With its many beautiful colour pictures, this book gives fascinating insights into the unusual forms and behaviour of matter under extremely high pressures and temperatures. These extreme states are generated, among other things, by strong shock, detonation and electric explosion waves, dense laser beams, electron and ion beams, hypersonic entry of spacecraft into dense atmospheres of planets, and in many other situations characterized by extremely high pressures and temperatures.

The teaching of solid state physics essentially concerns focusing on crystals and their properties. We study crystals and their properties because of the simple and elegant results obtained from the analysis of a spatially periodic system; this is why the analysis can be made considering a small set of atoms that represent the whole system of many particles. In contrast to the formal neat approach to crystals, the study of str- turally disordered condensed systems is somewhat complicated and often leads to relatively imprecise results, not to mention the experimental and computational e?ort involved. As such, almost all university textbooks, - cluding the advanced course books, only brie?y touch on the physics of am- phous systems. In any case, both the fundamental aspect and the ever wider industrial applications have given structurally disordered matter a role that should not be overlooked.

We learned in school that matter exists in three forms: solid, liquid and gas, as well as other more subtle things such as the fact that "evaporation produces cold. " The science of the states of matter was born in the 19th century. It has now grown enormously in two directions: 1) The transitions have multiplied: first between a solid and a solid, par­ ticularly for metallurgists. Then for magnetism, illustrated in France by Louis Neel, and ferro electricity. In addition, the extraordinary phenomenon of su­ perconductivity in certain metals appeared at the beginning of the 20th cen­ tury. And other superfluids were recognized later: helium 4, helium 3, the matter constituting atomic nuclei and neutron stars . . . There is now a real zoology of transitions, but we know how to classify them based on Landau's superb idea. 2) Our profound view of the mechanisms has evolved: in particular, the very universal properties of fluctuations near a critical point - described by Kadanoff's qualitative analysis and specified by an extraordinary theoretical tool: the renormalization group. Without exaggerating, we can say that our view of condensed matter has undergone two revolutions in the 20th century: first, the introduction of quantum physics in 1930, then the recognition of "self-similar" structures and the resulting scaling laws around 1970. .

Quantum phase transitions, driven by quantum fluctuations, exhibit intriguing features offering the possibility of potentially new applications, e.g. in quantum information sciences. Major advances have been made in both theoretical and experimental investigations of the nature and behavior of quantum phases and transitions in cooperatively interacting many-body quantum systems.

This textbook provides an exposition of equilibrium thermodynamics and its applications to several areas of physics with particular attention to phase transitions and critical phenomena. The applications include several areas of condensed matter physics and include also a chapter on thermochemistry. Phase transitions and critical phenomena are treated according to the modern development of the field, based on the ideas of universality and on the Widom scaling theory. For each topic, a mean-field or Landau theory is presented to describe qualitatively the phase transitions.

Predictive theories of phenomena involving phase change with applications in engineering are investigated in this volume, e.g. solid-liquid phase change, volume and surface damage, and phase change involving temperature discontinuities. Many other phase change phenomena such as solid-solid phase change in shape memory alloys and vapor-liquid phase change are also explored. Modeling is based on continuum thermo-mechanics.

This textbook provides an exposition of equilibrium thermodynamics and its applications to several areas of physics with particular attention to phase transitions and critical phenomena. The applications include several areas of condensed matter physics and include also a chapter on thermochemistry. Phase transitions and critical phenomena are treated according to the modern development of the field, based on the ideas of universality and on the Widom scaling theory. For each topic, a mean-field or Landau theory is presented to describe qualitatively the phase transitions.

This volume fills the need for a textbook presenting basic governing and constitutive equations, followed by several engineering problems on multiphase flow and transport that are not provided in current advanced texts, monographs, or handbooks.

The series Advances in Polymer Science presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in polymer and biopolymer science. It covers all areas of research in polymer and biopolymer science including chemistry, physical chemistry, physics, material science. The thematic volumes are addressed to scientists, whether at universities or in industry, who wish to keep abreast of the important advances in the covered topics.

This book presents a concise, clear, and consistent account of the methodology of phase synchronization, an extension of modal analysis to decouple any linear system in real space. It expounds on the novel theory of phase synchronization and presents recent advances, while also providing relevant background on classical decoupling theories that are used in structural analysis. The theory is illustrated with a broad range of examples.