Renormalization Methods: A Guide For Beginners - Hardcover

McComb, William David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198506945 ISBN 13: 9780198506942

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2003

Synopsis

This book is unique in occupying a gap between standard undergraduate texts and more advanced texts on quantum field theory. It covers a range of renormalization methods with a clear physical interpretation (and motivation), including mean-field theories and high-temperature and low-density expansions. It then proceeds by easy steps to the famous epsilon-expansion, ending up with the first-order corrections to critical exponents beyond mean-field theory. Nowadays there is widespread interest in applications of renormalization methods to various topics ranging over soft condensed matter, engineering dynamics, traffic queueing and fluctuations in the stock market. Hence macroscopic systems are also included, with particular emphasis on the archetypal problem of fluid turbulence. The book is also unique in making this material accessible to readers other than theoretical physicists, as it requires only the basic physics and mathematics which should be known to most scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

About this title

Review:

Renormalization Methods should be an excellent source of material for anyone who plans to lead advanced undergradutes and first-year graduate students beyond the standard course material toward current research topics. I shall certainly keep the book in close reach when preparing for my classes. (Physics Today)

I think this book is the best introductory textbook on techniques of renormalization available. It will be a delight to read for anyone who is encountering the topic for the first time and is wishing to exploit the methods to pass an exam or in one's field (Contemporary Physics)

this volume does have a fresh aspect to it, perhaps because of the author's background in fluid dynamics and turbulence theory the book should at least find a place on most library reference shelves. (Journal of Physics A: Mathematics and General)

All in all, the author succeeds in what he sets out to do, and the somewhat unusual emphasis on fluid flow problems makes this an interesting read. (Theoretical Physics Book Reviews)

One can hope that this book will stimulate interest in bringing the theories of nonlinear dissipative systems up to the level of understanding of the familiar and largely solved problems of conservative statistical physics. (The Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 30/09/2004)

Requiring only the basic physics and mathematics known to most scientists and engineers, the material should be accessible to readers other then theoretical physicists. (CERN Courier, 05/08/2004)

About the Author:

William David McComb is currently Professor of Statistical Physics at the University of Edinburgh. He was Senior Scientific Officer of the Theoretical Physics Division, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell in the years 1969-71.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0198506945
• ISBN 13: 9780198506942
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 348