Defects and geometrical patterns embedded in orderly arrays of atoms and molecules explain important everyday phenomena such as why soap is slippery, why steel is strong, and how a liquid crystal display device works. An understanding of how to pin vortex defects in superconductors is essential for applications such as magnetic levitation and improved magnetic resonance imaging devised for medical diagnosis. This book discusses the crucial role played by defects and geometry in disrupting order in solids, superconductors, superfluids, liquid crystals and polymers.
Contents
1. Fluctuations, renormalization and universality; 2. Defect mediated phase transitions; 3. Order, frustration; 4. The structure and statistical mechanics of glass; 5. The statistical mechanics of crumpled membranes; 6. Defects in superfluids, superconductors and membranes; 7. Vortex line fluctuations in superconductors from elementary quantum mechanics; 8. Correlations and transport in vortex liquids; 9. The statistical mechanics of directed polymers.
Reviews
"The book provides an admirable overview of Nelson's achievements and of their relation to other works." Physics Today
"This book exposes the common grounds of several apparently disconnected problems of actual relevance in condensed matter theory. This is an ambitious goal that the book accomplishes quite successfully.... The book by Dr. Nelson will be welcomed by the scientific community, and it is certainly a necessary item in the library of any condensed matter physicist working on this and related areas." Journal of Statistical Physics
"...his excellent surveys in the proceedings of summer schools, workshops, and conferences from 1983 to 1996. Defects and Geometry in Condensed Matter Physics is primarily a compilation (of Nelson's surveys)....It is valuable to have all these contributions collected in one volume." Physics Today
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