Principles of Evolution

Principles of Evolution
Author: Hildegard Meyer-Ortmanns
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2011-04-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642181376

With contributions from a team of leading experts, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of recent achievements in our scientific understanding of evolution. The questions it asks concern the beginnings of the universe, the origin of life and the chances of its arising at all, the role of contingency, and the search for universal features in the plethora of evolutionary phenomena. Rather than oversimplified or premature answers, the chapters provide a clear picture of how these essential problems are being tackled, enabling the reader to understand current thinking and open questions. The tools employed stem from a range of disciplines including mathematics, physics, biochemistry and cell biology. Self-organization as an overarching concept is demonstrated in the most diverse areas: from galaxy formation in the universe to spindle and aster formation in the cell. Chemical master equations, population dynamics, and evolutionary game theory are presented as suitable frameworks for understanding the universal mechanisms and organizational principles observed in a wide range of living units, ranging from cells to societies. This book will provide engaging reading and food for thought for all those seeking a deeper understanding of the science of evolution.

Kinetic Phase Diagrams

Kinetic Phase Diagrams
Author: Zdeněk Chvoj
Publisher: Elsevier Publishing Company
Total Pages: 640
Release: 1991
Genre: Materials
ISBN:

The present theoretical and experimental knowledge of the time evolution of a system during solidification, not only in equilibrium, but also in nonequilibrium conditions, is summarized in this book. Such knowledge is of fundamental importance for the determination of the constitution of materials or of the technological conditions necessary to prepare materials with a desired structure. Emphasizing the importance of kinetic phase diagrams, the authors focus the attention of the reader on the problems connected with nonequilibrium conditions, that are encountered during real phase transformations. A critical review of phenomenological and statistical theories of phase transformations and of mass and heat transport enables the reader to determine the range of applicability of concrete models for the description of the evolution of a given system. The book is supplemented with several less-known methods and results of phase characterization, including a detailed account of the Soviet school of T.A. Cherepanova which is not well known in the West. The text also covers the modern research area of glasses and their preparation.

Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids

Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids
Author: Peter G. Wolynes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2012-04-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0470452234

With contributions from 24 global experts in diverse fields, and edited by world-recognized leaders in physical chemistry, chemical physics and biophysics, Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids: Theory, Experiment, and Applications presents a modern, complete survey of glassy phenomena in many systems based on firmly established characteristics of the underlying molecular motions as deduced by first principle theoretical calculations, or with direct/single-molecule experimental techniques. A well-rounded view of a variety of disordered systems where cooperative phenomena, which are epitomized by supercooled liquids, take place is provided. These systems include structural glasses and supercooled liquids, polymers, complex liquids, protein conformational dynamics, and strongly interacting electron systems with quenched/self-generated disorder. Detailed calculations and reasoned arguments closely corresponding with experimental data are included, making the book accessible to an educated non-expert reader.

Quantum Phase Transitions in Cold Atoms and Low Temperature Solids

Quantum Phase Transitions in Cold Atoms and Low Temperature Solids
Author: Kaden Richard Alan Hazzard
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2011-06-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1441981799

The primary focus of this thesis is to theoretically describe nanokelvin experiments in cold atomic gases, which offer the potential to revolutionize our understanding of strongly correlated many-body systems. The thesis attacks major challenges of the field: it proposes and analyzes experimental protocols to create new and interesting states of matter and introduces theoretical techniques to describe probes of these states. The phenomena considered include the fractional quantum Hall effect, spectroscopy of strongly correlated states, and quantum criticality, among others. The thesis also clarifies experiments on disordered quantum solids, which display a variety of exotic phenomena and are candidates to exhibit so-called "supersolidity." It collects experimental results and constrains their interpretation through theoretical considerations. This Doctoral Thesis has been accepted by Cornell University, Ithaca, USA.

Scale Invariance

Scale Invariance
Author: Annick LESNE
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2011-11-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 364215123X

During a century, from the Van der Waals mean field description (1874) of gases to the introduction of renormalization group (RG techniques 1970), thermodynamics and statistical physics were just unable to account for the incredible universality which was observed in numerous critical phenomena. The great success of RG techniques is not only to solve perfectly this challenge of critical behaviour in thermal transitions but to introduce extremely useful tools in a wide field of daily situations where a system exhibits scale invariance. The introduction of scaling, scale invariance and universality concepts has been a significant turn in modern physics and more generally in natural sciences. Since then, a new "physics of scaling laws and critical exponents", rooted in scaling approaches, allows quantitative descriptions of numerous phenomena, ranging from phase transitions to earthquakes, polymer conformations, heartbeat rhythm, diffusion, interface growth and roughening, DNA sequence, dynamical systems, chaos and turbulence. The chapters are jointly written by an experimentalist and a theorist. This book aims at a pedagogical overview, offering to the students and researchers a thorough conceptual background and a simple account of a wide range of applications. It presents a complete tour of both the formal advances and experimental results associated with the notion of scaling, in physics, chemistry and biology.

Equilibrium Statistical Physics

Equilibrium Statistical Physics
Author: Michael Plischke
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 540
Release: 1994
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789810216429

This textbook concentrates on modern topics in statistical physics with an emphasis on strongly interacting condensed matter systems. The book is self-contained and is suitable for beginning graduate students in physics and materials science or undergraduates who have taken an introductory course in statistical mechanics. Phase transitions and critical phenomena are discussed in detail including mean field and Landau theories and the renormalization group approach. The theories are applied to a number of interesting systems such as magnets, liquid crystals, polymers, membranes, interacting Bose and Fermi fluids; disordered systems, percolation and spin of equilibrium concepts are also discussed. Computer simulations of condensed matter systems by Monte Carlo-based and molecular dynamics methods are treated.

Colloidal Transport in Porous Media

Colloidal Transport in Porous Media
Author: Fritz H. Frimmel
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-10-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783642090479

This book covers the basics of abiotic colloid characterization, of biocolloids and biofilms, the resulting transport phenomena and their engineering aspects. The contributors comprise an international group of leading specialists devoted to colloidal sciences. The contributions include theoretical considerations, results from model experiments, and field studies. The information provided here will benefit students and scientists interested in the analytical, chemical, microbiological, geological and hydrological aspects of material transport in aquatic systems and soils.

Condensed Matter Field Theory

Condensed Matter Field Theory
Author: Alexander Altland
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 785
Release: 2010-03-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0521769752

This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.