Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences

Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences PDF Author: Didier Sornette
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 366204174X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
A modern up-to-date introduction for readers outside statistical physics. It puts emphasis on a clear understanding of concepts and methods and provides the tools that can be of immediate use in applications.

Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences

Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences PDF Author: Didier Sornette
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 366204174X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
A modern up-to-date introduction for readers outside statistical physics. It puts emphasis on a clear understanding of concepts and methods and provides the tools that can be of immediate use in applications.

Disorder and Critical Phenomena Through Basic Probability Models

Disorder and Critical Phenomena Through Basic Probability Models PDF Author: Giambattista Giacomin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642211569
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
Understanding the effect of disorder on critical phenomena is a central issue in statistical mechanics. In probabilistic terms: what happens if we perturb a system exhibiting a phase transition by introducing a random environment? The physics community has approached this very broad question by aiming at general criteria that tell whether or not the addition of disorder changes the critical properties of a model: some of the predictions are truly striking and mathematically challenging. We approach this domain of ideas by focusing on a specific class of models, the "pinning models," for which a series of recent mathematical works has essentially put all the main predictions of the physics community on firm footing; in some cases, mathematicians have even gone beyond, settling a number of controversial issues. But the purpose of these notes, beyond treating the pinning models in full detail, is also to convey the gist, or at least the flavor, of the "overall picture," which is, in many respects, unfamiliar territory for mathematicians.

Critical Dynamics

Critical Dynamics PDF Author: Uwe C. Täuber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521842239
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
A comprehensive and unified introduction to describing and understanding complex interacting systems.

Complexity and Criticality

Complexity and Criticality PDF Author: Kim Christensen
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 191129833X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
This book provides a challenging and stimulating introduction to the contemporary topics of complexity and criticality, and explores their common basis of scale invariance, a central unifying theme of the book. Criticality refers to the behaviour of extended systems at a phase transition where scale invariance prevails. The many constituent microscopic parts bring about macroscopic phenomena that cannot be understood by considering a single part alone. The phenomenology of phase transitions is introduced by considering percolation, a simple model with a purely geometrical phase transition, thus enabling the reader to become intuitively familiar with concepts such as scale invariance and renormalisation. The Ising model is then introduced, which captures a thermodynamic phase transition from a disordered to an ordered system as the temperature is lowered in zero external field. By emphasising analogies between percolation and the Ising model, the reader's intuition of phase transitions is developed so that the underlying theoretical formalism may be appreciated fully. These equilibrium systems undergo a phase transition only if an external agent finely tunes certain external parameters to particular values. Besides fractals and phase transitions, there are many examples in Nature of the emergence of such complex behaviour in slowly driven non-equilibrium systems: earthquakes in seismic systems, avalanches in granular media and rainfall in the atmosphere. A class of non-equilibrium systems, not constrained by having to tune external parameters to obtain critical behaviour, is addressed in the framework of simple models, revealing that the repeated application of simple rules may spontaneously give rise to emergent complex behaviour not encoded in the rules themselves. The common basis of complexity and criticality is identified and applied to a range of non-equilibrium systems. Finally, the reader is invited to speculate whether self-organisation in non-equilibrium systems might be a unifying concept for disparate fields such as statistical mechanics, geophysics and atmospheric physics. Visit http://www.complexityandcriticality.com for animations for the models in the book (available for Windows and Linux), solutions to exercises, as well as a list with corrections. Contents:Percolation:Percolating Phase TransitionPercolation in One DimensionPercolation on the Bethe LatticePercolation in Two DimensionsGeometric Properties of ClustersScaling Ansatz, Scaling Functions and Scaling RelationsFinite-Size ScalingUniversalityReal-Space Renormalisation GroupIsing Model:Review of Thermodynamics and Statistical MechanicsSymmetry BreakingFerromagnetic Phase TransitionIsing Model in One DimensionMean-Field Ising ModelIsing Model in Two DimensionsLandau Theory of Continuous Phase TransitionsScaling Ansatz, Scaling Functions and Scaling RelationsUniversalityReal-Space Renormalisation GroupSelf-Organised Criticality:Non-equilibrium steady state systemBTW Model in One DimensionMean-Field Theory of the BTW ModelBranching ProcessScaling Ansatz, Scaling Functions and Scaling RelationsBTW Model in Two DimensionsA Rice Pile Experiment and the Oslo ModelEarthquakes and the OFC ModelRainfallSelf-Organised Criticality as a Unifying Principle Readership: Students at all levels, researchers and instructors looking for an introduction to the ideas of complexity and criticality.

Criticality in Neural Systems

Criticality in Neural Systems PDF Author: Dietmar Plenz
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527651020
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description
Neurowissenschaftler suchen nach Antworten auf die Fragen, wie wir lernen und Information speichern, welche Prozesse im Gehirn verantwortlich sind und in welchem Zeitrahmen diese ablaufen. Die Konzepte, die aus der Physik kommen und weiterentwickelt werden, können in Medizin und Soziologie, aber auch in Robotik und Bildanalyse Anwendung finden. Zentrales Thema dieses Buches sind die sogenannten kritischen Phänomene im Gehirn. Diese werden mithilfe mathematischer und physikalischer Modelle beschrieben, mit denen man auch Erdbeben, Waldbrände oder die Ausbreitung von Epidemien modellieren kann. Neuere Erkenntnisse haben ergeben, dass diese selbstgeordneten Instabilitäten auch im Nervensystem auftreten. Dieses Referenzwerk stellt theoretische und experimentelle Befunde internationaler Gehirnforschung vor zeichnet die Perspektiven dieses neuen Forschungsfeldes auf.

A Modern Approach to Critical Phenomena

A Modern Approach to Critical Phenomena PDF Author: Igor Herbut
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139460129
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Critical phenomena is one of the most exciting areas of modern physics. This 2007 book provides a thorough but economic introduction into the principles and techniques of the theory of critical phenomena and the renormalization group, from the perspective of modern condensed matter physics. Assuming basic knowledge of quantum and statistical mechanics, the book discusses phase transitions in magnets, superfluids, superconductors, and gauge field theories. Particular attention is given to topics such as gauge field fluctuations in superconductors, the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, duality transformations, and quantum phase transitions - all of which are at the forefront of physics research. This book contains numerous problems of varying degrees of difficulty, with solutions. These problems provide readers with a wealth of material to test their understanding of the subject. It is ideal for graduate students and more experienced researchers in the fields of condensed matter physics, statistical physics, and many-body physics.

Stirrings in the Archives

Stirrings in the Archives PDF Author: Wolfgang Ernst
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442253967
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 109

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Book Description
Like most of Wolfgang Ernst’s work, Das Rumoren der Archiv explored the concept of archival and media theory from a current cultural digital context. Ernst challenges the traditional perspective of the cultural heritage institution and how it relied on media for creating, storing and disseminating digital information. Archives have a place in a digital society, and the archivist’s role will be more increasingly vital in the future. As Ernst points out, his work will show a way out of the archive, away from the notion that the era of archive is coming to an end. Here is the long-awaited English translation of this seminal work exploring cultural heritage before the archives, throughout history, and from today into the future. Ernst work emphasized a need to recognize media as a method for capturing and preserving our collective cultural identity. It is vital that archivists promoted a greater awareness of how media technology augmented the creation, management, and dissemination of digital content.

The Theory of Critical Phenomena

The Theory of Critical Phenomena PDF Author: J. J. Binney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191660566
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
The successful calculation of critical exponents for continuous phase transitions is one of the main achievements of theoretical physics over the last quarter-century. This was achieved through the use of scaling and field-theoretic techniques which have since become standard equipment in many areas of physics, especially quantum field theory. This book provides a thorough introduction to these techniques. Continuous phase transitions are introduced, then the necessary statistical mechanics is summarized, followed by standard models, some exact solutions and techniques for numerical simulations. The real-space renormalization group and mean-field theory are then explained and illustrated. The final chapters cover the Landau-Ginzburg model, from physical motivation, through diagrammatic perturbation theory and renormalization to the renormalization group and the calculation of critical exponents above and below the critical temperature.

Statistical Mechanics of Solids

Statistical Mechanics of Solids PDF Author: Louis A. Girifalco
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195167171
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
This monograph, suitable for use as an advanced text, presents the statistical mechanics of solids from the perspective of the material properties of the solid state. The statistical mechanics are developed as a tool for understanding properties and each chapter includes useful exercises to illustrate the topics covered. Topics discussed include the theory of the harmonic crystal, the theory of free electrons in metal and semiconductors, electron transport, alloy ordering, surfaces and polymers.

Quantum Scaling in Many-Body Systems

Quantum Scaling in Many-Body Systems PDF Author: Mucio Continentino
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107150256
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Focusing on experimental results, this updated edition approaches the problem of quantum phase transitions from a new and unifying perspective.