By A Alastuey, M Clusel, M Magro and P Pujol
World Scientific
This volume presents a set of useful mathematical methods and tools that can be used by physicists and engineers for a wide range of applications. It comprises four chapters, each structured in three parts: first, the general characteristics of the methods are described, then a few examples of applications in different fields are given, and finally a number of exercises are proposed and their solutions sketched.
The topics of the chapters are: analytical properties of susceptibilities in linear response theory, static and dynamical Green functions, and the saddle-point method to estimate integrals. The examples and exercises included range from classical mechanics and electromagnetism to quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and statistical physics. In this way, the general mechanisms of each method are seen from different points of view and therefore made clearer.
The authors have chosen to avoid derivations that are too technical, but without sacrificing rigour or omitting the mathematics behind the method applied in each instance. Moreover, three appendices at the end of the book provide a short overview of some important tools, so that the volume can be considered self-contained, at least to a certain extent.
Intended primarily for undergraduate and graduate physics students, the book could also be useful reading for teachers, researchers and engineers.
