Critical phenomena is one of the most exciting areas of modern physics. This 2007 book provides a thorough but economic introduction into the principles and techniques of the theory of critical phenomena and the renormalization group, from the perspective of modern condensed matter physics. Assuming basic knowledge of quantum and statistical mechanics, the book discusses phase transitions in magnets, superfluids, superconductors, and gauge field theories. Particular attention is given to topics such as gauge field fluctuations in superconductors, the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, duality transformations, and quantum phase transitions - all of which are at the forefront of physics research. This book contains numerous problems of varying degrees of difficulty, with solutions. These problems provide readers with a wealth of material to test their understanding of the subject. It is ideal for graduate students and more experienced researchers in the fields of condensed matter physics, statistical physics, and many-body physics.

-Effects of Electric Fields on Block Copolymer Nanostructures By H. G. Schoberth, V. Olszowka, K. Schmidt, and A. Boeker -Nanopattern Evolution in Block Copolymer Films: Experiment, Simulations and Challenges By L. Tsarkova, G.J. Agur Sevink, and G. Krausch -Controlled Wrinkling as a Novel Method for the Fabrication of Patterned Surfaces By A. Schweikart, A. Horn, A. Boeker, and A. Fery -Layered Systems Under Shear Flow By D. Svensek and H. R. Brand -Thermal Diffusion in Polymer Blends: Criticality and Pattern Formation By W. Koehler, A. Krekhov, and W. Zimmermann -Foaming of Microstructured and Nanostructured Polymer Blends By H. Ruckdaschel, P. Gutmann, V. Altstadt, H. Schmalz, and A.H.E. Muller

There have been many recent and important developments based on effective field theory and the renormalization group in atomic, condensed matter, nuclear and high-energy physics. These powerful and versatile methods provide novel approaches to study complex and strongly interacting many-body systems in a controlled manner. The six extensive lectures gathered in this volume combine selected introductory and interdisciplinary presentations focused on recent applications of effective field theory and the renormalization group to many-body problems in such diverse fields as BEC, DFT, extreme matter, Fermi-liquid theory and gauge theories. Primarily aimed at graduate students and junior researchers, they offer an opportunity to explore fundamental physics across subfield boundaries at an early stage in their careers.

Critical regimes of two-phase flows with a polydisperse solid phase form the basis of such widespread industrial processes as separation of various powdery materials and minerals dressing. It is impossible to describe such complicated flows analytically. Therefore, this study concentrates on invariants experimentally revealed and theoretically grounded for such flows.

This approach can be compared with the situation in gases, where in order to determine principal parameters of their state, one does not need to measure the kinetic energy and velocity of each molecule and find its contribution to the temperature and pressure. These parameters are determined in a simple way for the system on the whole.

A novel conception of two-phase flows allowing the formulation of their statistical parameters is physically substantiated. On the basis of the invariants and these parameters, a comprehensive method of estimating and predicting mass transfer in such flows is developed.

It is noteworthy that the presented results are mostly phenomenological. Such an approach can be successfully extended to the separation of liquids, gases and isotopes.

The book is intended for students and specialists engaged in chemical technology, mineral dressing, ceramics, microelectronics, pharmacology, power generation, thermal engineering and other fields in which flows carrying solid particles are used in the technological process.

This eagerly awaited textbook covers everything the graduate student in probability wants to know about Brownian motion, as well as the latest research in the area. Starting with the construction of Brownian motion, the book then proceeds to sample path properties like continuity and nowhere differentiability. Notions of fractal dimension are introduced early and are used throughout the book to describe fine properties of Brownian paths. The relation of Brownian motion and random walk is explored from several viewpoints, including a development of the theory of Brownian local times from random walk embeddings. Stochastic integration is introduced as a tool and an accessible treatment of the potential theory of Brownian motion clears the path for an extensive treatment of intersections of Brownian paths. An investigation of exceptional points on the Brownian path and an appendix on SLE processes, by Oded Schramm and Wendelin Werner, lead directly to recent research themes.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary basic research, emerging technology, and commercial and industrial applications associated with the electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials. This presentation of the subject includes an historical survey, the underlying theory of electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, and the colloidal deposition of materials. This is followed by an assessment of the experimental equipment and procedures for electrophoretic and dielectrophoretic aggregation, manipulation, and deposition of nanoparticles, nanotubes, and other nanomaterials. Additional chapters explore the specific science and technology of electrophoretic film formation, using widely studied and application-driven nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, luminescent nanocrystals, and nano-ceramics. The concluding chapters explore industrial applications and procedures associated with electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials.

This comprehensive treatise reviews, for the first time, all the essential work over the past 160 years on the photoelastic and the closely related linear and quadratic electro-optic effects in isotropic and crystalline mate rials. Emphasis is placed on the phenomenal growth of the subject during the past decade and a half with the advent of the laser, with the use of high-frequency acousto-optic and electro-optic techniques, and with the discovery of new piezoelectric materials, all of which have offered a feedback to the wide interest in these two areas of solid-state physics. The first of these subjects, the photoelastic effect, was discovered by Sir David Brewster in 1815. He first found the effect in gels and subsequently found it in glasses and crystals. While the effect remained of academic interest for nearly a hundred years, it became of practical value when Coker and Filon applied it to measuring stresses in machine parts. With one photograph and subsequent analysis, the stress in any planar model can be determined. By taking sections of a three-dimensional model, complete three-dimensional stresses can be found. Hence this effect is widely applied in industry."

This volume, the proceedings of a 1998 international workshop, provides experimental evidence of the effects of correlation on the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of materials, as well as the theoretical/computational methodology that has been developed for their study.

Time-Resolved Light-Scattering from Excitons investigates exciton states in semiconductors and their relaxation processes by time-resolved light-scattering.
The reader will gain both a clear understanding of the theoretical aspects of this method and profound knowledge of the experimental state-of-the-art. The development of quantum-beat spectroscopy for excitons is also discussed.

The properties of soft-matter thin films (e.g. liquid films, polymer coatings, Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers) nowadays play an important role in materials science. They are also very exciting with respect to fundamental questions: In thin films, liquids and polymers may be considered as trapped in a quasi-two-dimensional geometry. This confined geometry is expected to alter the properties and structures of these materials considerably. This volume is dedicated to the scattering of x-rays by soft-matter interfaces. X-ray scattering under grazing angles is the only tool to investigating these materials on atomic and mesoscopic length scales. A review of the field is presented with many examples.

Over the past 40 years, Rotational Isomeric State (RIS) models for hundreds of polymer structures have been developed. The RIS approach is now available in several software packages. The user is often faced with the time-consuming task of finding appropriate RIS parameters from the literature. This book aims at easing this step by providing a comprehensive overview of the models available. It reviews the literature from the first applications of RIS models to the end of 1994, comprises synthetic as well as naturally orccuring macromolecules, and tabulates all the pertinent features of published models. It will help readers, even when not very familiar with the method, to take advantage of this computationally efficient way of assessing the conformational properties of macromolecular systems.

This book reviews recent advances in polymer swelling resulting from the use of novel microporous composite films. It offers a new approach to understanding sorption processes in polymer-liquid systems based on the molecular structures of the sorbed molecules and the repeat unit of the sorbent polymer. It is shown how the adsorption parameters obtained in these studies relate meaningfully with the Flory-Huggins interaction parameters. This implies that these adsorption parameters have relevance not only for swelling and drying of polymers, but also for other phenomena in which molecular sorption plays an important role, such as in chromatography and in membrane permeation.

Most of the untreated surfaces of polymers used in industry are not hydrophilic but hydrophobic. It is, therefore, difficult to bond these nonpolar polymer sur faces directly to other substances like adhesives, printing inks, and paints because they generally consist of polar compounds. On the other hand, polymer surfaces generally adsorb proteins when brought into direct contact with a bio logical system, resulting in cell attachment or platelet aggregation. The protein adsorption and attachment of biological components trigger a subsequent series of mostly adverse biological reactions toward the polymeric materials. Therefore, the technologies for surface modification of polymers or regulation of the polymer surface interaction with other substances have been of prime importance in polymer applications from the advent of polymer industries. Some of the technologies have been directed to introduction of new function alities onto polymer surfaces. The new functionalities introduced include improved surface hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, bio compatibility, conductivi ty, anti-fogging, anti-fouling, grazing, surface hardness, surface roughness, adhesion, lubrication, and antistatic property. Theoretically, there is a large dif ference in properties between the surface and the bulk of a material and only the outermost surface is enough to be taken into consideration when the sur face properties are concerned. However, this is not the case for polymer surfaces, as the physical structure of the outermost polymer surface is generally not fixed but continuously changing with time due to the microscopic Brownian motion of polymer segments."

Self-assembly is undoubtedly a topic of special interest in current chemistry and is related to very wide scientific areas. Recent progress in this field seems to be featured by the construction of well-defined discrete systems exploiting complementary hydrogen bonding as well as coordination bonding. Seven leading international experts introduce the current topics in this very interesting field, focusing on two major subjects: organic assemblies and inorganic assemblies. All researchers who are interested in molecular recognition, material science, nanotechnology, and supramolecular chemistry will welcome this book as an inspiring source for creative research ideas.

This volume contains the proceedings of The Second Polish-US Conf- ence on High Temperature Superconductivity which was held August 18-21, 1998 in Karpacz, Poland. The conference followed The First Polish-US C- ference on High Temperature Superconductivity organized in 1995, proce- ings of which were published by Springer-Verlag in 1996 (Recent Devel- ments in High Temperature Superconductivity, Lecture Notes in Physics 475). High Temperature Superconductivity (HTSC) in complex copper oxides has become a household name after twelve years of intense research following its discovery in 1986 by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Miiller. Because of the rapid growth of the HTSC field, there is a need for periodic summary and conden- tion both for scientists working in the field and, especially, for young resear- ers entering the field of oxide materials. Following the First Conference, it was recognized that an extended format of lectures perfectly satisfied that need, providing adequate time for experts from the international community to fully introduce and develop complex ideas. Thus, the format of the Second Conference brought together by cooperating scientists from the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Science at Wroctaw, Northern Illinois University, and Argonne National Laboratory remained mostly unchanged. Again, we were delighted to receive enthusiastic responses from distinguished US and Polish scientists who were invited to p- ticipate.

Universality is one of the fascinating features of condensed matter physies: it is the property whereby systems of radieally different composition and structure ex- hibit similar behavior. In the mid-1960s the word entered usage to express the fact that the equations of state of several substances could be mapped onto one another near the critical point: critieal universality. Renormalization group theory in the early 1970s provided both an explanation and a sharper definition of universality. Systems with similar behavior - universality classes - correspond to the same fixed point of a renormalization group transformation. A number of brilliant con- tributions showed how the same concepts could be applied to non-thermodynamie systems, such as the statisties of self-avoiding walks or of connected clusters on a lattice. A few years later it was realized that chaotie dynamieal systems mayaiso exhibit some degree of universality, the paradigmatic example being the period doubling cascade in the iterated maps of the unit interval into itself.

Understanding the structural organization of materials at the atomic scale is a lo- standing challenge of condensed matter physics and chemistry. By reducing the size of synthesized systems down to the nanometer, or by constructing them as collection of nanoscale size constitutive units, researchers are faced with the task of going beyond models and interpretations based on bulk behavior. Among the wealth of new materials having in common a "nanoscale" ngerprint, one can encounter systems intrinsically extending to a few nanometers (clusters of various compo- tions), systems featuring at least one spatial dimension not repeated periodically in space and assemblies of nanoscale grains forming extended compounds. For all these cases, there is a compelling need of an atomic-scale information combining knowledge of the topology of the system and of its bonding behavior, based on the electronic structure and its interplay with the atomic con gurations. Recent dev- opments in computer architectures and progresses in available computational power have made possible the practical realization of a paradygma that appeared totally unrealistic at the outset of computer simulations in materials science. This consists inbeing able to parallel (at least inprinciple) any experimental effort by asimulation counterpart, this occurring at the scale most appropriate to complement and enrich the experiment.

On first acquaintance the electric arc discharge appears to be both visually attractive and a relatively simple phenomena to understand. To those of us engaged in prolonged study of this discharge, it remains a constantly exciting phenomena but we become only too aware of its complex nature and the difficulties in interpreting its bulk properties. This is particu larly true when the arc exists in a practical device and is subjected therefore to extreme conditions. In recent years the possibilities for the beginning of a fuller understanding of the complexities of the arc has arisen out of the excellent research and development work of scientists and engineers throughout the world. Much of this work has been stimulated not only by the need for the development of practical devices but also by the interest in thermonuclear fusion, mag netohydrodynamic generation and space exploration. In much of this work, the arc discharge has been a common feature as a source of study of high temperature plasma. As a result of this increased interest in the arc, the expert and would-be expert is now faced with the problem of assessing extensive newly published information on arc properties. Thus there is the need for texts which present to the engineer and researcher a review and summary of the present situation. This book is a valuable contribution to this task."

Although the subject of wave propagation in solids has a long history, the classical theory of elastic waves having been developed in the nine- teenth century by STOKES, POISSON, RAYLEIGH and KELVIN, the last two decades have seen a remarkable revival of interest in this subject among both theoreticians and experimenters. There' are a number of reasons for this; first, experimental methods for the generation and detection of high frequency mechanical waves have become available only with the advent of electronic techniques and of high speed photo- graphic recording apparatus. Secondly, the appearan

Some years ago it was not uncommon for materials scientists, even within the electronics industry, to work relatively independently of device engi neers. Neither group had a means to determine whether or not the materials had been optimized for application in specific device structures. This mode of operation is no longer desirable or possible. The introduction of a new material, or a new form of a well known material, now requires a close collaborative effort between individuals who represent the disciplines of materials preparation, materials characterization, device design and pro cessing, and the analysis of the device operation to establish relationships between device performance and the materials properties. The develop ment of devices in heteroepitaxial thin films has advanced to the present state specifically through the unusually close and active interchange among individuals with the appropriate backgrounds. We find no book available which brings together a description of these diverse disciplines needed for the development of such a materials-device technology. Therefore, the authors of this book, who have worked in close collaboration for a number of years, were motivated to collect their experiences in this volume. Over the years there has been a logical flow of activity beginning with heteroepi taxial silicon and progressing through the III-V and II-VI compounds. For each material the early emphasis on material preparation and characteriza tion later shifted to an emphasis on the analysis of the device characteristics specific to the materials involved.

Cryogenics, a term commonly used to refer to very low temperatures, had its beginning in the latter half of the last century when man learned, for the first time, how to cool objects to a temperature lower than had ever existed na tu rally on the face of the earth. The air we breathe was first liquefied in 1883 by a Polish scientist named Olszewski. Ten years later he and a British scientist, Sir James Dewar, liquefied hydrogen. Helium, the last of the so-caBed permanent gases, was finally liquefied by the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes in 1908. Thus, by the beginning of the twentieth century the door had been opened to astrange new world of experimentation in which aB substances, except liquid helium, are solids and where the absolute temperature is only a few microdegrees away. However, the point on the temperature scale at which refrigeration in the ordinary sense of the term ends and cryogenics begins has ne ver been weB defined. Most workers in the field have chosen to restrict cryogenics to a tem perature range below -150 DegreesC (123 K). This is a reasonable dividing line since the normal boiling points of the more permanent gases, such as helium, hydrogen, neon, nitrogen, oxygen, and air, lie below this temperature, while the more common refrigerants have boiling points that are above this temperature. Cryogenic engineering is concerned with the design and development of low-temperature systems and components.

The first part is devoted to colloidal particles and stochastic dynamics, mainly concerned with recent authoritative results in the study of interactions between colloidal particles and transport properties in colloids and ferrocolloids. Recent advances in non-equilibrium statistical physics, such as stochastic resonance, Brownian motors, ratchets and noise-induced transport are also reported. The second part deals with biological systems and polymers. Here, standard simulation methodology to treat diffusional dynamics of multi-protein systems and proton transport in macromolecules is presented. Results of nervous system, spectroscopy of biological membrane models, and Monte Carlo simulations of polymers chains are also discussed. The third part is concerned with granular materials and quantum systems, in particular an effective-medium theory for a random system is reported. Additionally, a comprehensive treatment of spin and charge order in the vortex lattice of the cuprates, both theoretical and experimental, is included. Thermodynamics analogies between Bose-Einstein condensation and black-body radiation are also presented.The last part of the book contains recent developments of certain topics of liquid crystals and molecular fluids, including nonequilibrium thermal light scattering from nematic liquid crystals, relaxation in the kinetic Ising model on the periodic in homogeneous chain, models for thermotropic liquid-crystals, thermodynamic properties of fluids with discrete potentials as well as of fluids determined from the speed of sound effective potentials, and second viral coefficient for polar fluids.