Deals with the computer simulation of complex physical sys- tems encounteredin condensed-matter physics and statistical mechanics as well as in related fields such as metallurgy, polymer research, lattice gauge theory and quantummechanics

In the seven years since this volume first appeared. there has been an enormous expansion of the range of problems to which Monte Carlo computer simulation methods have been applied. This fact has already led to the addition of a companion volume ("Applications of the Monte Carlo Method in Statistical Physics," Topics in Current Physics. Vol . 36), edited in 1984, to this book. But the field continues to develop further; rapid progress is being made with respect to the implementation of Monte Carlo algorithms, the construction of special-purpose computers dedicated to exe cute Monte Carlo...

The characterization of thin films and solid interfaces as well as the determina tion of concentration profiles in thin solid layers is one of the fields which re quire a rapid transfer of the results from basic research to technological applica tions and developments. It is the merit of the Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich and Else Heraeus-Stiftung to promote such a transfer by organizing high standard seminars mostly held at the "Physikzentrum" in Bad Honnef near Bonn. The present book has been stimulated by one of these seminars assembling most of the invited speakers as co-authors. The editor...

Methods of scientific investigation can be divided into two categories: they are either macroscopic or microscopic in nature. The former are generally older, classical methods where the sample as a whole is studied and various local prop erties are deduced by differentiation. The microscopic methods, on the other hand, have been discovered and developed more recently, and they operate for the most part on an atomistic scale. Glancing through the shelves of books on the various scientific fields, and, in particular, on the field of physical metallurgy, we are surprised at how lit tle...

During the last decade, surface research has clearly shifted its interest from the macroscopic to the microscopic scale; a wealth of novel experimental techniques and theoretical methods have been applied and developed successfully. The Topics volume at hand gives an account of this tendency. For the understanding of surface phenomena and their exploitation in tech nical applications, the theoretical and experimental analysis at the microscopic level is of particular interest. In heterogeneous catalysis, for example, a chemical reaction takes place at the interface of two phases, and the...

The model calculations considered here test the DWBA with a wide range of three-body models. Each of the calculations, however, considers only one or two aspects of the accuracy of the DWBA. The lack of overlap of the testing parameters limits the con clusions which can be drawn. This is particularly true with reference to the nucleon core potential where comparable parameters are rarely used. In spite of this limitation, we may make a few observations about the sensitivity of the model cross sections and the mechanism which produces an accurate DWBA. Specifically we may summarize the most...

The development of surface physics and surface chemistry as a science is closely related to the technical development of a number of methods involving electrons either as an excitation source or as an emitted particle carrying characteristic information. Many of these various kinds of electron spectroscopies have become commercially available and have made their way into industrial laboratories. Others are still in an early stage, but may become of increasing importance in the future. In this book an assessment of the various merits and possible drawbacks of the most frequently used electron...

Inelastic neutron scattering is a well established and important technique for studying the dynamical properties of condensed matter at the atomic level. Often, as is the case of experiments designed to study motions of hydrogen atoms, or magnetic excitations, it may yield information obtainable in no other way. Our aim in assembling this book is to produce an overview of some research topics which have come to the fore recently with the development of high neutron fluxes and high performance inelastic scattering spectrometers. The topics dis cussed here are, by and large, developing rapidly...

The central subject of this volume is the atomic and molecular physics of heavy par ticles as investigated with charged particle accelerators. The natural division be tween atomic structure and ion-atom collision studies, and the similar division be tween the theoretical and experimental branches of these subjects, are reflected in a parallel subdivision into corresponding chapters. In addition, one chapter is de voted to the important interface between atomic and molecular physics with condensed matter physics. A principal aim of the present volume is to provide a compact de scription of a...

Since the great discovery made by Laue, x-ray diffraction has become the most im portant method for the investigation of atomic structure in condensed matter. Cer tain investigations, however, are difficult or totally impossible to conduct using x-rays, for example, the localization of atomic nuclei or atoms having only a few core electrons, and the observation of magnetic moments. The investigation of these important areas is made possible by neutron diffraction. Thus this method has devel oped into an important supplement to x-ray investigations. An ever-increasing de mand is put on the...