lecture notes and a very brief account of contributions by participants at the 4th Granada Seminar on Computational Physics (Granada, Spain, 9-14 September 1996).

Stretch, Twist, Fold: The Fast Dynamo

Stretch, Twist, Fold: The Fast Dynamo PDF Author: Stephen Childress
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540447784
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
The study of the magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, as well as those of other planets, stars, and galaxies, has a long history and a rich and varied literature, including in recent years a number of review articles and books dedicated to the dynamo theories of these fields. Against this background of work, some explanation of the scope and purpose of the present monograph, and of the presentation and organization of the material, is therefore needed. Dynamo theory offers an explanation of natural magnetism as a phenomenon of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the dynamics governing the evolution and interaction of motions of an electrically conducting fluid and electromagnetic fields. A natural starting point for a dynamo theory assumes the fluid motion to be a given vector field, without regard for the origin of the forces which drive it. The resulting kinematic dynamo theory is, in the non-relativistic case, a linear advection-diffusion problem for the magnetic field. This kinematic theory, while far simpler than its magnetohydrodynamic counterpart, remains a formidable analytical problem since the interesting solutions lack the easiest symmetries. Much ofthe research has focused on the simplest acceptable flows and especially on cases where the smoothing effect of diffusion can be exploited. A close analog is the advection and diffusion of a scalar field by laminar flows, the diffusion being measured by an appropriate Peclet number. This work has succeeded in establishing dynamo action as an attractive candidate for astrophysical magnetism.

Quantum Inversion Theory and Applications

Quantum Inversion Theory and Applications PDF Author: H.V.v. Geramb
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662139693
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
This volume covers aspects of Schr|dinger equation inversion for the purposeof determining interaction potentials in particle, nuclear and atomic physics from experimental data. It includes reviews and reports on the latest developments in mathematics, supersymmetric quantum mechanics, inversion for fixed-l nucleon-nucleon potentials, inversion of fixed-E optical potentials and their generalizations. Also included are some topics on nonlinear differential equations relating to theSchr|dinger or other equations of particle, nuclear, atomic and molecular physics which can be solved by inverse scattering transformations. The material collected in this volume gives a clear picture of the status ofresearch in this rapidly growing field. The book addresses students and young scientists as well as researchers in theoretical physics and functional analysis.

ITEP Lectures on Particle Physics and Field Theory

ITEP Lectures on Particle Physics and Field Theory PDF Author: Mikhail A. Shifman
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789810239503
Category : Field theory
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description


Itep Lectures On Particle Physics And Field Theory (In 2 Vols)

Itep Lectures On Particle Physics And Field Theory (In 2 Vols) PDF Author: Misha Shifman
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814499013
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 919

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Book Description
For almost two decades Prof. Shifman, a clear and pedagogical expositor, has been giving review lectures on frontier topics in theoretical high energy physics. This two-volume book is a collection of some of the best of those lectures. The lectures written in the 1980's and early 1990's have been revised and updated specifically for this publication. The lectures in this book are intended for beginners - graduate students and young researchers - who are about to delve into the intricacies of the theory. They were used by the author in his course ';Advanced Modern Field Theory and Its Applications';, given in the academic year 1994/95 at the University of Minnesota.A wide range of key topics is covered. In Volume 1, the first two chapters are devoted to quantum chromodynamics as the theory of hadrons. The author gives an in-depth discussion of a variety ofpowerful methods based on Wilson's operator product expansion. Chapter 3 (written together with V Novikov, A Vainshtein, and V Zakharov) is the most systematic and pedagogical presentation of instantons in the gauge theories one can find in the literature. Chapter 4 introduces supersymmetry. Chapter 5, concluding this volume, reviews the fascinating dynamics of supersymmetric gauge theories in the strong coupling regime. Chapter 6, which opens Volume 2, is a culmination of the supersymmetric theme. It gives a state-of-the-art description of the breakthrough developments in supersymmetric gauge theories. It has been written specifically for this book by A Vainshtein and the author. Chapter 7 is designed as a primer of two-dimensional conformal field theory, which constitutes the basis of modern string theory. Chapter 8, the last, presents remarkable new findings in quantum mechanics. Every chapter contains exercises and a list of recommended literature.Prof. Shifman has been an active participant and significant contributor in the development of the ideas presented in this book. This accounts for the historical remarks and digressions interspersed in the book, enhancing its pedagogical role. The book will serve as a comprehensive reference and textbook for all graduate students and researchers interested in modern particle physics. It will also be a useful guide for lecturers.

The Recursion Method

The Recursion Method PDF Author: V.S. Viswanath
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540486518
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In this monograph the recursion method is presented as a method for the analysis of dynamical properties of quantum and classical many-body systems in thermal equilibrium. Such properties are probed by many different experimental techniques used in materials science. Several representations and formulations of the recursion method are described in detail and documented with numerous examples, ranging from elementary illustrations for tutorial purposes to realistic models of interest in current research in the areas of spin dynamics and low-dimensional magnetism. The performance of the recursion method is calibrated by exact results in a number of benchmark tests and compared with the performance of other calculational techniques. The book addresses graduate students and researchers.