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				Elements of the Random Walk 346 pages - hardback Cambridge University Press - (isbn 0-521-82891-0) Mar. 2004
	Price:			69,60 EUR
	Author(s):			Rudnick, Joseph (University of California, Los Angeles) / Gaspari, George (University of California, Santa Cruz)
	Description:			Random walks have proven to be a useful model in understanding processes across a wide spectrum of scientific disciplines. Elements of the Random Walk is an introduction to some of the most powerful and general techniques used in the application of these ideas. The mathematical construct that runs through the analysis of the topics covered in this book, unifying the mathematical treatment, is the generating function. Although the reader is introduced to modern analytical tools, such as path-integrals and field-theoretical formalism, the book is self-contained in that basic concepts are developed and relevant fundamental findings fully discussed. Mathematical background is provided in supplements at the end of each chapter, when appropriate. This self-contained text will appeal to graduate students across science, engineering and mathematics who need to understand the applications of random walk techniques, as well as to established researchers.
	Contents List:			1. Introduction to techniques; 2. Generating functions I; 3. Generating functions II: recurrence, sites visited and the role of dimensionality; 4. Boundary conditions, steady state and the electrostatic analogy; 5. Variations on the random walk; 6. The shape of a random walk; 7. Path integrals and self-avoidance; 8. Properties of the random walk: introduction to scaling; 9. Scaling of walks and critical phenomena; 10. Walks and the O(n) model: mean field theory and spin waves; 11. Scaling, fractals and renormalization; 12. More on the renormalization group.
	Illustrations etc.:			102 diagrams, 2 tables, 2halftones, 97exercises
	Weight:			871 g
	Dimensions:			256 x 180
	Publisher:			Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
				Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)