conjecture a phase transition of a special kind, in which there is an unstable fixed point controlling the initial flows of the system. The flows to the unstable weak coupling fixed point may eventually follow the crossover to the strong coupling fixed point. This notion is able to account for the existing theoretical and numerical results.

“The importance of knowledge consists not only in its direct practical utility but also in the fact the it promotes a widely contemplative habit of mind; on this ground, utility is to be found in much of the knowledge that is nowadays labelled ‘useless’. ” Bertrand Russel, In Praise of Idleness, London (1935) “Why are scientists in so many cases so deeply interested in their work ? Is it merely because it is useful ? It is only necessary to talk to such scientists to discover that the utilitarian possibilities of their work are generally of secondary interest to them. Something else is primary. ” David Bohm, On creativity, Abingdon (1996) In this volume, the dynamical critical behaviour of many-body systems far from equilibrium is discussed. Therefore, the intrinsic properties of the - namics itself, rather than those of the stationary state, are in the focus of 1 interest. Characteristically, far-from-equilibrium systems often display - namical scaling, even if the stationary state is very far from being critical. A 1 As an example of a non-equilibrium phase transition, with striking practical c- sequences, consider the allotropic change of metallic ?-tin to brittle ?-tin. At o equilibrium, the gray ?-Sn becomes more stable than the silvery ?-Sn at 13. 2 C. Kinetically, the transition between these two solid forms of tin is rather slow at higher temperatures. It starts from small islands of ?-Sn, the growth of which proceeds through an auto-catalytic reaction.

"Universal scaling behavior is an attractive feature in statistical physics because a wide range of models can be classified purely in terms of their collective behavior due to a diverging correlation length. This book provides a comprehensive overview of dynamical universality classes occurring in nonequilibrium systems defined on regular lattices. The factors determining these diverse universality classes have yet to be fully understood, but the book attempts to summarize our present knowledge, taking them into account systematically." "The book helps the reader to navigate in the zoo of basic models and classes that were investigated in the past decades, using field theoretical formalism and topological diagrams of phase spaces. The extensions in this book include new topics like local scale invariance, tricritical points, phase space topologies, nonperturbative renormalization group results and disordered systems that are discussed in more detail. This book also aims to be more pedagogical, providing more background and derivation of results."--BOOK JACKET.

Universal scaling behavior is an attractive feature in statistical physics because a wide range of models can be classified purely in terms of their collective behavior due to a diverging correlation length. This book provides a comprehensive overview of dynamical universality classes occurring in nonequilibrium systems defined on regular lattices. The factors determining these diverse universality classes have yet to be fully understood, but the book attempts to summarize our present knowledge, taking them into account systematically.The book helps the reader to navigate in the zoo of basic models and classes that were investigated in the past decades, using field theoretical formalism and topological diagrams of phase spaces. Based on a review in Rev. Mod. Phys. by the author, it incorporates surface growth classes, classes of spin models, percolation and multi-component system classes as well as damage spreading transitions. (The success of that review can be quantified by the more than one hundred independent citations of that paper since 2004.)The extensions in this book include new topics like local scale invariance, tricritical points, phase space topologies, nonperturbative renormalization group results and disordered systems that are discussed in more detail. This book also aims to be more pedagogical, providing more background and derivation of results. Topological phase space diagrams introduced by Kamenev (Physical Review E 2006) very recently are used as a guide for one-component, reaction-diffusion systems.

This volume collects several in-depth articles giving lucid discussions on new developments in statistical and condensed matter physics. Many, though not all, contributors had been in touch with the late S-K Ma. Written by some of the world's experts and originators of new ideas in the field, this book is a must for all researchers in theoretical physics. Most of the articles should be accessible to diligent graduate students and experienced readers will gain from the wealth of materials contained herein.

This volume contains the papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Kinetics of Ordering and Growth at Surfaces", held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, September 18-22, 1989. The workshop's goal was to bring together theorists and experimentalists from two related fields, surface science and thin-film growth, to highlight their common interests and overcome a lack of communication between these two communities. Typically surface scientists are only concerned with the microscopic (atomic) description of solids within one monolayer of the surface. Thin-film growers are usually considered more empirical in their approach, concerned primarily with the "quality of their product", and have not necessarily found it useful to incorporate surface science understanding into their art. This workshop aimed to counter at least in some measure these stereotypes. Its focus was on generating dialogue on the fundamental structural and kinetic processes that lead to the initial stages of film growth, from both the surface science and crystal growth perspectives. To achieve this, alternate days emphasized the view of surface science and thin-film growth, with considerable time for discussion, a format that appeared to succeed well. The success of the workshop is in large measure due to the efforts of the organizing committee, L. C. Feldman, P. K. Larsen, J. A. Venables, and J. Villain, whose advice on the constitution of the program was invaluable.

This book brings together two of the most exciting and widely studied subjects in modern physics: namely fractals and surfaces. To the community interested in the study of surfaces and interfaces, it brings the concept of fractals. To the community interested in the exciting field of fractals and their application, it demonstrates how these concepts may be used in the study of surfaces. The authors cover, in simple terms, the various methods and theories developed over the past ten years to study surface growth. They describe how one can use fractal concepts successfully to describe and predict the morphology resulting from various growth processes. Consequently, this book will appeal to physicists working in condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics, with an interest in fractals and their application. The first chapter of this important new text is available on the Cambridge Worldwide Web server: http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/onlinepubs/Textbooks/textbookstop.html