The subject of this book is the Casimir effect, a manifestation of zero-point oscillations of the quantum vacuum resulting in forces acting between closely spaced bodies. For the benefit of the reader, the book assembles field-theoretical foundations of this phenomenon, applications of the general theory to real materials, and a comprehensive description of all recently performed measurements of the Casimir force with a comparison between experiment and theory. There is an urgent need for a book of this type, given the increase of interest in forces originating from the quantum vacuum. Numerous new results have been obtained in the last few years which are not reflected in previous books on the subject, but which are very promising for fundamental science and nanotechnology. The book is a unique source of information presenting a critical assessment of all the main results and approaches from hundreds of journal papers. It also outlines new ideas which have not yet been universally accepted but which are finding increasing support from experiment.

The best parts of physics are the last topics that our students ever see. These are the exciting new frontiers of nonlinear and complex systems that are at the forefront of university research and are the basis of many high-tech businesses. Topics such as traffic on the World Wide Web, the spread of epidemics through globally-mobile populations, or the synchronization of global economies are governed by universal principles just as profound as Newton's laws. Nonetheless, the conventional university physics curriculum reserves most of these topics for advanced graduate study. Two justifications are given for this situation: first, that the mathematical tools needed to understand these topics are beyond the skill set of undergraduate students, and second, that these are speciality topics with no common theme and little overlap. Introduction to Modern Dynamics dispels these myths. The structure of this book combines the three main topics of modern dynamics - chaos theory, dynamics on complex networks, and general relativity - into a coherent framework. By taking a geometric view of physics, concentrating on the time evolution of physical systems as trajectories through abstract spaces, these topics share a common and simple mathematical language through which any student can gain a unified physical intuition. Given the growing importance of complex dynamical systems in many areas of science and technology, this text provides students with an up-to-date foundation for their future careers.

The best parts of physics are the last topics that our students ever see. These are the exciting new frontiers of nonlinear and complex systems that are at the forefront of university research and are the basis of many high-tech businesses. Topics such as traffic on the World Wide Web, the spread of epidemics through globally-mobile populations, or the synchronization of global economies are governed by universal principles just as profound as Newton's laws. Nonetheless, the conventional university physics curriculum reserves most of these topics for advanced graduate study. Two justifications are given for this situation: first, that the mathematical tools needed to understand these topics are beyond the skill set of undergraduate students, and second, that these are speciality topics with no common theme and little overlap. Introduction to Modern Dynamics dispels these myths. The structure of this book combines the three main topics of modern dynamics - chaos theory, dynamics on complex networks, and general relativity - into a coherent framework. By taking a geometric view of physics, concentrating on the time evolution of physical systems as trajectories through abstract spaces, these topics share a common and simple mathematical language through which any student can gain a unified physical intuition. Given the growing importance of complex dynamical systems in many areas of science and technology, this text provides students with an up-to-date foundation for their future careers.

Spontaneous pattern formation in nonlinear dissipative systems far from equilibrium occurs in a variety of settings in nature and technology, and has applications ranging from nonlinear optics through solid and fluid mechanics, physical chemistry and chemical engineering to biology. This book explores the forefront of current research, describing in-depth the analytical methods that elucidate the complex evolution of nonlinear dissipative systems.

This book intends to introduce some recent results on passivity of complex dynamical networks with single weight and multiple weights. The book collects novel research ideas and some definitions in complex dynamical networks, such as passivity, output strict passivity, input strict passivity, finite-time passivity, and multiple weights. Furthermore, the research results previously published in many flagship journals are methodically edited and presented in a unified form. The book is likely to be of interest to university researchers and graduate students in Engineering and Mathematics who wish to study the passivity of complex dynamical networks.

This book discusses the study and analysis of the physical aspects of social systems and models, inspired by the analogy with familiar models of physical systems and possible applications of statistical physics tools. Unlike the traditional analysis of the physics of macroscopic many-body or condensed matter systems, which is now an established and mature subject, the upsurge in the physical analysis and modelling of social systems, which are clearly many-body dynamical systems, is a recent phenomenon. Though the major developments in sociophysics have taken place only recently, the earliest attempts of proposing "Social Physics" as a discipline are more than one and a half centuries old. Various developments in the mainstream physics of condensed matter systems have inspired and induced the recent growth of sociophysical analysis and models. In spite of the tremendous efforts of many scientists in recent years, the subject is still in its infancy and major challenges are yet to be taken up. An introduction to these challenges is the main motivation for this book.

This book presents a comprehensive study covering the design and application of models and algorithms for assessing the joint device failures of telecommunication backbone networks caused by large-scale regional disasters. At first, failure models are developed to make use of the best data available; in turn, a set of fast algorithms for determining the resulting failure lists are described; further, a theoretical analysis of the complexity of the algorithms and the properties of the failure lists is presented, and relevant practical case studies are investigated. Merging concepts and tools from complexity theory, combinatorial and computational geometry, and probability theory, a comprehensive set of models is developed for translating the disaster hazard in informative yet concise data structures. The information available on the network topology and the disaster hazard is then used to calculate the possible (probabilistic) network failures. The resulting sets of resources that are expected to break down simultaneously are modeled as a collection of Shared Risk Link Groups (SRLGs), or Probabilistic SRLGs. Overall, this book presents improved theoretical methods that can help predicting disaster-caused network malfunctions, identifying vulnerable regions, and assessing precisely the availability of internet services, among other applications.

This book includes constructive approximation theory; it presents ordinary and fractional approximations by positive sublinear operators, and high order approximation by multivariate generalized Picard, Gauss-Weierstrass, Poisson-Cauchy and trigonometric singular integrals. Constructive and Computational Fractional Analysis recently is more and more in the center of mathematics because of their great applications in the real world. In this book, all presented is original work by the author given at a very general level to cover a maximum number of cases in various applications. The author applies generalized fractional differentiation techniques of Riemann-Liouville, Caputo and Canavati types and of fractional variable order to various kinds of inequalities such as of Opial, Hardy, Hilbert-Pachpatte and on the spherical shell. He continues with E. R. Love left- and right-side fractional integral inequalities. They follow fractional Landau inequalities, of left and right sides, univariate and multivariate, including ones for Semigroups. These are developed to all possible directions, and right-side multivariate fractional Taylor formulae are proven for the purpose. It continues with several Gronwall fractional inequalities of variable order. This book results are expected to find applications in many areas of pure and applied mathematics. As such this book is suitable for researchers, graduate students and seminars of the above disciplines, also to be in all science and engineering libraries.

This book presents the proceedings from ECONOPHYS-2015, an international workshop held in New Delhi, India, on the interrelated fields of "econophysics" and "sociophysics", which have emerged from the application of statistical physics to economics and sociology. Leading researchers from varied communities, including economists, sociologists, financial analysts, mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, and others, report on their recent work, discuss topical issues, and review the relevant contemporary literature. A society can be described as a group of people who inhabit the same geographical or social territory and are mutually involved through their shared participation in different aspects of life. It is possible to observe and characterize average behaviors of members of a society, an example being voting behavior. Moreover, the dynamic nature of interaction within any economic sector comprising numerous cooperatively interacting agents has many features in common with the interacting systems of statistical physics. It is on these bases that interest has grown in the application within sociology and economics of the tools of statistical mechanics. This book will be of value for all with an interest in this flourishing field.

The Minority Game is a physicist's attempt to explain market behaviour by the interaction between traders. With a minimal set of ingredients and drastic assumptions, this model reproduces market ecology among different types of traders. Its emphasis is on speculative trading and information flow. The book first describes the philosophy lying behind the conception of the Minority Game in 1997, and includes in particular a discussion about the El Farol bar problem. It then reviews the main steps in later developments, including both the theory and its applications to market phenomena. 'Minority Games' gives a colourful and stylized, but also realistic picture of how financial markets operate.

We live in a world of networks, where everything is amazingly close to everything else. The notion of 'network' turns out to be central to our times: the Internet and WWW are changing our lives; our physical existence is based on various biological networks; we are involved in all-enveloping networks of economic and social relations. Only in the 1990s did physicists begin to explore real networks, both natural and artificial, as evolving systems with intriguingly complex and effective architectures. Progress has been so immediate and astounding that we actually face a new science based on a new set of concepts, and, one may even say, on a new philosophy: the natural philosophy of a small world. Old ideas from mathematics, statistical physics, biology, computer science, and so on take on quite new forms in applications to real evolving networks. - What is common to all networks? - What are the general principles of the organization and evolution of networks? - How do the laws of nature work in communication, biological, and social networks? - What are networks? This book, written by physicists, answers these questions and presents a general insight into the world of networks.

This book aims to theoretically and empirically enrich the GVC accounting framework with statistical physics and complex network theory from the perspective of econophysics, thus adding up to the existing theories. Besides, it also aims at capturing the essences of network models such as topological complexity, hierarchy, transmissibility, interaction, and causality and reflecting the objective interrelations among economies or between economies and economic systems on the GVC, so as to reveal the inherent evolution of the cross-regional and even global economic systems.

This thesis focuses on experimental studies on collective motion using swimming bacteria as model active-matter systems. It offers comprehensive reviews of state-of-the-art theories and experiments on collective motion from the viewpoint of nonequilibrium statistical physics. The author presents his experimental studies on two major classes of collective motion that had been well studied theoretically. Firstly, swimming filamentous bacteria in a thin fluid layer are shown to exhibit true, long-range orientational order and anomalously strong giant density fluctuations, which are considered universal and landmark signatures of collective motion by many numerical and theoretical works but have never been observed in real systems. Secondly, chaotic bacterial turbulence in a three-dimensional dense suspension without any long-range order as described in the first half is demonstrated to be capable of achieving antiferromagnetic vortex order by imposing a small number of constraints with appropriate periodicity. The experimental results presented significantly advance our fundamental understanding of order and fluctuations in collective motion of motile elements and their future applications.

Conjugated polymers have important technological applications, including solar cells and light emitting devices. They are also active components in many important biological processes. In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of these systems, owing to both improved experimental measurements and the development of advanced computational techniques. The aim of this book is to describe and explain the electronic and optical properties of conjugated polymers. It focuses on the three key roles of electron-electron interactions, electron-nuclear coupling, and disorder in determining the character of the electronic states, and it relates these properties to experimental observations in real systems. A number of important optical and electronic processes in conjugated polymers are also described. The second edition has a more extended discussion of excitons in conjugated polymers. There is also a new chapter on the static and dynamical localization of excitons.

This monograph is devoted to an entirely new branch of nonlinear physics - solitary intrinsic states, or autosolitons, which form in a broad class of physical, chemical and biological dissipative systems. Autosolitons are often observed as highly nonequilibrium regions in slightly nonequilibrium systems, in many ways resembling ball lightning which occurs in the atmosphere. We develop a new approach to problems of self-organization and turbulence, treating these phenomena as a result of spontaneous formation and subsequent evolution of autosolitons. Scenarios of self-organization involve sophisticated interactions between autosolitons, whereas turbulence is regarded as a pattern of autosolitons which appear and disappear at random in different parts of the system. This monograph is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive summary of the theory of autosolitons as developed by the authors over the years of research. The monograph is comprised of three more or less autonomous parts. Part I deals with the physical nature and experimental studies of autosolitons and self organization in various physical systems: semiconductor and gas plasma, heated gas mixture, semiconductor structures, composite superconductors, optical and magnetic media, systems with uniformly generated combustion matter, distributed gas-discharge and electronic systems. We discuss feasibility of autosolitons in the form of highly nonequilibrium regions in slightly nonequilibrium gases and semiconductors, "hot" and "cold" regions in semiconductor and gas plasmas, static, pulsating and traveling combustion fronts."

The Equilibrium Theory of Inhomogeneous Polymers provides an introduction to the field-theoretic methods and computer simulation techniques that are used in the design of structured polymeric fluids. By such methods, the principles that dictate equilibrium self-assembly in systems ranging from block and graft copolymers, to polyelectrolytes, liquid crystalline polymers, and polymer nanocomposites can be established. Building on an introductory discussion of single-polymer statistical mechanics, the book provides a detailed treatment of analytical and numerical techniques for addressing the conformational properties of polymers subjected to spatially-varying potential fields. This problem is shown to be central to the field-theoretic description of interacting polymeric fluids, and models for a number of important polymer systems are elaborated. Chapter 5 serves to unify and expound the topic of self-consistent field theory, which is a collection of analytical and numerical techniques for obtaining solutions of polymer field theory models in the mean-field approximation. The concluding Chapter 6 provides a discussion of analytical methods for going beyond the mean-field approximation and an introduction to the exciting new field of field-theoretic polymer simulations - the direct numerical simulation of polymer field theory models. No other book brings together in such a detailed and instructive fashion the theoretical and numerical tools for investigating the equilibrium structure and thermodynamics of meso-structured polymer formulations, including those relevant to soft material nanotechnologies, personal care products, and multiphase plastic materials.

Researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students of high energy physics

Density functional theory (DFT) has blossomed in the past few decades into a powerful tool that is used by experimentalists and theoreticians alike. This book highlights the extensive contributions that the DFT-based OLCAO method has made to progress in this field, and it demonstrates its competitiveness for performing ab initio calculations on large and complex models of practical systems. A brief historical account and introduction to the elements of the theory set the stage for discussions on semiconductors, insulators, crystalline metals and alloys, complex crystals, non-crystalline solids and liquids, microstructure containing systems and those containing impurities, defects, and surfaces, biomolecular systems, and the technique of ab initio core level spectroscopy calculation.

This book provides analytical and numerical methods for the estimation of dimension characteristics (Hausdorff, Fractal, Caratheodory dimensions) for attractors and invariant sets of dynamical systems and cocycles generated by smooth differential equations or maps in finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces or on manifolds. It also discusses stability investigations using estimates based on Lyapunov functions and adapted metrics. Moreover, it introduces various types of Lyapunov dimensions of dynamical systems with respect to an invariant set, based on local, global and uniform Lyapunov exponents, and derives analytical formulas for the Lyapunov dimension of the attractors of the Henon and Lorenz systems. Lastly, the book presents estimates of the topological entropy for general dynamical systems in metric spaces and estimates of the topological dimension for orbit closures of almost periodic solutions to differential equations.

This book presents solutions to problems that are total and based on thinking about how and why humans have organized themselves. It discusses how to avoid the now well-documented Holocene Extinction, propelled by climate change, wars, resource depletion, desertification, degrading knowledge quality, famine, and deterioration of societies overall. It explains why we cannot respond effectively with hedonistic, incompetent, corrupt, and anarchistic "liberal democracy" and why neither personality cult regimes can suffice.  The book offers a model of an organic social structure embodying a collective consciousness of communitarianism and Platonic-style ethos. Putting an emphasis on the re-establishment of Classical Greek virtue, it offers solutions to resolve identity politics, alienation, and meritocracy. While doing so, the author opposes the "everyone is equal" ideology to govern the section of policymakers, instead circumscribing "rights" in terms of responsibilities, prioritizing education and training to carry forth the ethos of valuing truth above materialism, and developing Durkheim's social brain via a new discipline, "sociointelligence". The book goes on to explain how underpinning these elements is a comprehensive elucidation of often misunderstood words like "liberty", "freedom", "authoritarianism", and "democracy". All of these areas are arranged and combined in uniquely describing the organic society the author deems necessary to avoid human extinction. As a result, the book presents a “new organicity�, where the emerging transhumanism seeks to transcend hydrocarbon-based life with humanly-constructed life. This book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of political science, philosophy, and the social sciences interested in a better understanding of complexity, democratic theory, Holocene Extinction, organic thinking, and meritocratic societies. 

A dynamical system is called isochronous if it features in its phase space an open, fully-dimensional region where all its solutions are periodic in all its degrees of freedom with the same, fixed period. Recently a simple transformation has been introduced, applicable to quite a large class of dynamical systems, that yields autonomous systems which are isochronous. This justifies the notion that isochronous systems are not rare. In this book the procedure to manufacture isochronous systems is reviewed, and many examples of such systems are provided. Examples include many-body problems characterized by Newtonian equations of motion in spaces of one or more dimensions, Hamiltonian systems, and also nonlinear evolution equations (PDEs). The book shall be of interest to students and researchers working on dynamical systems, including integrable and nonintegrable models, with a finite or infinite number of degrees of freedom. It might be used as a basic textbook, or as backup material for an undergraduate or graduate course.

This book provides the reader with an elementary introduction to chaos and fractals, suitable for students with a background in elementary algebra, without assuming prior coursework in calculus or physics. It introduces the key phenomena of chaos - aperiodicity, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, bifurcations - via simple iterated functions. Fractals are introduced as self-similar geometric objects and analyzed with the self-similarity and box-counting dimensions. After a brief discussion of power laws, subsequent chapters explore Julia Sets and the Mandelbrot Set. The last part of the book examines two-dimensional dynamical systems, strange attractors, cellular automata, and chaotic differential equations.
The book is richly illustrated and includes over 200 end-of-chapter exercises. A flexible format and a clear and succinct writing style make it a good choice for introductory courses in chaos and fractals.
To request a copy of the Solutions Manual, visit: http: //global.oup.com/uk/academic/physics/admin/solutions

This thesis presents the first experimental calibration of the top-quark Monte-Carlo mass. It also provides the top-quark mass-independent and most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurement to date. The most precise measurements of the top-quark mass obtain the top-quark mass parameter (Monte-Carlo mass) used in simulations, which are partially based on heuristic models. Its interpretation in terms of mass parameters used in theoretical calculations, e.g. a running or a pole mass, has been a long-standing open problem with far-reaching implications beyond particle physics, even affecting conclusions on the stability of the vacuum state of our universe. In this thesis, this problem is solved experimentally in three steps using data obtained with the compact muon solenoid (CMS) detector. The most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurements to date are performed. The Monte-Carlo mass is determined and a new method for extracting the top-quark mass from theoretical calculations is presented. Lastly, the top-quark production cross-sections are obtained - for the first time - without residual dependence on the top-quark mass, are interpreted using theoretical calculations to determine the top-quark running- and pole mass with unprecedented precision, and are fully consistently compared with the simultaneously obtained top-quark Monte-Carlo mass.

This book explores the role of exaptation in diverse areas of life, with examples ranging from biology to economics, social sciences and architecture. The concept of exaptation, introduced in evolutionary biology by Gould and Vrba in 1982, describes the possibility that already existing traits can be exploited for new purposes throughout the evolutionary process. Edited by three active scholars in the fields of biology, physics and economics, the book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert viewpoints illustrating the importance of exaptation for interpreting current reality in various fields of investigation. Using the lenses of exaptation, the contributing authors show how to view the overall macroscopic landscape as comprising many disciplines, all working in unity within a single complex system. This book is the first to discuss exaptation in both hard and soft disciplines and highlights the role of this concept in understanding the birth of innovation by identifying key elements and ideas. It also offers a comprehensive guide to the emerging interdisciplinary field of exaptation, provides didactic explanations of the basic concepts, and avoids excessive jargon and heavy formalism. Its target audience includes graduate students in physics, biology, mathematics, economics, psychology and architecture; it will also appeal to established researchers in the humanities who wish to explore or enter this new science-driven interdisciplinary field.

Existing texts on the statistical mechanics of liquids treat only spherical molecules. However, nearly all fluids of practical interest are composed of non-spherical molecules that are often dipolar or exhibit other kinds of electrostatic forces. This book describes the statistical mechanical theory of fluids of non-spherical molecules and its application to the calculation of physical properties, and is a sequel to Theory of Molecular Fluids. Volume 1: Fundamentals by C.G. Gray and K.E. Gubbins. The emphasis is on the new phenomena that arise due to the non-spherical nature of the intermolecular forces, such as new phase transitions, structural features and dielectric effects. It contains chapters on the thermodynamic properties of pure and mixed fluids, surface properties, X-ray and neutron diffraction structure factors, dielectric properties and spectroscopic properties. The book is aimed at beginning graduate students and research workers in chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering.