Édouard Brezin – författare

Random matrices are widely and successfully used in physics for almost 60-70 years, beginning with the works of Dyson and Wigner. Although it is an old subject, it is constantly developing into new areas of physics and mathematics. It constitutes now a part of the general culture of a theoretical physicist. Mathematical methods inspired by random matrix theory become more powerful, sophisticated and enjoy rapidly growing applications in physics. Recent examples include the calculation of universal correlations in the mesoscopic system, new applications in disordered and quantum chaotic systems, in combinatorial and growth models, as well as the recent breakthrough, due to the matrix models, in two dimensional gravity and string theory and the non-abelian gauge theories. The book consists of the lectures of the leading specialists and covers rather systematically many of these topics. It can be useful to the specialists in various subjects using random matrices, from PhD students to confirmed scientists.

Random matrices are widely and successfully used in physics for almost 60-70 years, beginning with the works of Dyson and Wigner. Although it is an old subject, it is constantly developing into new areas of physics and mathematics. It constitutes now a part of the general culture of a theoretical physicist. Mathematical methods inspired by random matrix theory become more powerful, sophisticated and enjoy rapidly growing applications in physics. Recent examples include the calculation of universal correlations in the mesoscopic system, new applications in disordered and quantum chaotic systems, in combinatorial and growth models, as well as the recent breakthrough, due to the matrix models, in two dimensional gravity and string theory and the non-abelian gauge theories. The book consists of the lectures of the leading specialists and covers rather systematically many of these topics. It can be useful to the specialists in various subjects using random matrices, from PhD students to confirmed scientists.

Random matrices are widely and successfully used in physics for almost 60-70 years, beginning with the works of Dyson and Wigner. Although it is an old subject, it is constantly developing into new areas of physics and mathematics. It constitutes now a part of the general culture of a theoretical physicist. Mathematical methods inspired by random matrix theory become more powerful, sophisticated and enjoy rapidly growing applications in physics. Recent examples include the calculation of universal correlations in the mesoscopic system, new applications in disordered and quantum chaotic systems, in combinatorial and growth models, as well as the recent breakthrough, due to the matrix models, in two dimensional gravity and string theory and the non-abelian gauge theories. The book consists of the lectures of the leading specialists and covers rather systematically many of these topics. It can be useful to the specialists in various subjects using random matrices, from PhD students to confirmed scientists.

« Ce livre est le récit de quelques-unes des incertitudes de la physique d’aujourd’hui en devenir, avec l’ambition de montrer que les questions posées sont l’effet d’une logique interne qui nous a conduits immanquablement là où nous sommes. Il nous a semblé qu’il était possible de raconter en mots, sans équations ni long investissement préalable dans la lecture d’ouvrages difficiles, les interrogations auxquelles sont confrontés les physiciens de notre temps. Le monde qui nous entoure est bien présent dans ces pages puisque la physique n’est que confrontation entre concepts et réalité. Rien ne permet de penser que le bouleversement de nos modes de vie dû à la science des siècles derniers est en voie de s’arrêter. Mais notre conviction est que c’est bien le propre de l’homme que de connaître le monde dans lequel il vit, et que c’est à ce prix qu’il pourra en tirer parti sans tomber dans les pièges qui lui sont simultanément tendus. » S. B. et E. B.À l’initiative de l’Académie des sciences, les plus grands savants français sont réunis ici pour nous faire partager les extraordinaires avancées de la physique moderne. Contributions de Alain Aspect, Roger Balian, Gérald Bastard, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Bernard Cabane, Françoise Combes, Thérèse Encrenaz, Stephan Fauve, Albert Fert, Mathias Fink, Antoine Georges, Jean-François Joanny, Daniel Kaplan, Denis Le Bihan, Pierre Léna, Hervé Le Treut, Jean-Paul Poirier, Jacques Prost et Jean-Loup Puget.

This is a first book to show that the theory of the Gaussian random matrix is essential to understand the universal correlations with random fluctuations and to demonstrate that it is useful to evaluate topological universal quantities. We consider Gaussian random matrix models in the presence of a deterministic matrix source. In such models the correlation functions are known exactly for an arbitrary source and for any size of the matrices. The freedom given by the external source allows for various tunings to different classes of universality. The main interest is to use this freedom to compute various topological invariants for surfaces such as the intersection numbers for curves drawn on a surface of given genus with marked points, Euler characteristics, and the Gromov–Witten invariants. A remarkable duality for the average of characteristic polynomials is essential for obtaining such topological invariants. The analysis is extended to nonorientable surfaces and to surfaces with boundaries.