Perspectives And Challenges In Statistical Physics And Complex Systems For The Next Decade

by Gandhimohan M Viswanathan, Ernesto P Raposo, Marcos Gomes Eleuterio Da Luz

Overview

Statistical Physics (SP) has followed an unusual evolutionary path in science. Originally aiming to provide a fundamental basis for another important branch of Physics, namely Thermodynamics, SP gradually became an independent field of research in its own right. But despite more than a century of steady progress, there are still plenty of challenges and open questions in the SP realm.In fact, the area is still rapidly evolving, in contrast to other branches of science, which already have well defined scopes and borderlines of applicability. This difference is due to the steadily expanding number of applications, as well as ongoing improvements and revisions of concepts and methods in SP. Such particular aspects of SP lend further significance and timeliness to this book about perspectives and trends within the field.Here, the aim is to present the state-of-the-art vision of expert researchers who study SP and Complex Systems. Although a comprehensive treatment is well beyond what can be treated in a single volume, the book provides a snapshot of the field today, as well as a glimpse of where the field may be heading during the next decade.The book is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate physics students, as well as researchers who work with SP, Complex Systems, Computational Physics, Biological Physics and related topics. It addresses questions such as: What insights can be gained from recent advances in the study of traditional problems in SP? How can SP help us understand problems that arise in the biological sciences and in the study of complex systems? How can new problems be formulated using the ‘language’ of SP? In this way, it attempts to document partial progress in answering these and related questions.The book also commemorates the occasion of the 70th anniversary in 2011 of two important physicists and friends who dedicated their lives to the understanding of nature in general and to the development of Statistical Physics and the science of Complexity in particular: Liacir Lucena and H Eugene Stanley.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814590136
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/20/2014
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Table of Contents

Preface v

Part A Further advances in the analysis of traditional problems in statistical physics 1

Comparing methods and Monte Carlo algorithms at phase transition regimes: A general overview C. E. Fiore 3

Density of states of the Ising model in the field B. D. Stošic 21

A renormalization group study of the three-color Ashkin-Teller model on a Wheatstone hierarchical lattice R. Teodoro G. G. Bezerra A. M. Mariz F. A. da Costa J. M. de Araújo 36

Applying Virial theorem in continuous potential of two scales N. M. Barraz Jr. M. C. Barbosa 48

Elementary statistical models for nematic transitions in liquid-crystalline systems D. B. Liarte S. R. Salinas 64

Phase diagram and layer-thinning transitions in free-standing liquid crystal films M. S. S. Pereira I. N. de Oliveira M. L. Lyra

On some experimental reasons for an inhomogeneous structure of ambient water on the nanometer length scale F. Mallamace G. Corsaro C. Vasi 107

Polymorphism and polymorphism of a confined water monolayer: liquid-liquid critical point, liquid-crystal and crystal-crystal phase transitions V. Bianco O. Vilanova G. Franzese 126

Part B New insights into traditional problems in statistical physics

Topological and geometrical aspects of phase transitions F. A. N. Santos J. A. Rehn M. D. Coutinho-Filho 153

Pacman percolation and the glass transition R. Pastore M. P. Ciamarra A. Coniglio 181

Exact solution for a diffusive process on a backbone structure: Green function approach and external force E. K. Lenzi L. R. da Silva A. A. Tateishi M. K. Lenzi H. V. Ribeiro 196

Multifractal surfaces: Lucena and Stanley approaches G. Corso D. A. Moreira 208

Part C Applications to biological problems 219

Nanoelectronics of a DNA molecule E. L. Albuquerque U. L. Fulco E. W. S Caetano V. N. Freire M. L. Lyra F. A. B. F. Mourn 221

Magic trees in mammalians respiration or when evolution selected clever physical systems B. Sapoval M. Filoche 245

Social distancing strategies against disease spreading L. D. Valdez C. Buono P. A. Maori L. A. Brautistein 257

Part D Non-traditional problems related to complex systems 285

Thermodynamics and kinetic theory of granular materials G. M. Kramer 287

Continuous and first-order jamming transition in crossing pedestrian traffic flows H. J. Hilhont J. Cividini C. Appert-Holland 300

Multiplicative processes in visual cognition H. F. Credidio E. N. Teixeira S. D. S. Reis A. A. Moreira J. S. Andrade Jr 314

Search strategy: Hedging your bet M. F. Shlesinger 324

Author Index 331