Theoretical And Mathematical Physics

In this volume, topics are drawn from field theory, especially gauge field theory, as applied to particle, condensed matter and gravitational physics, and concern a variety of interesting subjects. These include geometricalDtopological effects in quantum theory, fractional charge, time travel, relativistic quantized fields in and out of thermal equilibrium and quantum modifications of symmetry in physical systems.Many readers will find this a useful volume, especially theoretical physicists and mathematicians. The material will be of interest to both the expert who will find well-presented novel and stimulating viewpoints of various subjects and the novice who will find complete, detailed and precise descriptions of important topics of current interest, in theoretical and mathematical physics.

Winner of the the Susan Elizabeth Abrams Prize in History of Science. When Isaac Newton published the Principia three centuries ago, only a few scholars were capable of understanding his conceptually demanding work. Yet this esoteric knowledge quickly became accessible in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Britain produced many leading mathematical physicists. In this book, Andrew Warwick shows how the education of these "masters of theory" led them to transform our understanding of everything from the flight of a boomerang to the structure of the universe. Warwick focuses on Cambridge University, where many of the best physicists trained. He begins by tracing the dramatic changes in undergraduate education there since the eighteenth century, especially the gradual emergence of the private tutor as the most important teacher of mathematics. Next he explores the material culture of mathematics instruction, showing how the humble pen and paper so crucial to this study transformed everything from classroom teaching to final examinations. Balancing their intense intellectual work with strenuous physical exercise, the students themselves—known as the "Wranglers"—helped foster the competitive spirit that drove them in the classroom and informed the Victorian ideal of a manly student. Finally, by investigating several historical "cases," such as the reception of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, Warwick shows how the production, transmission, and reception of new knowledge was profoundly shaped by the skills taught to Cambridge undergraduates. Drawing on a wealth of new archival evidence and illustrations, Masters of Theory examines the origins of a cultural tradition within which the complex world of theoretical physics was made commonplace.

Mathematical Physics in Theoretical Chemistry deals with important topics in theoretical and computational chemistry. Topics covered include density functional theory, computational methods in biological chemistry, and Hartree-Fock methods. As the second volume in the Developments in Physical & Theoretical Chemistry series, this volume further highlights the major advances and developments in research, also serving as a basis for advanced study. With a multidisciplinary and encompassing structure guided by a highly experienced editor, the series is designed to enable researchers in both academia and industry stay abreast of developments in physical and theoretical chemistry. Brings together the most important aspects and recent advances in theoretical and computational chemistry Covers computational methods for small molecules, density-functional methods, and computational chemistry on personal and quantum computers Presents cutting-edge developments in theoretical and computational chemistry that are applicable to graduate students and research professionals in chemistry, physics, materials science and biochemistry

This updated and extended edition of the book combines the topics provided in the two parts of the previous editions as well as new topics. It is a comprehensive compilation covering most areas in mathematical and theoretical physics. The book provides a collection of problems together with their detailed solutions which will prove to be valuable to students as well as to researchers in the fields of mathematics, physics, engineering and other sciences. Each chapter provides a short introduction with the relevant definitions and notations. All relevant definitions are given. The topics range in difficulty from elementary to advanced. Almost all problems are solved in detail and most of the problems are self-contained. Stimulating supplementary problems are also provided in each chapter. Students can learn important principles and strategies required for problem solving. Teachers will also find this text useful as a supplement, since important concepts and techniques are developed in the problems. Introductory problems for both undergraduate and advanced undergraduate students are provided. More advanced problems together with their detailed solutions are collected, to meet the needs of graduate students and researchers. Problems included cover new fields in theoretical and mathematical physics such as tensor product, Lax representation, Bäcklund transformation, soliton equations, Hilbert space theory, uncertainty relation, entanglement, spin systems, Lie groups, Bose system, Fermi systems differential forms, Lie algebra valued differential forms, metric tensor fields, Hirota technique, Painlevé test, Bethe ansatz, Yang-Baxter relation, wavelets, gauge theory, differential geometry, string theory, chaos, fractals, complexity, ergodic theory, etc. A number of software implementations are also provided.

Starting from an undergraduate level, this book systematically develops the basics of • Calculus on manifolds, vector bundles, vector fields and differential forms, • Lie groups and Lie group actions, • Linear symplectic algebra and symplectic geometry, • Hamiltonian systems, symmetries and reduction, integrable systems and Hamilton-Jacobi theory. The topics listed under the first item are relevant for virtually all areas of mathematical physics. The second and third items constitute the link between abstract calculus and the theory of Hamiltonian systems. The last item provides an introduction to various aspects of this theory, including Morse families, the Maslov class and caustics. The book guides the reader from elementary differential geometry to advanced topics in the theory of Hamiltonian systems with the aim of making current research literature accessible. The style is that of a mathematical textbook,with full proofs given in the text or as exercises. The material is illustrated by numerous detailed examples, some of which are taken up several times for demonstrating how the methods evolve and interact.

This second edition of the outstanding monograph on coherent states by Combescure and Robert published in 2012 is enriched with figures, historical information and numerical simulations and enlarged with five new chapters presenting important rigorous results obtained in the recent years. The new chapters include various applications such as to the time dependent Schroedinger equation and the Ehrenfest time, to the growth of norms and energy exchanges, to chaotic systems and classical systems with quantum ergodic behavior, and to open quantum systems, and to adiabatic decoupling for multicomponent systems Overall, this book presents the various types of coherent states introduced and studied in the physics and mathematics literature and describes their properties together with application to quantum physics problems. It is intended to serve as a compendium on coherent states and their applications for physicists and mathematicians, stretching from the basic mathematical structures of generalized coherent states in the sense of Perelomov via the semiclassical evolution of coherent states to various specific examples of coherent states (hydrogen atom, quantum oscillator, etc.). It goes beyond existing books on coherent states in terms of a rigorous mathematical framework

This book is about scientific theories of a particular kind - theories of mathematical physics. Examples of such theories are classical and relativis tic particle mechanics, classical electrodynamics, classical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, hydrodynamics, and quantum mechanics. Roughly, these are theories in which a certain mathematical structure is employed to make statements about some fragment of the world. Most of the book is simply an elaboration of this rough characterization of theories of mathematical physics. It is argued that each theory of mathematical physics has associated with it a certain characteristic mathematical struc ture. This structure may be used in a variety of ways to make empirical claims about putative applications of the theory. Typically - though not necessarily - the way this structure is used in making such claims requires that certain elements in the structure play essentially different roles. Some playa "theoretical" role; others playa "non-theoretical" role. For example, in classical particle mechanics, mass and force playa theoretical role while position plays a non-theoretical role. Some attention is given to showing how this distinction can be drawn and describing precisely the way in which the theoretical and non-theoretical elements function in the claims of the theory. An attempt is made to say, rather precisely, what a theory of mathematical physics is and how you tell one such theory from anothe- what the identity conditions for these theories are.

In this highly readable book, H.S. Green, a former student of Max Born and well known as an author in physics and in the philosophy of science, presents a timely analysis of theoretical physics and related fundamental problems.