The Stability Of Matter From Atoms To Stars

Excellent current review of our knowledge of matter. In this new edition two new sections have been added: quantum electrodynamics and Boson systems.

The first edition of "The Stability of Matter: From Atoms to Stars" was sold out after a time unusually short for a selecta collection and we thought it ap propriate not just to make a reprinting but to include eight new contributionso They demonstrate that this field is still lively and keeps revealing unexpected featureso Of course, we restricted ourselves to developments in which Elliott Lieb participated and thus the heroic struggle in Thomas-Fermi theory where 7 3 5 3 the accuracy has been pushed from Z 1 to Z 1 is not includedo A rich landscape opened up after Jakob Yngvason's observation that atoms in magnetic fields also are described in suitable limits by a Thomas-Fermi-type theoryo Together with Elliott Lieb and Jan Philip Solovej it was eventually worked out that one has to distinguish 5 regionso If one takes as a dimensionless measure of the magnetic field strength B the ratio Larmor radius/Bohr radius one can compare it with N "' Z and for each of the domains 4 3 (i) B « N 1 , 4 3 (ii) B "' N 1 , 4 3 3 (iii) N 1« B « N , 3 (iv) B "' N , 3 (v) B » N a different version ofmagnetic Thomas-Fermi theory becomes exact in the limit N --+ ooo In two dimensions and a confining potential ("quantum dots") the situation is somewhat simpler, one has to distinguish only (i) B « N, (ii) B "'N,

Excellent current review of our knowledge of matter. In this new edition two new sections have been added: quantum electrodynamics and Boson systems.

With this book, Elliott Lieb joins his peers Hermann Weyl and Chen Ning Yang. Weyl's Selecta was published in 1956, Yang's Selected Papers in 1983. Lieb's "Selecta", like its predecessors, gives us the essence of a great mathema tical physicist concentrated into one convenient volume. Weyl, Yang and Lieb have much more in common than the accident of this manner of publication. They have in common a style and a tradition. Each of them is master of a for midable mathematical technique. Each of them uses hard mathematical ana lysis to reach an understanding of physical laws. Each of them enriches both physics and mathematics by finding new mathematical depths in the description of familiar physical processes. The central theme of Weyl's work in mathematical physics was the idea of symmetry, linking physical invariance-principles with the mathematics of group-theory. One of Yang's central themes is the idea of a gauge field, linking physical interactions with the mathematics of fibre-bundles. The central theme of Lieb's papers collected in this book is the classical Thomas-Fermi model of an atom, linking the physical stability of matter with the mathematics of func tional analysis. In all three cases, a rather simple physical idea provided the starting-point for building a grand and beautiful mathematical structure. Weyl, Yang and Lieb were not content with merely solving a problem. Each of them was concerned with understanding the deep mathematical roots out of which physical phenomena grow.

The first edition of "The Stability of Matter: From Atoms to Stars" was sold out after a time unusually short for a selecta collection and we thought it ap propriate not just to make a reprinting but to include eight new contributionso They demonstrate that this field is still lively and keeps revealing unexpected featureso Of course, we restricted ourselves to developments in which Elliott Lieb participated and thus the heroic struggle in Thomas-Fermi theory where 7 3 5 3 the accuracy has been pushed from Z 1 to Z 1 is not includedo A rich landscape opened up after Jakob Yngvason's observation that atoms in magnetic fields also are described in suitable limits by a Thomas-Fermi-type theoryo Together with Elliott Lieb and Jan Philip Solovej it was eventually worked out that one has to distinguish 5 regionso If one takes as a dimensionless measure of the magnetic field strength B the ratio Larmor radius/Bohr radius one can compare it with N "' Z and for each of the domains 4 3 (i) B « N 1 , 4 3 (ii) B "' N 1 , 4 3 3 (iii) N 1« B « N , 3 (iv) B "' N , 3 (v) B » N a different version ofmagnetic Thomas-Fermi theory becomes exact in the limit N --+ ooo In two dimensions and a confining potential ("quantum dots") the situation is somewhat simpler, one has to distinguish only (i) B « N, (ii) B "'N,

Excellent current review of our knowledge of matter. In this new edition two new sections have been added: quantum electrodynamics and Boson systems.

Description of research on the subject for researchers, and for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in mathematical physics.

Krieger's lucid discussions will help students of physics and applied mathematics appreciate the larger physical issues behind the mathematical details of modern physics. Historians and philosophers of science will gain deeper insights into how theoretical physicists do science, while technically advanced general readers will get a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of modern physics.