Synopses & Reviews
Here is a much-needed basic text that covers a vital area in physics for beginning graduate students. The successful calculation of critical exponents for continuous phase transitions is one of the main achievements of theoretical physics over the last quarter-century. This was achieved through the use of scaling and field theoretic techniques which have since become standard equipment in many areas of physics, especially quantum field theory. This book provides a thorough introduction to these techniques, one that assumes only a sound undergraduate background in physics and mathematics. Continuous phase transitions are introduced, then the necessary statistical mechanics is summarized, followed by standard models, some exact solutions and techniques for numerical simulations. The real space renormalization group and mean field theory are next explained and illustrated. The last eight chapters cover the Landau-Ginzburg model, from physical motivation, through diagrammatic perturbation theory and renormalization to the renormalization group and the calculation of critical exponents above and below the critical temperature.
Review
"Provides a thorough introduction to the use of scaling and field-theoretic techniques that have become standard equipment in many areas of physics, especially quantum field theory. Intended for beginning graduates students, especially those with background in physics but no knowledge of quantum field theory (jargon is kept to a minimum)." --SciTech Book News
"Exceptional in two essential respects: first, it covers, in a self-contained manner, practically all aspects of the subject; and second, it is comprehensible from the beginning to the end for students with only a good undergraduate background in physics. The pedagogical level of this excellent textbook is very high. . . . frequent summaries throughout the book of main ideas as well as the arrangement of technical details and mathematical techniques in numerous boxes and appendices; this makes the book easily readable. . . . wonderful." --Condensed Matter News
"Deserves a high rating. The book is written very clearly and simply, which makes it accessible. Teachers and students either teaching or studying phase transitions . . . should find this book very useful. . . . young researchers working in the area of phase transitions will benefit from the detailed description of the renormalization group theory." --Journal of Statistical Physics
"The book is written very clearly and simply, which makes it accessible to anyone who passed the principle undergraduate physics courses."--Journal of Statistical Physics
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [448]-452) and index.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Statistical Mechanics
3. Models
4. Numerical Simulations
5. Real-Space Renormalization
6. Mean-Field Theory
7. The Landau-Ginzburg Model
8. Diagrammatic Perturbation Theory
9. Renormalization
10. The Calculation of Critical Exponents for T> Tc
11. The Renormalization Group
12. The Renormalization Group at T=/Tc
13. The Lower Critical Dimension
14. Universality