From Quasicrystals To More Complex Systems

This book is a collection of part of the written versions of the Physics Courses given at the Winter School "Order, Chance and Risk: Aperiodic Phenomena from Solid State to Finance" held at the Les Houches Center for Physics, between February 23 and March 6, 1998. The School gathered lecturers and participants from all over the world. On a thematic level, the content of the school can be viewed both as a continuation (aperiodic phenomena in solid state physics) and an extension (mathematical aspects of fmance and economy) of the previous "Beyond Quasicrystals", also held at Les Houches, March 7-18 1994 and published in the same ·series. One of its important goals was to promote in-depth concrete scientific exchanges between theoretical physicists, experimental physicists and mathematicians on the one hand, and on the other hand practitioners of the economico-fmancial sphere and specialists of financial mathematics. Therefore, besides the mathematical tools and concepts at work in theoretical descriptions, relevant experimental data were also presented together with methods allowing their interpretation. As a result of this choice, the School was stimulated by experimentalists and fmancial market operators who joined the theoretical physicists and mathematicians at the conference. The present volume deals with the theoretical and experimental studies on aperiodic solids with long range order, incommensurate phases, quasicrystals, glasses, and more complex systems (fractal, chaotic), while a second volume to appear in the same series is devoted to the finance and economy facet.

This book leads readers from a basic foundation to an advanced level understanding of dynamical and complex systems. It is the perfect text for graduate or PhD mathematical-science students looking for support in topics such as applied dynamical systems, Lotka–Volterra dynamical systems, applied dynamical systems theory, dynamical systems in cosmology, aperiodic order, and complex systems dynamics. Dynamical and Complex Systems is the fifth volume of the LTCC Advanced Mathematics Series. This series is the first to provide advanced introductions to mathematical science topics to advanced students of mathematics. Editor the three joint heads of the London Taught Course Centre for PhD Students in the Mathematical Sciences (LTCC), each book supports readers in broadening their mathematical knowledge outside of their immediate research disciplines while also covering specialized key areas.

The book provides an introduction to all aspects of the physics of quasicrystals. The chapters, each written by an expert in this field, cover quasiperiodic tilings and the modeling of the atomic structure of quasicrystals. The electronic density of states and the calculation of the electronic structure play a key role in this introduction, as does an extensive discussion of the atomic dynamics. The study of defects in quasicrystals by high resolution electron microscopy and the computer simulations of defects and fracture in decorated tilings are important subjects for the application of these aperiodic crystals.

Quasicrystals form a new state of solid matter beside the crystalline and the amorphous. The positions of the atoms are ordered, but with noncrystallographic rotational symmetries and in a nonperiodic way. The new structure induces unusual physical properties, promising interesting applications. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review and presents most recent research results, achieved by a collaboration of physicists, chemists, material scientists and mathematicians within the Priority Programme "Quasicrystals: Structure and Physical Properties" of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Starting from metallurgy, synthesis and characterization, the authors carry on with structure and mathematical modelling. On this basis electronic, magnetic, thermal, dynamic and mechanical properties are dealt with and finally surfaces and thin films.

The following topics are discussed in this volume: recent developments in operator theory, coherent states and wavelet analysis, geometric and topological methods in theoretical physics and quantum field theory, and applications of these methods of mathematical physics to problems in atomic and molecular physics as well as the world of the elementary particles and their fundamental interactions. Two extensive sets of lecture notes on quantization techniques in general, and quantum gauge theories and strings as an avenue towards quantum geometry, are also included. The volume should be of interest to anyone working in a field using the mathematical methods associated with any of these topics. Contents:Quantization Techniques: A Quick Overview (S T Ali)The Quantum Geometer's Universe: Particles, Interactions and Topology (J Govaerts)Theoretical Methods of Modern Classical and Quantum Physics:Do Cross-Sections Determine Phase Shifts Uniquely? (D Atkinson)Hilbert Transform or Kramers-Kronig Relations Applied to Some Aspects of Linear and Nonlinear Physics (G Debiais)Application of the Gibbs Sampler to the Conditional Simulation of Rain Fields (H Onibon et al.)The Mathematics of an Algebraic Approach to the Physics of Hadrons (M D Slaughter)Coherent States, Wavelets and Geometric Methods in Theoretical Physics:Phase Space Geometry in Classical and Quantum Mechanics (J R Klauder)Functional Analysis Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials:On Generalized Continuous D Semi-Classical Hermite and Chebychev Orthogonal Polynomials of Class One (E Azatassou & M N Hounkonnou)On a Generalization of the Method by Barbaroux et al. for the Improvement on the Rate of Decay of an Operator Resolvent (G Honnouvo & M N Hounkonnou)and other papers Readership: Researchers in mathematical physics, theoretical physics, physical chemistry, analysis and differential equations, atomic and quantum physics. Keywords:

The following topics are discussed in this volume: recent developments in operator theory, coherent states and wavelet analysis, geometric and topological methods in theoretical physics and quantum field theory, and applications of these methods of mathematical physics to problems in atomic and molecular physics as well as the world of the elementary particles and their fundamental interactions. Two extensive sets of lecture notes on quantization techniques in general, and quantum gauge theories and strings as an avenue towards quantum geometry, are also included. The volume should be of interest to anyone working in a field using the mathematical methods associated with any of these topics.

Formulated in 1859, the Riemann Hypothesis is the most celebrated and multifaceted open problem in mathematics. In essence, it states that the primes are distributed as harmoniously as possible--or, equivalently, that the Riemann zeros are located on a single vertical line, called the critical line.