The International Symposium on Dynamics of Ordering Processes in Condensed Matter was held at the Kansai Seminar House, Kyoto, for four days, from 27 to 30 August 1987, under the auspices of the Physical Soci ety of Japan. The symposium was financially supported by the four orga nizations and 45 companies listed on other pages in this volume. We are very grateful to all of them and particularly to the greatest sponsor, the Commemorative Association for the Japan World Exposition 1970. A total Df 22 invited lectures and 48 poster presentations were given and 110 participants attended from seven nations. An objective of the Symposium was to review and extend our present understanding of the dynamics of ordering processes in condensed matters, (for example, alloys, polymers and fluids), that are brought to an un stable state by sudden change of such external parameters as temperature and pressure. A second objective, no less important, was to identify new fields of science that might be investigated by similar, but sometimes more sophisticated, concepts and tactics. An emphasis was laid on those universal aspects of the laws governing the ordering processes which transcended the detailed differences among the substances used. The 71 lectures reproduced in this volume bear witness to the success of the Symposium in meeting amply the first objective and, to a lesser extent, the second.

Featuring the work of an international group of scholars, this volume covers the transport properties and Soliton models of Polyacetylene, development and application of the theory of Brownian Motion, the fading of memory during the regression of structural fluctuations, the breakdown of the Kramers Theory as a problem of correct modeling, and more.

Now in paperback, this book provides an overview of the physics of condensed matter systems. Assuming a familiarity with the basics of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, the book establishes a general framework for describing condensed phases of matter, based on symmetries and conservation laws. It explores the role of spatial dimensionality and microscopic interactions in determining the nature of phase transitions, as well as discussing the structure and properties of materials with different symmetries. Particular attention is given to critical phenomena and renormalization group methods. The properties of liquids, liquid crystals, quasicrystals, crystalline solids, magnetically ordered systems and amorphous solids are investigated in terms of their symmetry, generalised rigidity, hydrodynamics and topological defect structure. In addition to serving as a course text, this book is an essential reference for students and researchers in physics, applied physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering, who are interested in modern condensed matter physics.

This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.

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.

A reference and text, Dissipative Phenomena treats the broadly applicable area of nonequilibrium statistical physics and concentrates the modelling and characterization of dissipative phenomena. A variety of examples from diverse disciplines, such as condensed matter physics, materials science, metallurgy, chemical physics, are discussed. Dattagupta employs a broad framework of stochastic processes and master equation techniques to obtain models for a range of experimentally relevant phenomena such as classical and quantum Brownian motion, spin dynamics, kinetics of phase ordering, relaxation in glasses, and dissipative tunnelling. This book will serve as a graduate/research level textbook since it offers considerable utility to experimentalists, computational physicists and theorists.