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The formation and evolution of complex dynamical structures is one of the most exciting areas of nonlinear physics. Such pattern formation problems are common in practically all systems involving a large number of interacting components. Here, the basic problem is to understand how competing physical forces can shape stable geometries and to explain why nature prefers just these. Motivation for the intensive study of pattern formation phenomena during the past few years derives from an increasing appreciation of the remarkable diversity of behaviour encountered in nonlinear systems and of universal features shared by entire classes of nonlinear processes. As physics copes with ever more ambi...
One of the great inteJlectual cha1lenges for the next few decades is the question of brain organization. What is the basic mechanism for storage of memory? What are the processes that serve as the interphase between the basically chemical processes of the body and the very specific and nonstatistical operations in the brain? Above all. how is concept formation achieved in the human brain? I wonder whether the spirit of the physics that will be involved in these studies will not be akin to that which moved the founders of the ''rational foundation of thermodynamics". CN. Yangl 10 The human brain is said 10 have roughly 10 neurons connected through about 14 10 synapses. Each neuron is itself a complex device which compares and integrates incoming electrical signals and relays a nonlinear response to other neurons. The brain certainly exceeds in complexity any system which physicists have studied in the past. Nevertheless, there do exist many analogies of the We have witnessed during the last decade brain to simpler physical systems.
This volume is a collection of lectures and selected papers by Giorgio Parisi on the subjects of Field Theory (perturbative expansions, nonperturbative phenomena and phase transitions), Disordered Systems (mainly spin glasses) and Computer Simulations (lattice gauge theories).The basic problems discussed in the Field Theory section concern the interplay between perturbation theory and nonperturbative phenomena which are present when one deals with infrared or ultraviolet divergences or with nonconvergent perturbative expansions. The section on Disordered Systems contains a complete discussion about the replica method and its probabilistic interpretation, and also includes a short paper on mu...
This conference on liquid crystals of one- and two-dimensional order and their applications is the third in a series of European conferences devoted mainly to smectic liquid crystals. Its purpose was to bring together people working on the frontiers of the field of liquid crystals. Ordinary nematic liquid crystals were left out in order to limit the size of the meeting. The number of registered participants still reached 148. The conference shed new light on the classification of smectic mesophases, especially through the interaction of the Halle (GDR) and Hull (England) groups. It saw lively discussions on the famous blue phase of cholesterics. There were illuminating presentations on lyotropic nematic liquid crystals, on reentrant nematics, mesomorphic polymer phases, and related subjects. Much room was given to bilayers, monolayers, and interfaces, mostly to further the use of the concepts and methods of liquid crystal physics in exploring bio membranes. Other topics were device applications of smectic and cholesteric liquid crystals and nematic polymers, both of which hold promise of techno logical breakthroughs, apart from their scientific interest.
A comprehensive account of the theory, experimental work and computer modelling of spin glasses.
This book serves as a concise introduction to the state-of-the-art of spin glass theory. The collection of review papers are written by leading experts in the field and cover the topic from a wide variety of angles. The book will be useful to both graduate students and young researchers, as well as to anyone curious to know what is going on in this exciting area of mathematical physics.
At the end of the workshop on "New Theoretical Concepts in Physical Chemistry", one of the participants made an attempt to present a first impression of its achievements from his own personal standpoint. Appar ently his views reflected a general feeling, so that the organizers thought they would be suitable as a presentation of the proceedings for future readers. That is the background from which this foreword was born. The scope of the workshop is a very broad one. There are contribu tions from mathematics, physics, crystallography, chemistry and biology; the problems are approached either by means of axiomatic and rigorous methods, or at an empirical phenomenological level. This same diver...
This book analyses a peculiar phase in the history of Stockholm which has not previously been systematically investigated. Between 1750 and 1850 the Swedish capital experienced long-term stagnation, characterized by de-industrialization and slow population growth. In this study various aspects of the economic and social history of the period are examined in detail, including the decline of manufacturing, the causes of the extremely high rates of mortality and extra-marital fertility, and the distribution of economic resources. Social and spatial patterns of poverty are described and the trends and fluctuations in prices and real wages charted and compared with other European towns and cities.
Deals with the computer simulation of complex physical sys- tems encounteredin condensed-matter physics and statistical mechanics as well as in related fields such as metallurgy, polymer research, lattice gauge theory and quantummechanics.
Contents: Spin Fluctuations in Heisenberg Magnets: Dynamic Critical Phenomena and Excitations in Quasi-Periodic Systems (S W Lovesey)Quenching of Spin Fluctuations by High Magnetic Fields (K Ikeda et al.)Kondo Effect and Heavy Fermions (B Coqblin et al.)Magnetic Interactions in Correlated Electron Systems: High Pressure Investigations (J D Thompson)Hall Effect in Heavy Fermion and Mixed Valence Systems (A Hamzić & A Fert)Magnetic Properties of Uranium Based 1-2-2 Intermetallics (T Endstra et al.)Inelastic Magnetic Excitations in Anomalous Rare Earth Intermetallics (E Holland-Moritz)Neutron Scattering Studies of Magnetic Properties of Actinide Systems (G H Lander & G Aeppli)Magnetic Properties of Heavy Fermion Systems — As Studied by μSR-Spectroscopy (A Schenck)Re-Entrant Spin-Glasses: Do They Exist? (B R Coles & S B Roy)Insulating Spin Glass Systems (J K Srivastava)Nuclear Magnetism in Metals and Alloys (S Ramakrishnan & G Chandra) Readership: Solid-state physicists and chemists. keywords: