Thin rare earth (RE) oxide films are emerging materials for microelectronic, nanoelectronic, and spintronic applications. The state-of-the-art of thin film deposition techniques as well as the structural, physical, chemical, and electrical properties of thin RE oxide films and of their interface with semiconducting substrates are discussed. The aim is to identify proper methodologies for the development of RE oxides thin films and to evaluate their effectiveness as innovative materials in different applications.

A "Wall Street Journal" Best Book of 2013
If you ever regretted not taking physics in college--or simply want to know how to think like a physicist--this is the book for you. In this bestselling introduction, physicist Leonard Susskind and hacker-scientist George Hrabovsky offer a first course in physics and associated math for the ardent amateur. Challenging, lucid, and concise, "The Theoretical Minimum" provides a tool kit for amateur scientists to learn physics at their own pace.

This thesis addresses one of the most fundamental challenges for modern science: how can the brain as a network of neurons process information, how can it create and store internal models of our world, and how can it infer conclusions from ambiguous data? The author addresses these questions with the rigorous language of mathematics and theoretical physics, an approach that requires a high degree of abstraction to transfer results of wet lab biology to formal models. The thesis starts with an in-depth description of the state-of-the-art in theoretical neuroscience, which it subsequently uses as a basis to develop several new and original ideas. Throughout the text, the author connects the form and function of neuronal networks. This is done in order to achieve functional performance of biological brains by transferring their form to synthetic electronics substrates, an approach referred to as neuromorphic computing. The obvious aspect that this transfer can never be perfect but necessarily leads to performance differences is substantiated and explored in detail. The author also introduces a novel interpretation of the firing activity of neurons. He proposes a probabilistic interpretation of this activity and shows by means of formal derivations that stochastic neurons can sample from internally stored probability distributions. This is corroborated by the author's recent findings, which confirm that biological features like the high conductance state of networks enable this mechanism. The author goes on to show that neural sampling can be implemented on synthetic neuromorphic circuits, paving the way for future applications in machine learning and cognitive computing, for example as energy-efficient implementations of deep learning networks. The thesis offers an essential resource for newcomers to the field and an inspiration for scientists working in theoretical neuroscience and the future of computing.

The Compendium of Theoretical Physics contains the canonical curriculum of theoretical physics. From classical mechanics over electrodynamics, quantum mechanics and statistical physics/thermodynamics, all topics are treated axiomatic-deductively and confimed by exercises, solutions and short summaries.

This book explores finite element methods for incompressible flow problems: Stokes equations, stationary Navier-Stokes equations and time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. It focuses on numerical analysis, but also discusses the practical use of these methods and includes numerical illustrations. It also provides a comprehensive overview of analytical results for turbulence models. The proofs are presented step by step, allowing readers to more easily understand the analytical techniques.

This book, written by experts in the fields of atomic physics and nonlinear science, covers the important developments in a special aspect of Bose-Einstein condensation, namely nonlinear phenomena in condensates. Topics covered include bright, dark, gap and multidimensional solitons; vortices; vortex lattices; optical lattices; multicomponent condensates; mathematical methods/rigorous results; and the beyond-the-mean-field approach.

This book is a self contained course in electromagnetic theory suitable for senior physics and electrical engineering students as well as graduate students whose past has not prepared them well for books such as Jackson or Landau and Lifschitz. The text is liberally sprinkled with worked examples illustrating the application of the theory to various physical problems. This new edition features improved accuracy and readability, added and further clarified examples, plus additional sections on Schwarz-Christoffel mappings. Making the book more self sufficient, an appendix on orthogonal function expansions and the derivation of Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials as well as derivation of their generating functions are each included. The number of exercises has also been increased by 45 over the previous edition.

This book stresses the unity of electromagnetic theory with electric and magnetic fields developed in parallel. SI units are used throughout and considerable use is made of tensor notation and the Levi-Cevita symbol. To more closely display the parallelism, extensive use is made of the scalar magnetic potential particularly in dealing with the Laplace and Poisson equation. 85 worked problems illustrate the theory. Conformal mappings are dealt with in some detail. Relevant mathematical material is provided in appendices.

For information regarding Solutions Manual, please contact the author Jack Vanderlinde at: [email protected] or see "Related Links - Solution Manual."

This volume, setting out the theory of positive maps as it stands today, reflects the rapid growth in this area of mathematics since it was recognized in the 1990s that these applications of C*-algebras are crucial to the study of entanglement in quantum theory. The author, a leading authority on the subject, sets out numerous results previously unpublished in book form. In addition to outlining the properties and structures of positive linear maps of operator algebras into the bounded operators on a Hilbert space, he guides readers through proofs of the Stinespring theorem and its applications to inequalities for positive maps.

The text examines the maps positivity properties, as well as their associated linear functionals together with their density operators. It features special sections on extremal positive maps and Choi matrices. In sum, this is a vital publication that covers a full spectrum of matters relating to positive linear maps, of which a large proportion is relevant and applicable to today s quantum information theory. The latter sections of the book present the material in finite dimensions, while the text as a whole appeals to a wider and more general readership by keeping the mathematics as elementary as possible throughout."

This book contains selected papers of Jurg Frohlich, one of the most outstanding mathematical physicists of our time, on the subject of statistical mechanics. In an extensive introduction, Jurg Frohlich sets his results into a wider context and gives precious information on the genesis of his work from both a historical and a methodological perspective. It is not only an overview of current and future research directions in statistical mechanics, but also relates this subject with other branches of contemporary physics and mathematics.

All papers in this collection bear Jurg Frohlich s signature in terms of a delicate balance between mathematical rigor and physical significance. They cover thirty years of his work on statistical physics, ranging from the most basic foundational questions in atomism and thermodynamics via the description of phase transitions and critical phenomena up to disordered systems and the study of many-body systems in condensed matter physics, including the quantum Hall effect. The wide range of topics covered in this compendium reflects the breadth of Jurg Frohlich s interests, and the last chapters reveal an outlook towards some of his more recent research areas."

The origin of the word synchronization is a greek root, meaning "to share the common time." The original meaning of synchronization has been maintained up to now in the colloquial use of this word, as agreement or correlation in time of different processes. Historically, the analysis of synchronization phenomena in the evolution of dynamical systems has been a subject of active investigation since the earlier days of physics.
Recently, the search for synchronization has moved to chaotic systems. In this latter framework, the appearance of collective (synchronized) dynamics is, in general, not trivial. Indeed, a dynamical system is called chaotic whenever its evolution sensitively depends on the initial conditions. The above said implies that two trajectories emerging from two different closeby initial conditions separate exponentially in the course of the time. As a result, chaotic systems intrinsically defy synchronization, because even two identical systems starting from slightly different initial conditions would evolve in time in a unsynchronized manner (the differences in the systems' states would grow exponentially). This is a relevant practical problem, insofar as experimental initial conditions are never known perfectly. The setting of some collective (synchronized) behavior in coupled chaotic systems has therefore a great importance and interest.
The subject of the present book is to summarize the recent discoveries involving the study of synchronization in coupled chaotic systems.
Not always the word synchronization is taken as having the same colloquial meaning, and one needs to specify what synchrony means in all particular contexts in which we will describe its emergence.
The book describes the complete synchronization phenomenon, both for low and for high dimensional situations, and illustrates possible applications in the field of communicating with chaos.
Furthermore, the book summarizes the concepts of phase synchronization, lag synchronization, imperfect phase synchronization, and generalized synchronization, describing a general transition scenario between a hierarchy of different types of synchronization for chaotic oscillators.
These concepts are extended to the case of structurally different systems, of uncoupled systems subjected to a common external source, of space extended nonlinearly evolving fields, and of dynamical units networking via a complex wiring of connections, giving thus a summary of all possible situations that are encountered in real life and in technology.
.Technical, but not specialistic language
.About 100 illustrative Figures
.Full overview on synchronization phenomena
.Review of the main tools and techniques used in the field
.Paradigmatic examples and experiments illustrating the basic concepts
.Full Reference to the main publications existing in the literature on the subject"

Solar Cells and Energy Materials takes an in-depth look at the basics behind energy, solar energy as well as future and alternative energy materials. The author presents insights into the current state-of-the-art of solar cells, including their basic science, inorganic, organic and Perovskite-type cells. The author also gives an outlook into next generation energy materials and sources. The focus of this book is not only the presentation of available and developing energy materials, but their thorough examination and characterization. In addition to solar cell technology and the promising application of nanostructures like quantum dots, the author discusses the science and potential of nuclear fusion materials and other energy materials like hydrogen storage materials, BN nanomaterials, alternative fuel cells and SIC FET.

This book collects the proceedings of the Algebra, Geometry and Mathematical Physics Conference, held at the University of Haute Alsace, France, October 2011. Organized in the four areas of algebra, geometry, dynamical symmetries and conservation laws and mathematical physics and applications, the book covers deformation theory and quantization; Hom-algebras and n-ary algebraic structures; Hopf algebra, integrable systems and related math structures; jet theory and Weil bundles; Lie theory and applications; non-commutative and Lie algebra and more.

The papers explore the interplay between research in contemporary mathematics and physics concerned with generalizations of the main structures of Lie theory aimed at quantization and discrete and non-commutative extensions of differential calculus and geometry, non-associative structures, actions of groups and semi-groups, non-commutative dynamics, non-commutative geometry and applications in physics and beyond.

The book benefits a broad audience of researchers and advanced students.

This book is written for students and other interested readers as a look inside the diverse range of applications for physics outside of the scientific research environment. This first volume covers several different areas of the arts and design ranging from stage lighting to sculpting. The author has interviewed experts in each area to explain how physics and technology impact their work. These are all useful examples of how physics encountered in taught courses relates to the real world.

Conceived as a reference manual for practicing engineers, instrument designers, service technicians and engineering students. The related fields of physics, mechanics and mathematics are frequently incorporated to enhance the understanding of the subject matter. Historical anecdotes as far back as Hellenistic times to modern scientists help illustrate in an entertaining manner ideas ranging from impractical inventions in history to those that have changed our lives.

The Laplace transform is a useful mathematical tool encountered by students of physics, engineering, and applied mathematics, within a wide variety of important applications in mechanics, electronics, thermodynamics and more. However, students often struggle with the rationale behind these transforms, and the physical meaning of the transform results. Using the same approach that has proven highly popular in his other Student's Guides, Professor Fleisch addresses the topics that his students have found most troublesome; providing a detailed and accessible description of Laplace transforms and how they relate to Fourier and Z-transforms. Written in plain language and including numerous, fully worked examples. The book is accompanied by a website containing a rich set of freely available supporting materials, including interactive solutions for every problem in the text, and a series of podcasts in which the author explains the important concepts, equations, and graphs of every section of the book.

The fourth edition of this successful textbook presents a comprehensive introduction to statistical and numerical methods for the evaluation of empirical and experimental data. Equal weight is given to statistical theory and practical problems. The concise mathematical treatment of the subject matter is illustrated by many examples and for the present edition a library of Java programs has been developed. It comprises methods of numerical data analysis and graphical representation as well as many example programs and solutions to programming problems. The programs (source code, Java classes and documentation) and extensive appendices to the main text are available for free download from the book's page at www.springer.com.

ContentsProbabilities. Random variables.Random numbers and the Monte Carlo Method.Statistical distributions (binomial, Gauss, Poisson). Samples. Statistical tests.Maximum Likelihood. Least Squares. Regression. Minimization.Analysis of Variance. Time series analysis.

Audience

The book is conceived both as an introduction and as a work of reference. In particular it addresses itself to students, scientists and practitioners in science and engineering as a help in the analysis of their datain laboratory courses, in working for bachelor or master degrees, in thesis work, in research and professional work.

""The book is concise, but gives a sufficiently rigorous mathematical treatment of practical statistical methods for data analysis; it can be of great use to all who are involved with data analysis." "Physicalia""

.".".Serves as a nice reference guide for any scientist interested in the fundamentals of data analysis on the computer." "The American Statistician

""This lively and erudite treatise covers the theory of the main statistical tools and their practical applications...a first rate university textbook, and good background material for the practicing physicist." "Physics Bulletin

The Author

Siegmund Brandt is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Siegen. With his group he worked on experiments in elementary-particle physics at the research centers DESY in Hamburg and CERN in Geneva in which the analysis of the experimental data plays an important role. He is author or coauthor of textbooks which have appeared in ten languages.

Physics is the science that studies how our universe behaves: from the tiny subatomic world of particle physics to the cosmos of astrophysics and so much more in between.Mind Maps: Physics helps the reader to understand the importance of physics and to learn its language by exploring ten mind maps, which are powerful tools for visual learning and understanding. Complex ideas are explained using text and illustrations that are easy to follow. Featuring specially commissioned, hand-drawn maps, diagrams and doodles, together with an expert analysis of concepts, this book provides a wealth of visual information to explore and discover.

The proceedings of the conference is devoted mainly to the mathematically rigorous approaches to the problems of quantum mechanics. The spectral properties of Schroedinger operators, including those on regions with a boundary and their generalizations, scattering theory and resonances, time-dependent Hamiltonians and quantum chaos, problems of statistical physics like spin systems, and others are discussed.

Mean field approximation has been adopted to describe macroscopic phenomena from microscopic overviews. It is still in progress; fluid mechanics, gauge theory, plasma physics, quantum chemistry, mathematical oncology, non-equilibirum thermodynamics. spite of such a wide range of scientific areas that are concerned with the mean field theory, a unified study of its mathematical structure has not been discussed explicitly in the open literature. The benefit of this point of view on nonlinear problems should have significant impact on future research, as will be seen from the underlying features of self-assembly or bottom-up self-organization which is to be illustrated in a unified way. The aim of this book is to formulate the variational and hierarchical aspects of the equations that arise in the mean field theory from macroscopic profiles to microscopic principles, from dynamics to equilibrium, and from biological models to models that arise from chemistry and physics.

This volume celebrates the tenth edition of the Brazilian School of Probability (EBP), held at IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, from July 30 to August 4, 2006, jointly with the 69th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. It was indeed an exceptional occasion for the local community working in this ?eld. The EBP, ?rst envisioned and organized in 1997, has since developed into an annual meeting with two or three advanced mini-courses and a high level conference. This volume grew up from invited or contributed articles by researchers that during the last ten yearshave been participating in the BrazilianSchool of Pro- bility. As a consequence, its content partially re?ects the topics that have pred- inated in the activities during the various editions of the School, with a strong - peal that comes from statistical mechanics and areasof concentrationthat include interacting particlesystems, percolation, random media anddisordered systems. All articles of this volume were peer-refereed.

A century after his birth, Ettore Majorana is rightfully considered one of the greatest physicists of the first half of the last century. With this volume the Italian Physical Society presents a collection of Ettore Majorana's scientific papers in the original language and, for the first time -- with three exceptions -- translated into English. Each paper is then followed by a comment in English of an expert in the scientific field.

The book you hold in your hands is the outcome of the "2014 Interdisciplinary Symposium on Complex Systems" held in the historical city of Florence. The book consists of 37 chapters from 4 areas of Physical Modeling of Complex Systems, Evolutionary Computations, Complex Biological Systems and Complex Networks. All 4 parts contain contributions that give interesting point of view on complexity in different areas in science and technology. The book starts with a comprehensive overview and classification of complexity problems entitled Physics in the world of ideas: Complexity as Energy" , followed by chapters about complexity measures and physical principles, its observation, modeling and its applications, to solving various problems including real-life applications. Further chapters contain recent research about evolution, randomness and complexity, as well as complexity in biological systems and complex networks. All selected papers represent innovative ideas, philosophical overviews and state-of-the-art discussions on aspects of complexity. The book will be useful as an instructional material for senior undergraduate and entry-level graduate students in computer science, physics, applied mathematics and engineering-type work in the area of complexity. The book will also be valuable as a resource of knowledge for practitioners who want to apply complexity to solve real-life problems in their own challenging applications.

An entirely new theory of the creation of the universe is presented based upon energy being a real substance.