This book covers some fundamental aspects and frontiers in non-equilibrium physics and soft matter research. Apart from the basic knowledge on nonlinear statistic physics, dynamics, computer simulations, and main approaches and emerging systems in soft matter research, particular attention is devoted to new conceptual flexible functional materials and the enriching areas, such as silk meso-molecular materials, molecular gels, liquid crystals, flexible electronics and new types of catalysis, etc. One of the main characteristics of this book is to start with the structure formation dynamics and the correlation between the structures and macroscopic performance. This lays down the foundation for the mesoscopic materials design and functionalization. The book is intended for upper undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers who are interested in soft matter researches. As one of main references, the basic principles and technologies of computer simulations and experimental methods adopted in soft matter research are also explained. Illustrations and tables are included in this book to improve the readability, and examples and exercises are added to help understanding.

For the past decade or more, much of cell biology research has been focused on determining the key molecules involved in different cellular processes, an analytical problem that has been amenable to biochemical and genetic approaches. Now, we face an integrative problem of understanding how all of these molecules work together to produce living cells, a challenge that requires using quantitative approaches to model the complex interactions within a cell, and testing those models with careful quantitative measurements. This book is an introductory overview of the various approaches, methods, techniques, and models employed in quantitative cell biology, which are reviewed in greater detail in the other volumes in this e-book series. Particular emphasis is placed on the goals and purpose of quantitative analysis and modeling, and the special challenges that cell biology holds for understanding life at the physical level.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction in to the various theories of colour and how they developed over the centuries and millennia. As colour is the perception of light by our brains, the book captures not only the physical phenomena but also psychological and philosophical aspects of colours. It starts with ancient studies of Greek philosophers and their insights into light and mirrors, then reviews the theory of colors in the middle ages in Europe and Middle East. The last big part of the book explains the theories of colours by modern scientists and philosophers, starting with Isaac Newton and ending colour schemes of modern digital pictures.

This book highlights many fundamental aspects of optical fiber transmission engineering while also focusing on current state of the art applications and working examples of digital coherent optical communications. Major engineering themes are reviewed and analyzed in this book, including spectral and time-domain characteristics of multi-level pseudo-random PAM signals, optical QAM and SSB complex modulations and impulse response engineering of linear amplifiers used in next-generation Gbaud transmission systems. This book is balanced between theoretical and numerical simulation approaches, showing numerous working examples developed in Matlab. Presents an in-depth analysis of pseudo-random multi-level signals and high-order complex modulations to support coherent terabit transmission systems; Provides a unified approach to challenging engineering issues encountered in the design of Giga-baud coherent optical transmission systems using high-order complex modulation formats; Reviews engineering themes and provides in-depth analysis, modeling and quantitative examples and solutions of state of the art and future applications.

This book systematically describes the weld pool behavior in laser welding and its influencing factors from the perspectives of testing technology, theoretical calculation and process simulation technology, physical state transformation behavior of weld pools, and the impact of technical conditions on the weld pool behavior. The book covers extensive research achievements made in China in this field, some of which represent the latest cutting-edging researches conducted by the authors' research team. These latest research efforts mainly relate to the weld pool behavior of dual-beam laser welding, laser welding with filler wires, full-penetration laser welding of very-thick parts, and laser welding in vacuum and low vacuum conditions. The book is intended for undergraduate, graduate students and researchers who are interested in laser welding.

This book presents a state-of-the-art overview of the major aspects involved in the science, technology and applications of ceramics, glasses and glass-ceramics. After providing an historical perspective of the development and use of ceramics and glasses along the Silk Road, the theoretical background and fabrication techniques of such materials are described and discussed. A special focus is dedicated to emerging high-tech applications in various fields, including medicine, energy, optics and photonics, sensors, sustainability and circular economy. The chapters are written by leading experts in their respective fields and highlight the contemporary challenges associated to each topic. This book will serve as a valuable reference for both early-stage and skilled researchers as well as industry professionals interested in the broad field of glasses and ceramics.

A standard view of elementary particles and forces is that they determine everything else in the rest of physics, the whole of chemistry, biology, geology, physiology and perhaps even human behavior.This reductive view of physics is popular among some physicists. Yet, there are other physicists who argue this is an oversimplified and that the relationship of elementary particle physics to these other domains is one of emergence. Several objections have been raised from physics against proposals for emergence (e.g., that genuinely emergent phenomena would violate the standard model of elementary particle physics, or that genuine emergence would disrupt the lawlike order physics has revealed). Many of these objections rightly call into question typical conceptions of emergence found in the philosophy literature. This book explores whether physics points to a reductive or an emergent structure of the world and proposes a physics-motivated conception of emergence that leaves behind many of the problematic intuitions shaping the philosophical conceptions. Examining several detailed case studies reveal that the structure of physics and the practice of physics research are both more interesting than is captured in this reduction/emergence debate. The results point to stability conditions playing a crucial though underappreciated role in the physics of emergence. This contextual emergence has thought-provoking consequences for physics and beyond, and will be of interest to physics students, researchers, as well as those interested in physics.

This book highlights a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental statistical mechanics underneath the inner workings of neural networks. The book discusses in details important concepts and techniques including the cavity method, the mean-field theory, replica techniques, the Nishimori condition, variational methods, the dynamical mean-field theory, unsupervised learning, associative memory models, perceptron models, the chaos theory of recurrent neural networks, and eigen-spectrums of neural networks, walking new learners through the theories and must-have skillsets to understand and use neural networks. The book focuses on quantitative frameworks of neural network models where the underlying mechanisms can be precisely isolated by physics of mathematical beauty and theoretical predictions. It is a good reference for students, researchers, and practitioners in the area of neural networks.

This book reports on the 13th International Workshop on Railway Noise (IWRN13), held on September 16-20, 2019, in Ghent, Belgium. It gathers original peer-reviewed papers describing the latest developments in railway noise and vibration, as well as state-of-the-art reviews written by authoritative experts in the field. The different papers cover a broad range of railway noise and vibration topics, such as rolling noise, wheel squeal, noise perception, prediction methods, measurements and monitoring, and vehicle interior noise. Further topics include rail roughness, rail corrugation and grinding, high-speed rail and aerodynamic noise, structure-borne noise, ground-borne noise and vibration, and resilient track forms. Policy, criteria and regulation are also discussed. Offering extensive and timely information to both scientists and engineers, this book will help them in their daily efforts to identify, understand and solve problems related to railway noise and vibration, and to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the environmental impact of railway systems.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Do we have free will? Is the universe compatible with God? Do we live in a computer simulation? Does the universe think? Physicists are great at complicated research, but they are less good at telling us why it matters. In this entertaining and groundbreaking book, theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder breaks down why we should care. Drawing on the latest research in quantum mechanics, black holes, string theory and particle physics, Existential Physics explains what modern physics can tell us about the big questions. Filled with counterintuitive insights and including interviews with other leading scientists, this clear and yet profound book will reshape your understanding of science and the limits of what we can know.

Visual Astronomy introduces the basics of observational astronomy, a fundamentally limitless opportunity to learn about the universe with your unaided eyes or with tools such as binoculars, telescopes, or cameras.

Over the last few decades magnetism has seen an enormous expansion into a variety of different areas of research, notably the magnetism of several classes of novel materials that share with truly ferromagnetic materials only the presence of magnetic moments.

Volume 21 of the "Handbook of Magnetic Materials," like the preceding volumes, has a dual purpose.With contributions from leading authorities in the field, it includesa variety oftopicswhich are intendedas self-containedintroductions toa givenarea in the field of magnetism without requiring recourse to the published literature. It is also intended as a reference for scientists active in magnetism research, providing readers with novel trends and achievements in magnetism.Volume 21 comprises topical review articles covering Heusler compounds, quasicrystalline solids, bulk amorphous alloys and nanocrystalline soft-magnetic alloys. In each of these articles an extensive description is given in graphical as well as in tabular form, much emphasis being placed on the discussion of the experimental material within the framework of physics, chemistry and material science.
Composed of topical review articles written by leading authoritiesIntroduces given topics in the field of magnetismProvides the reader with novel trends and achievements in magnetism"

This book gives a complete spectral analysis of the non-self-adjoint Schroedinger operator with a periodic complex-valued potential. Building from the investigation of the spectrum and spectral singularities and construction of the spectral expansion for the non-self-adjoint Schroedinger operator, the book features a complete spectral analysis of the Mathieu-Schroedinger operator and the Schroedinger operator with a parity-time (PT)-symmetric periodic optical potential. There currently exists no general spectral theorem for non-self-adjoint operators; the approaches in this book thus open up new possibilities for spectral analysis of some of the most important operators used in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics and optics. Featuring detailed proofs and a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter, the book is ideally suited for graduate students at the intersection of physics and mathematics.

This volume provides a detailed description of some of the most active areas in astrophysics from the largest scales probed by the Planck satellite to massive black holes that lie at the heart of galaxies and up to the much awaited but stunning discovery of thousands of exoplanets. It contains the following chapters: * Jean-Philippe UZAN, The Big-Bang Theory: Construction, Evolution and Status * Jean-Loup PUGET, The Planck Mission and the Cosmic Microwave Background * Reinhard GENZEL, Massive Black Holes: Evidence, Demographics and Cosmic Evolution * Arnaud CASSAN, New Worlds Ahead: The Discovery of Exoplanets Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy'", alongside Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity". The book corresponds to the twentieth Poincare Seminar, held on November 21, 2015, at Institut Henri Poincare in Paris. Originally written as lectures to a broad scientific audience, these four chapters are of high value and will be of general interest to astrophysicists, physicists, mathematicians and historians.

This book looks at advanced nanocomposites, introducing long-awaited concepts towards bridging the gap between nanostructured optical materials and next-generation imaging systems. It investigates nanocomposites as bulk optical materials and highlights the immense potential they hold for real-world optical elements and systems, such as smartphone cameras. It covers the full spectrum of nanocomposite optical materials from their fundamental properties to analytical modeling and detailed application examples. This book also provides an in-depth discussion of the role these new materials play in the development of broadband flat optics - diffractive optical elements used for enhancing high-end broadband imaging systems. Written by an industry expert, this book seamlessly connects fundamental research and real-world applications. It is the ideal guide both for optical engineers working towards integrating new technologies, and researchers involved with fundamental research on optical materials.

This book is focused on the introduction of the finite difference method based on the classical one-dimensional structural members, i.e., rods/bars and beams. It is the goal to provide a first introduction to the manifold aspects of the finite difference method and to enable the reader to get a methodical understanding of important subject areas in structural mechanics. The reader learns to understand the assumptions and derivations of different structural members. Furthermore, she/he learns to critically evaluate possibilities and limitations of the finite difference method. Additional comprehensive mathematical descriptions, which solely result from advanced illustrations for two- or three-dimensional problems, are omitted. Hence, the mathematical description largely remains simple and clear.