Computer Simulation Methods In Theoretical Physics

Appropriately for a book having the title "Computer Simulation Methods in Theoretical Physics", this book begins with a disclai mer. It does not and cannot give a complete introduction to simu lational physics. This exciting field is too new and is expanding too rapidly for even an attempt to be made. The intention here is to present a selection of fundamental techniques that are now being widely applied in many areas of physics, mathematics, chem istry and biology. It is worth noting that the methods are not only applicable in physics. They have been successfully used in other sciences, showing their great flexibility and power. This book has two main chapters (Chaps. 3 and 4) dealing with deterministic and stochastic computer simulation methods. Under the heading "deterministic" are collected methods involving classical dynamics, i.e. classical equations of motion, which have become known as the molecular dynamics simulation method. The se cond main chapter deals with methods that are partly or entirely of a stochastic nature. These include Brownian dynamics and the Monte Carlo method. To aid understanding of the material and to develop intuition, problems are included at the end of each chapter. Upon a first reading, the reader is advised to skip Chapter 2, which is a general introduction to computer simUlation methods.

Studies of surfaces and interactions between dissimilar materials or phases are vital for modern technological applications. Computer simulation methods are indispensable in such studies and this book contains a substantial body of knowledge about simulation methods as well as the theoretical background for performing computer experiments and analyzing the data. The book is self-contained, covering a range of topics from classical statistical mechanics to a variety of simulation techniques, including molecular dynamics, Langevin dynamics and Monte Carlo methods. A number of physical systems are considered, including fluids, magnets, polymers, granular media, and driven diffusive systems. The computer simulation methods considered include both standard and accelerated versions. The simulation methods are clearly related to the fundamental principles of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.

This work is a needed reference for widely used techniques and methods of computer simulation in physics and other disciplines, such as materials science. Molecular dynamics computes a molecule's reactions and dynamics based on physical models; Monte Carlo uses random numbers to image a system's behaviour when there are different possible outcomes with related probabilities. The work conveys both the theoretical foundations as well as applications and "tricks of the trade", that often are scattered across various papers. Thus it will meet a need and fill a gap for every scientist who needs computer simulations for his/her task at hand. In addition to being a reference, case studies and exercises for use as course reading are included.

This textbook presents basic and advanced computational physics in a very didactic style. It contains very-well-presented and simple mathematical descriptions of many of the most important algorithms used in computational physics. The first part of the book discusses the basic numerical methods. The second part concentrates on simulation of classical and quantum systems. Several classes of integration methods are discussed including not only the standard Euler and Runge Kutta method but also multi-step methods and the class of Verlet methods, which is introduced by studying the motion in Liouville space. A general chapter on the numerical treatment of differential equations provides methods of finite differences, finite volumes, finite elements and boundary elements together with spectral methods and weighted residual based methods. The book gives simple but non trivial examples from a broad range of physical topics trying to give the reader insight into not only the numerical treatment but also simulated problems. Different methods are compared with regard to their stability and efficiency. The exercises in the book are realised as computer experiments.

Proceedings of a NATO ASI held near Alghero, Italy in September 1992. The school focused on recent progress in applying the methods of computer simulation to problems in chemical physics. The 14 lectures address topics including the molecular dynamics method, advanced Monte Carlo techniques, thermodynamic constraints, computer simulations in the Gibbs ensemble, effective pair potentials and beyond, first principles molecular dynamics, computer simulation methods for nonadiabatic dynamics in condensed systems, long length- scale aspects of self organization phenomena, computer simulation of polymers, computer simulation of surfactants, parallel computing and molecular dynamics simulations, and scientific visualization--a user view. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR