........ published in NEWSLETTER # 52
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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 52
MICRO_, MESO_, AND MACRO_APPROACHES IN PHYSICS
by M. Fannes, C. Maes and Professor A. Veubeure, Instituut voor Theoretische Fysica, K.U., Leuven (Belgium)
This volume (NATO ASI SERIES B324) comprises 61 contributions which were presented at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held in Leuven, Belgium. The aim of the workshop was to draw attention to three different levels of description of the physical world, namely the micro_level, the meso_level and the macro_level. Special focus was the mathematically rigorous formulation of possible relations between these levels and of their proper field of relevance. Recent advances made in this area were reviewed in the workshop.
The papers reflect the idea that these three levels are not independent although at each scale of space and/or time typical to a particular level of physical description, new pheonomena may appear requiring distinct methods of analysis. Important in this volume is the emphasis on mesoscopic physics which in many past reviews of the subject in theoretical physics has been largely ignored. As the spatial scale is an important parameter distinguishing different levels, it is not surprising that the quantum and the classical world meet in this volume. This makes the book also exceptional in the sense that both experts on classical and quantum physics report on the same type of problems.
The contributors to this volume are mostly mathematical physicists working in statistical mechanics, dynamic systems and solid state physics. A wide range of topics is discussed, from the microscopic analysis of quantum spin systems and their groundstates, via the quantum Hall effect and semi_ classical approximations (wave_mechanics), to the study of deriving kinetic and hydrodynamic equations in gases and fluids. Static as well as dynamic equilibrium and non_equilibrium aspects of the theory are touched upon.
The book is a useful source of information for all researchers interested in current mathematical methods in the study of three levels of physics and beyond. In particular it will be welcomed by all those who endeavor to understand the relation between the micro_world and larger scale natural phenomena.
The present volume can be viewed as a natural continuation of some of the material addressed at a previous NATO ASI, published by Kluwer (Volume C420).
Reference books: B324, C420