Gandhimohan M Viswanathan

Perspectives And Challenges In Statistical Physics And Complex Systems For The Next Decade Gandhimohan M Viswanathan

Jacket Description/Flap: Statistical Physics (SP) has followed an unusual evolutionary path in science. Originally aiming to provide a fundamental basis for another important branch of Physics, namely Thermodynamics, SP gradually became an independent field of research in its own right. But despite more than a century of steady progress, there are still plenty of challenges and open questions in the SP realm. In fact, the area is still rapidly evolving, in contrast to other branches of science, which already have well defined scopes and borderlines of applicability. This difference is due to the steadily expanding number of applications, as well as ongoing improvements and revisions of concepts and methods in SP. Such particular aspects of SP lend further significance and timeliness to this book about perspectives and trends within the field. Here, the aim is to present the state-of-the-art vision of expert researchers who study SP and Complex Systems. Although a comprehensive treatment is well beyond what can be treated in a single volume, the book provides a snapshot of the field today, as well as a glimpse of where the field may be heading during the next decade. The book is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate physics students, as well as researchers who work with SP, Complex Systems, Computational Physics, Biological Physics and related topics. It addresses questions such as: What insights can be gained from recent advances in the study of traditional problems in SP? How can SP help us understand problems that arise in the biological sciences and in the study of complex systems? How can new problems be formulated using the 'language' of SP? In this way, it attempts to document partial progress in answering these and related questions. The book also commemorates the occasion of the 70th anniversary in 2011 of two important physicists and friends who dedicated their lives to the understanding of nature in general and to the development of Statistical Physics and the science oMarc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Table of Contents: Preface -- Part A. Further advances in the analysis of traditional problems in statistical physics -- Comparing methods and Monte Carlo algorithms at phase transition regimes: A general overview / C. E. Fiore -- Density of states of the Ising model in the field / B. D. StoSic -- A renormalization group study of the three-color Ashkin-Teller model on a Wheatstone hierarchical lattice / R. Teodoro, G. G. Bezerra, A. M. Mariz, F. A. da Costa, J. M. de AraUjo -- Applying Virial theorem in continuous potential of two scales / N. M. Barraz Jr., M. C. Barbosa -- Elementary statistical models for nematic transitions in liquid-crystalline systems / D. B. Liarte, S. R. Salinas -- Phase diagram and layer-thinning transitions in free-standing liquid crystal films / M. S. S. Pereira, I. N. de Oliveira, M. L. Lyra -- On some experimental reasons for an inhomogeneous structure of ambient water on the nanometer length scale / F. Mallamace, G. Corsaro, C. Vasi -- Polymorphism and polymorphism of a confined water monolayer: liquid-liquid critical point, liquid-crystal and crystal-crystal phase transitions / V. Bianco, O. Vilanova, G. Franzese -- Part B. New insights into traditional problems in statistical physics -- Topological and geometrical aspects of phase transitions / F. A. N. Santos, J. A. Rehn, M. D. Coutinho-Filho -- Pacman percolation and the glass transition / R. Pastore, M. P. Ciamarra, A. Coniglio -- Exact solution for a diffusive process on a backbone structure: Green function approach and external force / E. K. Lenzi, L. R. da Silva, A. A. Tateishi, M. K. Lenzi, H. V. Ribeiro -- Multifractal surfaces: Lucena and Stanley approaches / G. Corso, D. A. Moreira -- Part C. Applications to biological problems -- Nanoelectronics of a DNA molecule / E. L. Albuquerque, U. L. Fulco, E. W. S, Caetano, V. N. Freire, M. L. Lyra, F. A. B. F. Mourn -- Magic trees in mammalians respiration or when evolution selected clever physical systems / B. Sapoval, M. Filoche -- Social distancing strategies against disease spreading / L. D. Valdez, C. Buono, P. A. Maori, L. A. Brautistein -- Part D. Non-traditional problems related to complex systems -- Thermodynamics and kinetic theory of granular materials / G. M. Kramer -- Continuous and first-order jamming transition in crossing pedestrian traffic flows / H. J. Hilhont, J. Cividini, C. Appert-Holland -- Multiplicative processes in visual cognition / H. F. Credidio, E. N. Teixeira, S. D. S. Reis, A. A. Moreira, J. S. Andrade Jr -- Search strategy: Hedging your bet / M. F. Shlesinger -- Author Index. Publisher Marketing: Statistical Physics (SP) has followed an unusual evolutionary path in science. Originally aiming to provide a fundamental basis for another important branch of Physics, namely Thermodynamics, SP gradually became an independent field of research in its own right. But despite more than a century of steady progress, there are still plenty of challenges and open questions in the SP realm. In fact, the area is still rapidly evolving, in contrast to other branches of science, which already have well defined scopes and borderlines of applicability. This difference is due to the steadily expanding number of applications, as well as ongoing improvements and revisions of concepts and methods in SP. Such particular aspects of SP lend further significance and timeliness to this book about perspectives and trends within the field. Here, the aim is to present the state-of-the-art vision of expert researchers who study SP and Complex Systems. Although a comprehensive treatment is well beyond what can be treated in a single volume, the book provides a snapshot of the field today, as well as a glimpse of where the field may be heading during the next decade. The book is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate physics students, as well as researchers who work with SP, Complex Systems, Computational Physics, Biological Physics and related topics. It addresses questions such as: What insights can be gained from recent advances in the study of traditional problems in SP? How can SP help us understand problems that arise in the biological sciences and in the study of complex systems? How can new problems be formulated using the 'language' of SP? In this way, it attempts to document partial progress in answering these and related questions. The book also commemorates the occasion of the 70th anniversary in 2011 of two important physicists and friends who dedicated their lives to the understanding of nature in general and to the development of Statistical Physics and the science of Complexity in particular: Liacir Lucena and H Eugene Stanley.

Contributor Bio:  Viswanathan, Gandhimohan M Gandhimohan M. Viswanathan is Professor of Physics at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Previously, he was Associate Professor at the Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, where he spent over a decade investigating the complex phenomenology seen in physical, biological and economic systems. Contributor Bio:  Raposo, Ernesto P Ernesto P. Raposo is an Associate Professor in the Laboratorio de Fisica Teorica e Computacional, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. His current research interests include statistical physics of random searches and the foraging problem, disordered antiferromagnets, and quantum field theory of quasi-unidimensional magnetic polymer chains.