A thorough and pedagogical introduction to phase transitions and exactly solved models in statistical physics and quantum field theory.

While many scientists are familiar with fractals, fewer are familiar with scale-invariance and universality which underlie the ubiquity of their shapes. These properties may emerge from the collective behaviour of simple fundamental constituents, and are studied using statistical field theories. Initial chapters connect the particulate perspective developed in the companion volume, to the coarse grained statistical fields studied here. Based on lectures taught by Professor Kardar at MIT, this textbook demonstrates how such theories are formulated and studied. Perturbation theory, exact solutions, renormalization groups, and other tools are employed to demonstrate the emergence of scale invariance and universality, and the non-equilibrium dynamics of interfaces and directed paths in random media are discussed. Ideal for advanced graduate courses in statistical physics, it contains an integrated set of problems, with solutions to selected problems at the end of the book and a complete set available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521873413.

This new expanded second edition has been totally revised and corrected. The reader finds two complete new chapters. One covers the exact solution of the finite temperature Schwinger model with periodic boundary conditions. This simple model supports instanton solutions – similarly as QCD – and allows for a detailed discussion of topological sectors in gauge theories, the anomaly-induced breaking of chiral symmetry and the intriguing role of fermionic zero modes. The other new chapter is devoted to interacting fermions at finite fermion density and finite temperature. Such low-dimensional models are used to describe long-energy properties of Dirac-type materials in condensed matter physics. The large-N solutions of the Gross-Neveu, Nambu-Jona-Lasinio and Thirring models are presented in great detail, where N denotes the number of fermion flavors. Towards the end of the book corrections to the large-N solution and simulation results of a finite number of fermion flavors are presented. Further problems are added at the end of each chapter in order to guide the reader to a deeper understanding of the presented topics. This book is meant for advanced students and young researchers who want to acquire the necessary tools and experience to produce research results in the statistical approach to Quantum Field Theory.

Specifically written to introduce researchers and advanced students to the modern developments in statistical mechanics and field theory, this book's leitmotiv is functional integration and its application to different areas of physics. The book acts as both an introduction to and a lucid overview of the major problems in statistical field theory.

This book presents a self-contained introduction to techniques from field theory applied to stochastic and collective dynamics in neuronal networks. These powerful analytical techniques, which are well established in other fields of physics, are the basis of current developments and offer solutions to pressing open problems in theoretical neuroscience and also machine learning. They enable a systematic and quantitative understanding of the dynamics in recurrent and stochastic neuronal networks. This book is intended for physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists and it is designed for self-study by researchers who want to enter the field or as the main text for a one semester course at advanced undergraduate or graduate level. The theoretical concepts presented in this book are systematically developed from the very beginning, which only requires basic knowledge of analysis and linear algebra.

Knowledge of the renormalization group and field theory is a key part of physics, and is essential in condensed matter and particle physics. Written for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, this textbook provides a concise introduction to this subject. The textbook deals directly with the loop expansion of the free energy, also known as the background field method. This is a powerful method, especially when dealing with symmetries, and statistical mechanics. In focussing on free energy, the author avoids long developments on field theory techniques. The necessity of renormalization then follows.

This systematic algebraic approach offers a careful formulation of the problems' physical motivations as well as self-contained descriptions of the mathematical methods for arriving at solutions. 1972 edition.