Handsomely produced monograph provides graduate students and researchers with elegantly lucid accounts of some modern aspects of the topic to which the title refers. The five chapters bear these titles: Statistical mechanics of the Heisenberg ferromagnet; Statistical mechanics of electronic models o
This book is intended for postgraduate students as well as researchers in various areas of physics such as statistical physics, magnetism and materials sciences. The content of the book covers mainly frustrated spin systems with possible applications in domains where physical systems can be mapped into the spin language. Pedagogical effort has been made to make each chapter to be self-contained, comprehensible for researchers who are not really involved in the field. Basic methods are given in detail.
The aim of this advanced textbook is to provide the reader with a comprehensive explanation of the ground state configurations, the spin wave excitations and the equilibrium properties of spin lattices described by the IsingOCoHeisenberg Hamiltonians in the presence of short (exchange) and long range (dipole) interactions.The arguments are presented in such detail so as to enable advanced undergraduate and graduate students to cross the threshold of active research in magnetism by using both analytic calculations and Monte Carlo simulations.Recent results about unorthodox spin configurations such as stripes and checkerboards should then excite theoreticians in the field of magnetism and magnetic materials research.
Building on the material learned by students in their first few years of study, Topics in Statistical Mechanics (Second Edition) presents an advanced level course on statistical and thermal physics. It begins with a review of the formal structure of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics considered from a unified viewpoint. There is a brief revision of non-interacting systems, including quantum gases and a discussion of negative temperatures. Following this, emphasis is on interacting systems. First, weakly interacting systems are considered, where the interest is in seeing how small interactions cause small deviations from the non-interacting case. Second, systems are examined where interactions lead to drastic changes, namely phase transitions. A number of specific examples is given, and these are unified within the Landau theory of phase transitions. The final chapter of the book looks at non-equilibrium systems, in particular the way they evolve towards equilibrium. This is framed within the context of linear response theory. Here fluctuations play a vital role, as is formalised in the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.The second edition has been revised particularly to help students use this book for self-study. In addition, the section on non-ideal gases has been expanded, with a treatment of the hard-sphere gas, and an accessible discussion of interacting quantum gases. In many cases there are details of Mathematica calculations, including Mathematica Notebooks, and expression of some results in terms of Special Functions.
Now in paperback, this book provides an overview of the physics of condensed matter systems. Assuming a familiarity with the basics of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, the book establishes a general framework for describing condensed phases of matter, based on symmetries and conservation laws. It explores the role of spatial dimensionality and microscopic interactions in determining the nature of phase transitions, as well as discussing the structure and properties of materials with different symmetries. Particular attention is given to critical phenomena and renormalization group methods. The properties of liquids, liquid crystals, quasicrystals, crystalline solids, magnetically ordered systems and amorphous solids are investigated in terms of their symmetry, generalised rigidity, hydrodynamics and topological defect structure. In addition to serving as a course text, this book is an essential reference for students and researchers in physics, applied physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering, who are interested in modern condensed matter physics.
What is thermodynamics? What does statistical physics teach us? In the pages of this slim book, we confront the answers. The reader will discover that where thermodynami cs provi des a 1 arge scal e, macroscopi c theory of the ef fects of temperature on physical systems, statistical mechanics provides the microscopic analysis of these effects which, invariably, are the results of thermal disorder. A number of systems in nature undergo dramatic changes in aspect and in their properties when subjected to changes in ambient temperature or pres sure, or when electric or magnetic fields are applied. The ancients already knew that a liquid, a solid, or a gas can represent different states of the same matter. But what is meant by "state"? It is here that the systematic study of magnetic materials has provided one of the best ways of examining this question, which is one of the principal concerns of statistical physics (alias "statistical mechanics") and of modern thermodynamics.
This new version of a classic updates much of the material in earlier editions, including the first chapter, on the history of the field. Important modifications reflect major discoveries of the past decades. A historical perspective is maintained throughout. The reader is drawn into the process of discovery: starting with a phenomenon, finding plausible explanations and competing theories — and finally, the solution.The theory of magnetism is practically a metaphor for theoretical physics. The very first quantum many-body theory (Bethe's ansatz) was devised for magnetic chains, just as mean-field theory was invented a century ago by Weiss to explain Curie's Law.The first two chapters of this book are immensely readable, taking us from prehistory to the “spin valves” of the most recent past. Topics in subsequent chapters include: angular momenta and spin (Chapter 3), quantum theory of simple systems, followed by increasingly technical insights into ordered and random systems, thermal fluctuations, phase transitions, chaos and the like. Contemporary developments in nanotechnology now seek to take advantage of the electron's spin as well as of its charge. The time is not far off when nano-circuits made entirely of silicon exhibit such many-body properties as superconductivity or ferromagnetism — without any superconducting materials or magnetic ions being present. The reader of this book will be prepared for such exotic twenty-first century applications.Daniel C Mattis, BS, MS, PhD, Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), is a frequent lecturer at research institutions and the author of several textbooks and numerous research articles. His expertise includes many-body theory, electrical conductivity, quantum theory of magnetism and most recently, nanotechnology. Prof. Mattis is on the editorial panel for high-temperature superconductivity of the International Journal of Modern Physics B and Modern Physics Letters B, both published by World Scientific. Currently serving as Professor in the Physics department at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, at various times he has been visiting Professor at Yale University (New Haven), State University of New York (Buffalo), Temple University (Philadelphia), and served as “Wei-Lun Visiting Professor” at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A founding member of the “Few-Body Physics” section of the APS, he has also served as Chair of the standing committee of the APS for the “International Freedom of Scientists.”
Elementary concepts in statistics and probability - The ising model and the lattice gas - Elements of thermodynamics - Statistical mechanics - The world of bosons - All about fermions : theories of metals, superconductors, semiconductors - Kinetic theory - The transfer matrix - Some uses of quantum field theory in statistical physics.
The contributions in the book are devoted to the memory of Michael E Fisher, and hence include many personal memories from people whose work was influenced by him. Also, the book is a collection of articles from leaders in the field of phase transitions and critical phenomena, to celebrate 50 years of the renormalization group and the 1972 paper by Wilson and Fisher. Many of the articles review, in tutorial form, the progress in the fields of phase transitions and the renormalization group.
