R.L. Dobrushin – författare

Physics has always been a fertile source of new mathematical notions and ideas, and in the past decade the stream of ideas from physics to mathematics has increased dramatically. The subfield of statistical mechanics is no exception. Containing papers written by representatives of the Moscow school of mathematical statistical mechanics, this volume illustrates certain aspects of the developing interaction between statistical mechanics on the one hand and the theories of probability and of dynamical systems on the other. Included here are papers on random walks, phase transition phenomena for Gibbs random fields, the existence of nonstandard motion integrals in statistical physics models, and the Frenkel-Kontorova model.

A theory of the equilibrium shape of crystal assuming minimal surface free energy was formulated at the beginning of the century by Wulff. Assuming that the anisotropic interfacial free energy (depending on the orientation of the interface with respect to the crystal axes) is known, the Wulff construction yields the shape of crystal in equilibrium and allows one to understand its main features. This research monograph considers the Wulff construction in the case of a two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet with periodic boundary conditions and at sufficiently low temperatures.Namely, the authors investigate the phenomenon of phase separation in a (small) canonical ensemble characterized by a fixed total spin in a finite volume. Its value is chosen to lie in the interval between the spontaneous magnetizations of pure phases. Heuristically, the main result can be stated this way: a droplet of one phase immersed in the opposite one will be formed with the separation line following with high accuracy the shape yielded by the Wulff construction. The book brings the reader through the entire development of the proof of this result.

This EMS volume, the first edition of which was published as Dynamical Systems II, EMS 2, sets out to familiarize the reader to the fundamental ideas and results of modern ergodic theory and its applications to dynamical systems and statistical mechanics. The exposition starts from the basic of the subject, introducing ergodicity, mixing and entropy. The ergodic theory of smooth dynamical systems is treated. Numerous examples are presented carefully along with the ideas underlying the most important results. Moreover, the book deals with the dynamical systems of statistical mechanics, and with various kinetic equations. For this second enlarged and revised edition, published as Mathematical Physics I, EMS 100, two new contributions on ergodic theory of flows on homogeneous manifolds and on methods of algebraic geometry in the theory of interval exchange transformations were added. This book is compulsory reading for all mathematicians working in this field, or wanting to learn about it.

This EMS volume, the first edition of which was published as Dynamical Systems II, EMS 2, sets out to familiarize the reader to the fundamental ideas and results of modern ergodic theory and its applications to dynamical systems and statistical mechanics. The exposition starts from the basic of the subject, introducing ergodicity, mixing and entropy. The ergodic theory of smooth dynamical systems is treated. Numerous examples are presented carefully along with the ideas underlying the most important results. Moreover, the book deals with the dynamical systems of statistical mechanics, and with various kinetic equations. For this second enlarged and revised edition, published as Mathematical Physics I, EMS 100, two new contributions on ergodic theory of flows on homogeneous manifolds and on methods of algebraic geometry in the theory of interval exchange transformations were added. This book is compulsory reading for all mathematicians working in this field, or wanting to learn about it.

Approach your problems from the It isn''t that they can''t see the solution. right end and begin with the answers. It is that they can''t see the problem. Then one day, perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father Brown ''The point of a Pin''. ''The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers'' in R. van Gulik''s The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the ''tree'' of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non­ trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as ''experimental mathematics'', ''CFD'', ''completely integrable systems'', ''chaos, synergetics and large-scale order'', which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classification schemes. They draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.