The Fermi Pasta Ulam Problem

This volume reviews the current understanding of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) Problem without trying to force coherence on differing perspectives on the same problem by various groups or approaches. The contributions lead the interested but inexperienced reader through gradual understanding, starting from general analysis and proceeding towards more specialized topics. The volume also includes a reprint of the original Fermi-Pasta-Ulam paper.

This volume reviews the current understanding of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) Problem without trying to force coherence on differing perspectives on the same problem by various groups or approaches. The contributions lead the interested but inexperienced reader through gradual understanding, starting from general analysis and proceeding towards more specialized topics. The volume also includes a reprint of the original Fermi-Pasta-Ulam paper.

This volume reviews the current understanding of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) Problem without trying to force coherence on differing perspectives on the same problem by various groups or approaches. The contributions lead the interested but inexperienced reader through gradual understanding, starting from general analysis and proceeding towards more specialized topics. The volume also includes a reprint of the original Fermi-Pasta-Ulam paper.

An introduction to certain aspects of developments in the modern theory of dynamics and simulation for a wide audience of scientifically literate readers. Unlike general texts on chaos theory and dynamical systems theory, this book follows the work on a specific problem at the very beginning of the modern era of dynamics, from its inception in 1954 through the early 1970s. It discusses such problems as the nonlinear oscillator simulation, the seminal discoveries at MIT in the early 1950s, the mathematical rediscovery of solitons in the late 1950s and the general problems of computability. In following these developments, the initial development of many of the now standard techniques of nonlinear modelling and numerical simulation are seen. No other text focuses so tightly and covers so completely one specific, pernicious problem at the heart of dynamics.

This is a unique book that presents rigorous mathematical results on Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattices, a field of great interest in nonlinear analysis, nonlinear science, mathematical physics, etc. It considers travelling waves and time periodic oscillations in infinite Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattices, which are not necessarily spatially homogenous. Similar systems, infinite chains of linearly coupled nonlinear oscillators, are also discussed. The book is self-contained and includes a number of open problems, making it suitable for use in a course for graduate students.

The true story that inspired the 2020 film. The autobiography of mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century, tells a story rich with amazingly prophetic speculations and peppered with lively anecdotes. As a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1944 on, Ulam helped to precipitate some of the most dramatic changes of the postwar world. He was among the first to use and advocate computers for scientific research, originated ideas for the nuclear propulsion of space vehicles, and made fundamental contributions to many of today's most challenging mathematical projects. With his wide-ranging interests, Ulam never emphasized the importance of his contributions to the research that resulted in the hydrogen bomb. Now Daniel Hirsch and William Mathews reveal the true story of Ulam's pivotal role in the making of the "Super," in their historical introduction to this behind-the-scenes look at the minds and ideas that ushered in the nuclear age. An epilogue by Françoise Ulam and Jan Mycielski sheds new light on Ulam's character and mathematical originality.

A nonlinearity is one of the most important notions in modern physics. A plasma is rich in nonlinearities and provides a variety of behaviors inherent to instabilities, coherent wave structures and turbulence. The book covers the basic concepts and mathematical methods, necessary to comprehend nonlinear problems widely encountered in contemporary plasmas, but also in other fields of physics and current research on self-organized structures and magnetized plasma turbulence. The analyses make use of strongly nonlinear models solved by analytical techniques backed by extensive simulations and available experiments. The text is written for senior undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers and researchers in laboratory, space and fusion plasmas.