Eli Ben-Naim - Böcker

Aimed at graduate students, this book explores some of the core phenomena in non-equilibrium statistical physics. It focuses on the development and application of theoretical methods to help students develop their problem-solving skills. The book begins with microscopic transport processes: diffusion, collision-driven phenomena, and exclusion. It then presents the kinetics of aggregation, fragmentation and adsorption, where the basic phenomenology and solution techniques are emphasized. The following chapters cover kinetic spin systems, both from a discrete and a continuum perspective, the role of disorder in non-equilibrium processes, hysteresis from the non-equilibrium perspective, the kinetics of chemical reactions, and the properties of complex networks. The book contains 200 exercises to test students' understanding of the subject. A link to a website hosted by the authors, containing supplementary material including solutions to some of the exercises, can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521851039.

This volume is devoted to the applications of techniques from statistical physics to the characterization and modeling of complex networks. The first two parts of the book concern theory and modeling of networks, the last two parts survey applications to a wide variety of natural and artificial networks. The tutorial reviews that form this book are aimed at students and newcomers to the field, and will also constitute a modern and comprehensive reference for experts. To this aim, all contributions have been carefully peer-reviewed not only for scientific content but also for self-consistency and readability.