Path Integrals in Physics: Volume I, Stochastic Processes and Quantum Mechanics presents the fundamentals of path integrals, both the Wiener and Feynman type, and their many applications in physics. Accessible to a broad community of theoretical physicists, the book deals with systems possessing a infinite number of degrees in freedom. It discusses the general physical background and concepts of the path integral approach used, followed by a detailed presentation of the most typical and important applications as well as problems with either their solutions or hints how to solve them. It describes in detail various applications, including systems with Grassmann variables. Each chapter is self-contained and can be considered as an independent textbook. The book provides a comprehensive, detailed, and systematic account of the subject suitable for both students and experienced researchers.

This monograph distills material prepared by the author for class lectures, conferences and research seminars. It fills in a much-felt gap between the older and original work by Feynman and Hibbs and the more recent and advanced volume by Schulman. After presenting an elementary account on the Wiener path integral as applied to Brownian motion, the author progresses on to the statistics of polymers and polymer entanglements. The next three chapters provide an introduction to quantum statistical physics with emphasis on the conceptual understanding of many-variable systems. A chapter on the renormalization group provides material for starting on research work. The final chapter contains an over view of the role of path integrals in recent developments in physics. A good bibliography is provided for each chapter.

This book provides an ideal introduction to the use of Feynman path integrals in the fields of quantum mechanics and statistical physics. It is written for graduate students and researchers in physics, mathematical physics, applied mathematics as well as chemistry. The material is presented in an accessible manner for readers with little knowledge of quantum mechanics and no prior exposure to path integrals. It begins with elementary concepts and a review of quantum mechanics that gradually builds the framework for the Feynman path integrals and how they are applied to problems in quantum mechanics and statistical physics. Problem sets throughout the book allow readers to test their understanding and reinforce the explanations of the theory in real situations. Features: Comprehensive and rigorous yet, presents an easy-to-understand approach. Applicable to a wide range of disciplines. Accessible to those with little, or basic, mathematical understanding.

This is the fourth, expanded edition of the comprehensive textbook published in 1990 on the theory and applications of path integrals. It is the first book to explicitly solve path integrals of a wide variety of nontrivial quantum-mechanical systems, in particular the hydrogen atom. The solutions have become possible by two major advances. The first is a new euclidean path integral formula which increases the restricted range of applicability of Feynman's famous formula to include singular attractive 1/r and 1/r2 potentials. The second is a simple quantum equivalence principle governing the transformation of euclidean path integrals to spaces with curvature and torsion, which leads to time-sliced path integrals that are manifestly invariant under coordinate transformations.In addition to the time-sliced definition, the author gives a perturbative definition of path integrals which makes them invariant under coordinate transformations. A consistent implementation of this property leads to an extension of the theory of generalized functions by defining uniquely integrals over products of distributions.The powerful Feynman-Kleinert variational approach is explained and developed systematically into a variational perturbation theory which, in contrast to ordinary perturbation theory, produces convergent expansions. The convergence is uniform from weak to strong couplings, opening a way to precise approximate evaluations of analytically unsolvable path integrals.Tunneling processes are treated in detail. The results are used to determine the lifetime of supercurrents, the stability of metastable thermodynamic phases, and the large-order behavior of perturbation expansions. A new variational treatment extends the range of validity of previous tunneling theories from large to small barriers. A corresponding extension of large-order perturbation theory also applies now to small orders.Special attention is devoted to path integrals with topological restrictions. These are relevant to the understanding of the statistical properties of elementary particles and the entanglement phenomena in polymer physics and biophysics. The Chern-Simons theory of particles with fractional statistics (anyons) is introduced and applied to explain the fractional quantum Hall effect.The relevance of path integrals to financial markets is discussed, and improvements of the famous Black-Scholes formula for option prices are given which account for the fact that large market fluctuations occur much more frequently than in the commonly used Gaussian distributions.The author's other book on ‘Critical Properties of φ4 Theories’ gives a thorough introduction to the field of critical phenomena and develops new powerful resummation techniques for the extraction of physical results from the divergent perturbation expansions.

This is the fifth, expanded edition of the comprehensive textbook published in 1990 on the theory and applications of path integrals. It is the first book to explicitly solve path integrals of a wide variety of nontrivial quantum-mechanical systems, in particular the hydrogen atom. The solutions have been made possible by two major advances. The first is a new euclidean path integral formula which increases the restricted range of applicability of Feynman's time-sliced formula to include singular attractive 1/r- and 1/r2-potentials. The second is a new nonholonomic mapping principle carrying physical laws in flat spacetime to spacetimes with curvature and torsion, which leads to time-sliced path integrals that are manifestly invariant under coordinate transformations. In addition to the time-sliced definition, the author gives a perturbative, coordinate-independent definition of path integrals, which makes them invariant under coordinate transformations. A consistent implementation of this property leads to an extension of the theory of generalized functions by defining uniquely products of distributions. The powerful FeynmanKleinert variational approach is explained and developed systematically into a variational perturbation theory which, in contrast to ordinary perturbation theory, produces convergent results. The convergence is uniform from weak to strong couplings, opening a way to precise evaluations of analytically unsolvable path integrals in the strong-coupling regime where they describe critical phenomena. Tunneling processes are treated in detail, with applications to the lifetimes of supercurrents, the stability of metastable thermodynamic phases, and thelarge-order behavior of perturbation expansions. A variational treatment extends the range of validity to small barriers. A corresponding extension of the large-order perturbation theory now also applies to small orders. Special attention is devoted to path integrals with topological restrictions needed to understand the statistical properties of elementary particles and the entanglement phenomena in polymer physics and biophysics. The ChernSimons theory of particles with fractional statistics (anyons) is introduced and applied to explain the fractional quantum Hall effect. The relevance of path integrals to financial markets is discussed, and improvements of the famous BlackScholes formula for option prices are developed which account for the fact, recently experienced in the world markets, that large fluctuations occur much more frequently than in Gaussian distributions.

The path integral approach has proved extremely useful for the understanding of the most complex problems in quantum field theory, cosmology, and condensed matter physics. Path Integrals in Physics: Volume II, Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics and other Modern Applications covers the fundamentals of path integrals, both the Wiener and Feynman types, and their many applications in physics. The book deals with systems that have an infinite number of degrees of freedom. It discusses the general physical background and concepts of the path integral approach used, followed by a detailed presentation of the most typical and important applications as well as problems with either their solutions or hints how to solve them. Each chapter is self-contained and can be considered as an independent textbook. It provides a comprehensive, detailed, and systematic account of the subject suitable for both students and experienced researchers.

This is the third, significantly expanded edition of the comprehensive textbook published in 1990 on the theory and applications of path integrals. It is the first book to explicitly solve path integrals of a wide variety of nontrivial quantum-mechanical systems, in particular the hydrogen atom. The solutions have become possible by two major advances. The first is a new euclidean path integral formula which increases the restricted range of applicability of Feynman's famous formula to include singular attractive 1/r and 1/r2 potentials. The second is a simple quantum equivalence principle governing the transformation of euclidean path integrals to spaces with curvature and torsion, which leads to time-sliced path integrals that are manifestly invariant under coordinate transformations. In addition to the time-sliced definition, the author gives a perturbative definition of path integrals which makes them invariant under coordinate transformations. A consistent implementation of this property leads to an extension of the theory of generalized functions by defining uniquely integrals over products of distributions. The powerful Feynman -- Kleinert variational approach is explained and developed systematically into a variational perturbation theory which, in contrast to ordinary perturbation theory, produces convergent expansions. The convergence is uniform from weak to strong couplings, opening a way to precise approximate evaluations of analytically unsolvable path integrals. Tunneling processes are treated in detail. The results are used to determine the lifetime of supercurrents, the stability of metastable thermodynamic phases, and the large-order behavior of perturbationexpansions. A new variational treatment extends the range of validity of previous tunneling theories from large to small barriers. A corresponding extension of large-order perturbation theory also applies now to small orders. Special attention is devoted to path integrals with topological restrictions. These are relevant to the understanding of the statistical properties of elementary particles and the entanglement phenomena in polymer physics and biophysics. The Chem-Simons theory of particles with fractional statistics (anyohs) is introduced and applied to explain the fractional quantum Hall effect. The relevance of path integrals to financial markets is discussed, and improvements of the famous Black -- Scholes formula for option prices are given which account for the fact that large market fluctuations occur much more frequently than in the commonly used Gaussian distributions.

As information systems used for research and educational purposes have become more complex, there has been an increase in the need for new computing architecture. High performance and cloud computing provide reliable and cost-effective information technology infrastructure that enhances research and educational processes. Handbook of Research on High Performance and Cloud Computing in Scientific Research and Education presents the applications of cloud computing in various settings, such as scientific research, education, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, and social computing. Providing various examples, practical solutions, and applications of high performance and cloud computing; this book is a useful reference for professionals and researchers discovering the applications of information and communication technologies in science and education, as well as scholars seeking insight on how modern technologies support scientific research.

Dynamics of Classical and Quantum Fields: An Introduction focuses on dynamical fields in non-relativistic physics. Written by a physicist for physicists, the book is designed to help readers develop analytical skills related to classical and quantum fields at the non-relativistic level, and think about the concepts and theory through numerous problems. In-depth yet accessible, the book presents new and conventional topics in a self-contained manner that beginners would find useful. A partial list of topics covered includes: Geometrical meaning of Legendre transformation in classical mechanics Dynamical symmetries in the context of Noether’s theorem The derivation of the stress energy tensor of the electromagnetic field, the expression for strain energy in elastic bodies, and the Navier Stokes equation Concepts of right and left movers in case of a Fermi gas explained Functional integration is interpreted as a limit of a sequence of ordinary integrations Path integrals for one and two quantum particles and for a fermion in presence of a filled Fermi sea Fermion and boson Fock spaces, along with operators that create and annihilate particles Coherent state path integrals Many-body topics such as Schrieffer Wolff transformation, Matsubara, and Keldysh Green functions Geometrical meaning of the vortex-vortex correlation function in a charged boson fluid Nonlocal particle-hole creation operators which diagonalize interacting many-body systems The equal mix of novel and traditional topics, use of fresh examples to illustrate conventional concepts, and large number of worked examples make this book ideal for an intensive one-semester course for beginning Ph.D. students. It is also a challenging and thought provoking book for motivated advanced undergraduates.

Focuses on fundamental mathematical and computational methods underpinning physics. Relevant to statistical physics, chaotic and complex systems, classical and quantum mechanics, classical and quantum integrable systems and classical and quantum field theory.