This book outlines the principles of thermoelectric generation and refrigeration from the discovery of the Seebeck and Peltier effects in the nineteenth century through the introduction of semiconductor thermoelements in the mid-twentieth century to the more recent development of nanostructured materials. It is shown that the efficiency of a thermoelectric generator and the coefficient of performance of a thermoelectric refrigerator can be related to a quantity known as the figure of merit. The figure of merit depends on the Seebeck coefficient and the ratio of the electrical to thermal conductivity. It is shown that expressions for these parameters can be derived from the band theory of solids. The conditions for favourable electronic properties are discussed. The methods for selecting materials with a low lattice thermal conductivity are outlined and the ways in which the scattering of phonons can be enhanced are described. The application of these principles is demonstrated for specific materials including the bismuth telluride alloys, bismuth antimony, alloys based on lead telluride, silicon-germanium and materials described as phonon-glass electron-crystals. It is shown that there can be advantages in using the less familiar transverse thermoelectric effects and the transverse thermomagnetic effects. Finally, practical aspects of thermoelectric generation and refrigeration are discussed. The book is aimed at readers who do not have a specialised knowledge of solid state physics.

Quantum mechanics is one of the most fascinating, and at the same time most controversial, branches of contemporary science. Disputes have accompanied this science since its birth and have not ceased to this day.

"Uncommon Paths in Quantum Physics" allows the reader to contemplate deeply some ideas and methods that are seldom met in the contemporary literature. Instead of widespread recipes of mathematical physics, based on the solutions of integro-differential equations, the book follows logical and partly intuitional derivations of non-commutative algebra. Readers can directly penetrate the abstract world of quantum mechanics.
First book in the market that treats this newly developed area of theoretical physics; the book will thus provide a fascinating overview of the prospective applications of this area, strongly founded on the theories and methods that it describes.Provides a solid foundation for the application of quantum theory to current physical problems arising in the interpretation of molecular spectra and important effects in quantum field theory.New insight into the physics of anharmonic vibrations, more feasible calculations with improved precision.

This book uses a hands-on approach to nonlinear dynamics using commonly available software, including the free dynamical systems software Xppaut, Matlab (or its free cousin, Octave) and the Maple symbolic algebra system. Detailed instructions for various common procedures, including bifurcation analysis using the version of AUTO embedded in Xppaut, are provided. This book also provides a survey that can be taught in a single academic term covering a greater variety of dynamical systems (discrete versus continuous time, finite versus infinite-dimensional, dissipative versus conservative) than is normally seen in introductory texts. Numerical computation and linear stability analysis are used as unifying themes throughout the book. Despite the emphasis on computer calculations, theory is not neglected, and fundamental concepts from the field of nonlinear dynamics such as solution maps and invariant manifolds are presented.

This book leapfrogs over the usual pedagogical progression, taking readers to a real understanding of quantum, relativistic, nuclear and particle physics. These areas are usually reserved for the end of one's undergraduate career or even for graduate students in physics programs, but do not need to be. The Scenic Route is really created out of the joy of science; it is not designed to produce problem-solving ability but rather is designed to reveal some physics that is just plain nifty. Guided by an understanding that much of modern physics is available to almost everyone with a moderate mathematical vocabulary, we lead the student through a short, trenchant tour of quantum physics, relativity, modern particle physics and its history.Related Link(s)

This book leapfrogs over the usual pedagogical progression, taking readers to a real understanding of quantum, relativistic, nuclear and particle physics. These areas are usually reserved for the end of one's undergraduate career or even for graduate students in physics programs, but do not need to be. The Scenic Route is really created out of the joy of science; it is not designed to produce problem-solving ability but rather is designed to reveal some physics that is just plain nifty. Guided by an understanding that much of modern physics is available to almost everyone with a moderate mathematical vocabulary, we lead the student through a short, trenchant tour of quantum physics, relativity, modern particle physics and its history.Related Link(s)

Replication, the independent confirmation of experimental results and conclusions, is regarded as the "gold standard" in science. This book examines the question of successful or failed replications and demonstrates that that question is not always easy to answer. It presents clear examples of successful replications, the discoveries of the Higgs boson and of gravity waves. Failed replications include early experiments on the Fifth Force, a proposed modification of Newton's Law of universal gravitation, and the measurements of "G," the constant in that law. Other case studies illustrate some of the difficulties and complexities in deciding whether a replication is successful or failed. It also discusses how that question has been answered. These studies include the "discovery" of the pentaquark in the early 2000s and the continuing search for neutrinoless double beta decay. It argues that although successful replication is the goal of scientific experimentation, it is not always easily achieved.

Feynman path integrals are ubiquitous in quantum physics, even if a large part of the scientific community still considers them as a heuristic tool that lacks a sound mathematical definition. Our book aims to refute this prejudice, providing an extensive and self-contained description of the mathematical theory of Feynman path integration, from the earlier attempts to the latest developments, as well as its applications to quantum mechanics.This second edition presents a detailed discussion of the general theory of complex integration on infinite dimensional spaces, providing on one hand a unified view of the various existing approaches to the mathematical construction of Feynman path integrals and on the other hand a connection with the classical theory of stochastic processes. Moreover, new chapters containing recent applications to several dynamical systems have been added.This book bridges between the realms of stochastic analysis and the theory of Feynman path integration. It is accessible to both mathematicians and physicists.

Hulchul: The Common Ingredient of MotionMotionMotionMotion and Time Author, Sohan Jain, proposes the following in the book: Instants of Motion, Instants of Time and Time Outage: Just as time has instants of time, motion has instants of motion, too. Instants of time and motion can be divided into three classes: pure instants of time, pure instants of motion, and composite instants of time and motion. The sequences of the three types of instants are interspersed into a single sequence of their occurrences. A body does not experience time during pure instants of motion, a phenomenon we will call time outage -the cause of time dilation. Time outage is not continuous; it is intermittent. Internal and external motion of a body and their inheritance: Each body has, generally, two kinds of motions: internal motion and external motion. A body goes, wherever its outer bodies go. An inner body inherits external motion of its outer bodies. An outer body inherits internal motion of its inner bodies. Photons and light do not inherit motion; may be, this is why their motions are independent of their sources. Prime ticks, the building blocks of time and any motion: Motion of a common body is not continuous; it is intermittent. Any kind of motion is perceived to be made of discrete, indivisible tiny movements, called prime ticks (p-ticks). P-ticks are to motion what elementary particles are to matter or what photons are to light. There is time only because there is motion. Prime ticks are events and imply motion. Events have concurrency, which implies time. Total concurrency hulchul, a universal constant: Concurrency events of external and internal p-ticks of a body are precisely the instants of motion and time. The sum of the two is called the total concurrency hulchul (c-hulchul). Total c-hulchul is the same for all bodies. The proposed theory possibly explains: Why a particle accelerator works. Why atoms have compartmentalized internal structure. Why lighter bodies, such as elementary particles and photons, have wavy straight motion rather than straight motion. The theory predicts: The sharing of an electron by two atoms is not continuous; it alternates between the two atoms.

The interface between Physics and Mathematics has been increasingly spotlighted by the discovery of algebraic, geometric, and topological properties in physical phenomena. A profound example is the relation of noncommutative geometry, arising from algebras in mathematics, to the so-called quantum groups in the physical viewpoint. Two apparently unrelated puzzles - the solubility of some lattice models in statistical mechanics and the integrability of differential equations for special problems - are encoded in a common algebraic condition, the Yang-Baxter equation. This backdrop motivates the subject of this book, which reveals Knot Theory as a highly intuitive formalism that is intimately connected to Quantum Field Theory and serves as a basis to String Theory.This book presents a didactic approach to knots, braids, links, and polynomial invariants which are powerful and developing techniques that rise up to the challenges in String Theory, Quantum Field Theory, and Statistical Physics. It introduces readers to Knot Theory and its applications through formal and practical (computational) methods, with clarity, completeness, and minimal demand of requisite knowledge on the subject. As a result, advanced undergraduates in Physics, Mathematics, or Engineering, will find this book an excellent and self-contained guide to the algebraic, geometric, and topological tools for advanced studies in theoretical physics and mathematics.

The interface between Physics and Mathematics has been increasingly spotlighted by the discovery of algebraic, geometric, and topological properties in physical phenomena. A profound example is the relation of noncommutative geometry, arising from algebras in mathematics, to the so-called quantum groups in the physical viewpoint. Two apparently unrelated puzzles - the solubility of some lattice models in statistical mechanics and the integrability of differential equations for special problems - are encoded in a common algebraic condition, the Yang-Baxter equation. This backdrop motivates the subject of this book, which reveals Knot Theory as a highly intuitive formalism that is intimately connected to Quantum Field Theory and serves as a basis to String Theory.This book presents a didactic approach to knots, braids, links, and polynomial invariants which are powerful and developing techniques that rise up to the challenges in String Theory, Quantum Field Theory, and Statistical Physics. It introduces readers to Knot Theory and its applications through formal and practical (computational) methods, with clarity, completeness, and minimal demand of requisite knowledge on the subject. As a result, advanced undergraduates in Physics, Mathematics, or Engineering, will find this book an excellent and self-contained guide to the algebraic, geometric, and topological tools for advanced studies in theoretical physics and mathematics.