"This book extends a tutorial I wrote on control theory (Bechhoefer, 2005). In both the article and this book, my goal has been "to make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange."1 The strange is control theory-feedback and feedforward, transfer functions and minimum phase, H8 metrics and Z-transforms, and many other ideas that are not usually part of the education of a physicist. The familiar includes notions such as causality, measurement, robustness, and entropy-concepts physicists think they know-that acquire new meanings in the light of control theory. I hope that this book accomplishes both tasks.
Control theory, an interdisciplinary concept dealing with the behaviour of dynamical systems, is an important but often overlooked aspect of physics. This is the first broad and complete treatment of the topic tailored for physicists, one which goes from the basics right through to the most recent advances. Simple examples develop a deep understanding and intuition for the systematic principles of control theory, beyond the recipes given in standard engineering-focused texts. Up-to-date coverage of control of networks and complex systems, and a thorough discussion of the fundamental limits of control, including the limitations placed by causality, information theory, and thermodynamics are included. In addition, it explores important recent advances in stochastic thermodynamics on the thermodynamic costs of information processing and control. For all students of physics interested in control theory, this classroom-tested, comprehensive approach to the topic with online solutions and further materials delivers both fundamental principles and current developments.