Phase Transition Dynamics [Paperback]

A fully comprehensive discussion of the subject for researchers and graduate students, first published in 2002.Phase transitions occur widely in solids, liquids and gases, making the subject of this book highly relevant not only to physicists, but also to chemists, metallurgists and polymer scientists. Akira Onuki builds on the statistical mechanics of phase transitions covered in many introductory textbooks and provides a fully comprehensive treatment of the subject that will be of interest to researchers and advanced graduate students.Phase transitions occur widely in solids, liquids and gases, making the subject of this book highly relevant not only to physicists, but also to chemists, metallurgists and polymer scientists. Akira Onuki builds on the statistical mechanics of phase transitions covered in many introductory textbooks and provides a fully comprehensive treatment of the subject that will be of interest to researchers and advanced graduate students.This book treats a wide variety of topics systematically by constructing time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau models for various systems in physics, metallurgy, and polymer science. Beginning with a summary of advanced statistical-mechanical theories including the renormalization group theory, the book reviews dynamical theories, and covers the kinetics of phase ordering, spinodal decomposition, and nucleation in depth. The phase transition dynamics of real systems are discussed, treating interdisciplinary problems in a unified manner. New topics include supercritical fluid dynamics, stress-diffusion coupling in polymers, and mesoscopic dynamics at structural phase transitions in solids.Preface; Part I. Statics: 1. Spin systems and fluids; 2. Critical phenomena and scaling; 3. Mean field theories; 4. Advanced theories in statics; Part II. Dynamic Models and Dynamics in Fluids and Polymers: 5. Dynamic models; 6. Dynamics in fluids; 7. Dynamics in polymers and gels; Part III. Dynamics of Phase Changes: 8. Phase orderilœ