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Zusatztext The book is written very clearly and simply! which makes it accessible to anyone who passed the principal undergraduate physics courses ... Teachers and students either teaching or studying phase transitions ... should find this book very useful together with a number of additional sources ... young researchers working in the area of phase transitions will benefit from the detailed description of the renormalization group theory. Klappentext Here is a much-needed basic text that covers a vital area in physics for beginning graduate students. The successful calculation of critical exponents for continuous phase transitions is one of the main achievements of theoretical physics over the last quarter-century. This was achievedthrough the use of scaling and field theoretic techniques which have since become standard equipment in many areas of physics! especially quantum field theory. This book provides a thorough introduction to these techniques! one that assumes only a sound undergraduate background in physics andmathematics. Continuous phase transitions are introduced! then the necessary statistical mechanics is summarized! followed by standard models! some exact solutions and techniques for numerical simulations. The real space renormalization group and mean field theory are next explained and illustrated.The last eight chapters cover the Landau-Ginzburg model! from physical motivation! through diagrammatic perturbation theory and renormalization to the renormalization group and the calculation of critical exponents above and below the critical temperature. Zusammenfassung Provides an introduction to scaling and field-theoretic techniques, a standard equipment especially in quantum field theory. Continuous phase transitions are introduced, the necessary statistical mechanics is summarized, and is followed by standard models. This book also explains and illustrates the renormalization group and mean-field theory. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction; Statistical mechanics; Models; Numerical simulations; Real-space renormalization; Mean-field theory; The Landau-Ginzburg model; Diagrammatic perturbation theory; Renormalization; The calculation of critical exponents for T>TC; The renormalization group; The renormalization group at T/=c; The lower critical dimension; Universality; Appendices....
