This book explains the subtleties of quantum statistical mechanics in lower dimensions and their possible ramifications in quantum theory. The discussion is at a pedagogical level and is addressed to both graduate students and advanced researchers with a reasonable background in quantum and statistical mechanics.Topics in the first part of the book include the flux tube model of anyons, the braid group and a detailed discussion about the various aspects of quantum and statistical mechanics of a noninteracting anyon gas.The second part of the book includes a detailed discussion about fractional statistics from the point of view of Chern-Simons theories. Topics covered here include Chern-Simons field theories, charged vortices, anyon superconductivity and the fractional quantum Hall effect.Since the publication of the first edition of the book, an exciting possibility has emerged, that of quantum computing using anyons. A section has therefore been included on this topic in the second edition. In addition, new sections have been added about scattering of anyons with hard disk repulsion as well as fractional exclusion statistics and negative probabilities.

This book explains the subtleties of quantum statistical mechanics in lower dimensions and their possible ramifications in quantum theory. The discussion is at a pedagogical level and is addressed to both graduate students and advanced researchers with a reasonable background in quantum and statistical mechanics.Topics in the first part of the book include the flux tube model of anyons, the braid group and a detailed discussion about the various aspects of quantum and statistical mechanics of a noninteracting anyon gas.The second part of the book includes a detailed discussion about fractional statistics from the point of view of Chern-Simons theories. Topics covered here include Chern-Simons field theories, charged vortices, anyon superconductivity and the fractional quantum Hall effect.Since the publication of the first edition of the book, an exciting possibility has emerged, that of quantum computing using anyons. A section has therefore been included on this topic in the second edition. In addition, new sections have been added about scattering of anyons with hard disk repulsion as well as fractional exclusion statistics and negative probabilities.

This book is an introduction to the role of topology in the quantization of classical systems. It is also an introduction to topological solitons with special emphasis on Skyrmions. As regards the first aspect, several issues of current interest are dealt with at a reasonably elementary level. Examples are principal fibre bundles and their role in quantum physics, the possibility of spinorial quantum states in a Lagrangian theory based on tensorial variables, and multiply connected configuration spaces and associated quantum phenomena like the QCD q angle and exotic statistics. The ideas are also illustrated by simple examples such as the spinning particle, the charge-monopole system and strings in 3+1 dimensions. The application of these ideas to quantum gravity is another subject treated at an introductory level. An attempt has been made in this book to introduce the reader to the significance of topology for many distinct physical systems such as spinning particles, the charge- monopole system, strings, Skyrmions, QCD and gravity. The book is an outgrowth of lectures given by the authors at various institutions and conferences.

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 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. Request Inspection Copy

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 Feynman-Kleinert 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 the large-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 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 developed which account for the fact, recently experienced in the world markets, that large fluctuations occur much more frequently than in Gaussian distributions.

Presenting the physics of the most challenging problems in condensed matter using the conceptual framework of quantum field theory, this book is of great interest to physicists in condensed matter and high energy and string theorists, as well as mathematicians. Revised and updated, this second edition features new chapters on the renormalization group, the Luttinger liquid, gauge theory, topological fluids, topological insulators and quantum entanglement. The book begins with the basic concepts and tools, developing them gradually to bring readers to the issues currently faced at the frontiers of research, such as topological phases of matter, quantum and classical critical phenomena, quantum Hall effects and superconductors. Other topics covered include one-dimensional strongly correlated systems, quantum ordered and disordered phases, topological structures in condensed matter and in field theory and fractional statistics.

This pioneering book addresses the question: Are the standard procedures of canonical quantization fully satisfactory, or is there more to learn about assigning a proper quantum system to a given classical system? As shown in this book, the answer to this question is: The standard procedures of canonical quantization are not the whole story!This book offers alternative quantization procedures that complete the story of quantization. The initial chapters are designed to present the new procedures in a clear and simple manner for general readers. As is necessary, systems that exhibit acceptable results with conventional quantization lead to the same results when the new procedures are used for them. However, later chapters examine selected models that lead to unacceptable results when quantized conventionally. Fortunately, these same models lead to acceptable results when the new quantization procedures are used.

This volume examines the latest advances emerging from the theoretical exploration into the quantum mechanical structure of our universe. It will be of interest to researchers dealing with strings, quantum fields, gauge theory, and quantum gravity.

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics has a long history featuring diverse aspects. It has been a major research field in physics and will remain so in the future. Even regarding the concept of entropy, there exists a longstanding problem concerning its definition for a system in a state far from equilibrium. In this Special Issue, we offered the possibility to discuss and present up-to-date problems that were not necessarily restricted to statistical mechanics. Theoretical and experimental papers are both presented, in addition to unifying research works. As the entropy itself is the central element of nonequilibrium processes, papers discuss various formulations of the second law and its consequences. In this Special Issue, recent progress in kinetic approaches to hydrodynamics, rational extended thermodynamics, entropy in a strongly nonequilibrium stationary state, and related topics are reported as both review articles as well as original research works.

In the present treatise progress in topological approach to Hall system physics is reported, including recent achievements in graphene. The homotopy methods of braid groups turn out to be of particular convenience in order to grasp peculiarity of 2D charged systems upon magnetic field resulting in Laughlin correlations. The real progress in understanding of structure and role of composite fermions in Hall system is provided. The crucial significance of carrier mobility apart from interaction in creation of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is described and supported by recent graphene experiments. Recent progress in FQHE field including topological insulators and optical lattices was reviewed and commented in terms of braid group approach. The braid group methods are presented from more general point of view including proposition of pure braid group application.