000			01491nam a22001697a 4500
999			_c39277 _d39277
008			190319b1992 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780198517306
082			_a530.13 YEO-J
100			_aYeomans, J.M.
245			_aStatistical Mechanics of phase transitions / _cJ. M. Yeomans
260			_aUnited Kingdom _bOxford University Press _c1992
300			_a153 p.
365			_aGBP _b33.50.
440			_aOxford science publications.
500			_aRecent developments have led to a good understanding of universality; why phase transitions in systems as diverse as magnets, fluids, liquid crystals, and superconductors can be brought under the same theoretical umbrella and well described by simple models. This book describes the physics underlying universality and then lays out the theoretical approaches now available for studying phase transitions. Traditional techniques, mean-field theory, series expansions, and the transfer matrix, are described; the Monte Carlo method is covered, and two chapters are devoted to the renormalization group, which led to a break-through in the field. The book will be useful as a textbook for a course in `Phase Transitions', as an introduction for graduate students undertaking research in related fields, and as an overview for scientists in other disciplines who work with phase transitions but who are not aware of the current tools in the armoury of the theoretical physicist.
650			_aPhase transformations (Statistical physics)