Defects and Geometry in Condensed Matter Physics

David R. Nelson

378 pages, parution le 15/03/2002

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Résumé

Thermally excited defects such as vortices, disclinations, dislocations, vacancies and interstitials play a key role in the physics of crystals, superfluids, superconductors, liquid crystals and polymer arrays. Geometrical aspects of statistical mechanics become particularly important when thermal fluctuations entangle or crumple extended line-like or surface-like objects in three dimensions. In the case of entangled vortices above the first-order flux lattice melting transition in high temperature superconductors, the lines themselves are defects. A variety of low temperature theories combined with renormalization group ideas are used to describe the delicate interplay between defects, statistical mechanics and geometry characteristic of these problems in condensed matter physics. David Nelson provides a coherent and pedagogic graduate level introduction to the field of defects and geometry.

Contents

Preface

1. Fluctuations, renormalization and universality
2. Defect mediated phase transitions
3. Order, frustration
4. The structure and statistical mechanics of glass
5. The statistical mechanics of crumpled membranes
6. Defects in superfluids, superconductors and membranes
7. Vortex line fluctuations in superconductors from elementary quantum mechanics
8. Correlations and transport in vortex liquids
9. The statistical mechanics of directed polymers.

Index

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Cambridge University Press
Auteur(s)	David R. Nelson
Parution	15/03/2002
Nb. de pages	378
Format	17,5 x 24,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	817g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780521004008
ISBN13	978-0-521-00400-8