The book requires only rudimentary physics knowledge but ability to program computers creatively and to keep the mind open to simple and not so simple models, based in individuals, for the living world around us.
* Interdisciplinary coverage
* Research oriented
* Contains and explains programs
* Based on recent discoveries
* Little special knowledge required besides programming
* Suitable for undergraduate and graduate research projects

This textbook takes the reader on a tour of the most important landmarks of theoretical physics: classical, quantum, and statistical mechanics, relativity, electrodynamics, as well as the most modern and exciting of all: elementary particles and the physics of fractals. The second edition has been supplemented with a new chapter devoted to concise though complete presentation of dynamical systems, bifurcations and chaos theory. The treatment is confined to the essentials of each area, presenting all the central concepts and equations at an accessible level. Chapters 1 to 4 contain the standard material of courses in theoretical physics and are supposed to accompany lectures at the university; thus they are rather condensed. They are supposed to fill one year of teaching. Chapters 5 and 6, in contrast, are written less condensed since this material may not be part of standard lectures and thus could be studied without the help of a university teacher. An appendix on elementary particles lies somewhere in between: It could be a summary of a much more detailed course, or studied without such a course. Illustrations and numerous problems round off this unusual textbook. It will ideally accompany the students all along their course in theoretical physics and prove indispensable in preparing and revising the exams. It is also suited as a reference for teachers or scientists from other disciplines who are interested in the topic.

Percolation theory deals with clustering, criticality, diffusion, fractals, phase transitions and disordered systems. It provides a quantitative model for understanding these phenomena, and therefore provides a theoretical, statistical background to many physical and natural science disciplines. The scope of this book covers the basic theory for the graduate while it also reaches into the specialized fields of disordered systems and renormalization groups. Readers are expected to be able to handle some fundamental mathematical procedures such as integration and differentiation of single variable functions, probability and statistics. They will also find it useful if they have some computer programming experience for example in Fortran. While percolation is treated as being a fundamentally physical concept, its relevance to various natural and living systems is addressed. Much of the book deals with systems lying close to the critical point phase transition point, where the subject is at its most interesting and sensitive. This book should be of value to all those who deal with systems which exhibit critical points and phase transition behaviour.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203211596

This book for physicists, biologists, computer scientists, economists or social scientists shows in selected examples how computer simulation methods which are typical to statistical physics have been applied in other areas outside of physics. Our main part deals with the biology of ageing, while other examples are the functioning of the immune system, the structure of DNA, the fluctuations on the stock market, theories for sociology and for World War II. Are leaky water faucets similar to our heartbeats? Throughout the book we emphasize microscopic models dealing with the action of individuals, whether they are cells of the immune system or traders speculating on the currency market. Complete computer programs are given and explained for biological ageing. The references try to introduce the expert from the covered other fields to the relevant physics literature; and they also show the physicists the way into the biological literature on ageing.

From Newton to Mandelbrot takes the student on a tour of the most important landmarks of theoretical physics: classical, quantum, and statistical mechanics, relativity, electrodynamics, and, the most modern and exciting of all, the physics of fractals. The treatment is confined to the essentials of each area, and short computer programs, numerous problems, and beautiful color illustrations round off this unusual textbook. Ideally suited for a one-year course in theoretical physics it will also prove useful in preparing and revising for exams. This edition is corrected and includes a new appendix on elementary particle physics, answers to all short questions, and a diskette where a selection of executable programs exploring the fractal concept can be found.

Computer Simulation and Computer Algebra. Starting from simple examples in classical mechanics, these introductory lectures proceed to simulations in statistical physics (using FORTRAN) and then explain in detail the use of computer algebra (by means of Reduce). This third edition takes into account the most recent version of Reduce (3.4.1) and updates the description of large-scale simulations to subjects such as the 170000 X 170000 Ising model. Furthermore, an introduction to both vector and parallel computing is given.

This textbook takes the reader on a tour of the most important landmarks of theoretical physics: classical, quantum, and statistical mechanics, relativity, electrodynamics, as well as the most modern and exciting of all: elementary particles and the physics of fractals. The second edition has been supplemented with a new chapter devoted to concise though complete presentation of dynamical systems, bifurcations and chaos theory. The treatment is confined to the essentials of each area, presenting all the central concepts and equations at an accessible level. Chapters 1 to 4 contain the standard material of courses in theoretical physics and are supposed to accompany lectures at the university; thus they are rather condensed. They are supposed to fill one year of teaching. Chapters 5 and 6, in contrast, are written less condensed since this material may not be part of standard lectures and thus could be studied without the help of a university teacher. An appendix on elementary particles lies somewhere in between: It could be a summary of a much more detailed course, or studied without such a course. Illustrations and numerous problems round off this unusual textbook. It will ideally accompany the students all along their course in theoretical physics and prove indispensable in preparing and revising the exams. It is also suited as a reference for teachers or scientists from other disciplines who are interested in the topic.

In seiner zweiten Auflage ist dieses Buch bei aller K}rze noch vielseitiger geworden: Dem kanonischen Stoff eines zweisemestrigen Theoriekurses f}gte der Autor einen aktuellen Anhang }ber Elementarteilchen-Theorie hinzu. Die Breite der Themenauswahl und die klare Sprache gew{hren Haupt- und Nebenfachstudenten den ]berblick, der in Vorlesungen h{ufig zu kurz kommt. Zahlreiche, leicht nachvollziehbare Computerprogramme zeigen, wie die Physik "arbeitet" und geben dem Studierenden selbst Anregung zum Experimentieren am Computer. Die komprimierte Darstellung sowie 126 Fragen und Aufgaben machen das Buch in der hei en Phase vor dem Vordiplom unentbehrlich.

This series of books covers all areas of computational physics, collecting together reviews where a newcomer can learn about the state of the art regarding methods and results. Articles are submitted by e-mail before deadlines which are kept by the editor.Biologically motivated simulations, glasses, world-record molecular dynamics, deposition on surfaces, and hydrodynamics are discussed in this volume which ends with an explanation of elementary particle physics (QCD) and their phase transitions.

In this fifth volume of the authoritative series, the simulation of forest fires, flames, and hydrodynamics is presented in the first three articles. The next two deal with quantum simulations, in particular for two dimensions (quantum Hall effect and monolayers). Biology is connected with the last two articles: we learn from biological evolution to complement computer hardware and software with evolware, or we simulate immunology.