Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents the major developments in this field with emphasis on application of path integration methods in diverse areas. After introducing the concept of path integrals, related topics like random walk, Brownian motion and Wiener integrals are discussed. Several techniques of path integration including global and local time transformations, numerical methods as well as approximation schemes are presented. The book provides a proper perspective of some of the most recent exact results and approximation schemes for practical applications.
Trade Review"... this book becomes not only useful to specialists primarily interested in path integration, but also understandable to nonspecialists from other fields of science and technology." Mathematical Reviews
Table of ContentsConcepts of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian path integrals; Wiener integrals and Brownian motion; representation of the statistical mechanical density matrix as a path integral; propagators for local and non-local quadratic actions; path integrals in polar and curvilinear coordinates and group manifolds; local and global time transformation techniques; approximation and numerical methods of evaluating path integrals and their applications to polaron; bi polaron; spectrum of disordered systems; path integrals with topological constraints and their applications
