Description
Book SynopsisIn this work, Martin H. Krieger seeks to show what physicists really do behind the nearly impenetrable cloud of mathematical models they use as research tools. He argues that the technical details of these complex calculations also reveal key aspects of the physical properties they model.
Table of ContentsList of Figures Preface 1: Modeling the Constitutions of Matter 2: Analysis: The Stability of Bulk Matter 3: Mathematics: Infinite Volume Limits and Thermodynamics 4: Formalism: Constituting Bulk Matter: Solutions to the Ising Model, and Duality in Those Solutions 5: Analysis: Generic, Formal, Model-Independent Accounts of the Constitution of Matter as Philosophical 6: Formalism: Technical Devices Doing the Work of Physics 7: Physics and Mathematics: Finding the Right Mechanism and Choosing the Right Functions 8: The Physics and the Mathematics Appendix: Two Papers by Lars Onsager A: Electrostatic Interaction of Molecules (1939) B: Crystal Statistics, Part I: A Two-Dimensional Model with an Order-Disorder Transition (1944) Notes References Index
