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Understanding cooperative phenomena far from equilibrium is one of the fascinating challenges of present-day many-body physics. Glassy behaviour and the physical ageing process of such materials are paradigmatic examples. The present volume, primarily intended as introduction and reference, collects six extensive lectures addressing selected experimental and theoretical issues in the field of glassy systems.
The first part of the book provides a pedagogical introduction to the physics of complex systems driven far from equilibrium. In this part we discuss the basic concepts and theoretical techniques which are commonly used to study classical stochastic transport in systems of interacting driven particles. The analytical techniques include mean-field theories, matrix product ansatz, renormalization group, etc. and the numerical methods are mostly based on computer simulations. In the second part of the book these concepts and techniques are applied not only to vehicular traffic but also to transport and traffic-like phenomena in living systems ranging from collective movements of social insects ...
Uniting dozens of seemingly disparate results from different fields, this book combines concepts from mathematics and computer science to present the first integrated treatment of sequences generated by 'finite automata'. The authors apply the theory to the study of automatic sequences and their generalizations, such as Sturmian words and k-regular sequences. And further, they provide applications to number theory (particularly to formal power series and transcendence in finite characteristic), physics, computer graphics, and music. Starting from first principles wherever feasible, basic results from combinatorics on words, numeration systems, and models of computation are discussed. Thus this book is suitable for graduate students or advanced undergraduates, as well as for mature researchers wishing to know more about this fascinating subject. Results are presented from first principles wherever feasible, and the book is supplemented by a collection of 460 exercises, 85 open problems, and over 1600 citations to the literature.
7 Les Houches Number theory, or arithmetic, sometimes referred to as the queen of mathematics, is often considered as the purest branch of mathematics. It also has the false repu tation of being without any application to other areas of knowledge. Nevertheless, throughout their history, physical and natural sciences have experienced numerous unexpected relationships to number theory. The book entitled Number Theory in Science and Communication, by M.R. Schroeder (Springer Series in Information Sciences, Vol. 7, 1984) provides plenty of examples of cross-fertilization between number theory and a large variety of scientific topics. The most recent developments of theoretical physics have invol...
This first-ever detailed account of quasicrystal geometry will be of great value to mathematicians at all levels with an interest in quasicrystals and geometry, and will also be of interest to graduate students and researchers in solid state physics, crystallography and materials science.
Distinct scientific communities are usually involved in the three fields of quasi-crystals, of liquid crystals, and of systems having modulated crystalline structures. However, in recent years, there has been a growing feeling that a number of common problems were encountered in the three fields. These comprise the need to recur to "exotic" spaces for describing the type of order of the atomic or molecular configurations of these systems (Euclidian "superspaces" of dimensions greater than 3, or 4-dimensional curved spaces); the recognition that one has to deal with geometrically frustrated systems, and also the occurence of specific excitations (static or dynamic) resulting from the continuo...
This status report features the most recent developments in the field, spanning a wide range of topical areas in the computer simulation of condensed matter/materials physics. Highlights of this volume include various aspects of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, studies of properties of real materials using both classical model simulations and electronic structure calculations, and the use of computer simulation in teaching.
“The importance of knowledge consists not only in its direct practical utility but also in the fact the it promotes a widely contemplative habit of mind; on this ground, utility is to be found in much of the knowledge that is nowadays labelled ‘useless’. ” Bertrand Russel, In Praise of Idleness, London (1935) “Why are scientists in so many cases so deeply interested in their work ? Is it merely because it is useful ? It is only necessary to talk to such scientists to discover that the utilitarian possibilities of their work are generally of secondary interest to them. Something else is primary. ” David Bohm, On creativity, Abingdon (1996) In this volume, the dynamical critical be...
Universality is the property that systems of radically different composition and structure exhibit similar behavior. The appearance of universal laws in simple critical systems is now well established experimentally, but the search for universality has not slackened. This book aims to define the current status of research in this field and to identify the most promising directions for further investigations. On the theoretical side, numerical simulations and analytical arguments have led to expectations of universal behavior in several nonequilibrium systems, e.g. aggregation, electric discharges, and viscous flows. Experimental work is being done on "geometric" phase transitions, e.g. aggregation and gelation, in real systems. The contributions to this volume allow a better understanding of chaotic systems, turbulent flows, aggregation phenomena, fractal structures, and quasicrystals. They demonstrate how the concepts of renormalization group transformations, scale invariance, and multifractality are useful for describing inhomogeneous materials and irreversible phenomena.
The Origin of Species Charles Darwin The origin of turbulence in fluids is a long-standing problem and has been the focus of research for decades due to its great importance in a variety of engineering applications. Furthermore, the study of the origin of turbulence is part of the fundamental physical problem of turbulence description and the philosophical problem of determinism and chaos. At the end of the nineteenth century, Reynolds and Rayleigh conjectured that the reason of the transition of laminar flow to the 'sinuous' state is in stability which results in amplification of wavy disturbances and breakdown of the laminar regime. Heisenberg (1924) was the founder of linear hydrody namic...