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Mean Field Approximation
In physics and probability theory, Mean-field theory (MFT) or Self-consistent field theory studies the behavior of high-dimensional random ( stochastic) models by studying a simpler model that approximates the original by averaging over degrees of freedom (the number of values in the final calculation of a statistic that are free to vary). Such models consider many individual components that interact with each other. The main idea of MFT is to replace all interactions to any one body with an average or effective interaction, sometimes called a ''molecular field''. This reduces any many-body problem into an effective one-body problem. The ease of solving MFT problems means that some insight into the behavior of the system can be obtained at a lower computational cost. MFT has since been applied to a wide range of fields outside of physics, including statistical inference, graphical models, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, epidemic models, queueing theory, computer-networ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of physic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Statistical Mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic behavior of nature from the behavior of such ensembles. Statistical mechanics arose out of the development of classical thermodynamics, a field for which it was successful in explaining macroscopic physical properties—such as temperature, pressure, and heat capacity—in terms of microscopic parameters that fluctuate about average values and are characterized by probability distributions. This established the fields of statistical thermodynamics and statistical physics. The founding of the field of statistical mechanics is generally credited to three physicists: *Ludwig Boltzmann, who developed the fundamental interpretation of entropy in terms of a collection of microstates *James Clerk Maxwell, who developed models of probability distr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partition Function (statistical Mechanics)
In physics, a partition function describes the statistical properties of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium. Partition functions are functions of the thermodynamic state variables, such as the temperature and volume. Most of the aggregate thermodynamic variables of the system, such as the total energy, free energy, entropy, and pressure, can be expressed in terms of the partition function or its derivatives. The partition function is dimensionless. Each partition function is constructed to represent a particular statistical ensemble (which, in turn, corresponds to a particular free energy). The most common statistical ensembles have named partition functions. The canonical partition function applies to a canonical ensemble, in which the system is allowed to exchange heat with the environment at fixed temperature, volume, and number of particles. The grand canonical partition function applies to a grand canonical ensemble, in which the system can exchange both heat and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Field Theory
A classical field theory is a physical theory that predicts how one or more physical fields interact with matter through field equations, without considering effects of quantization; theories that incorporate quantum mechanics are called quantum field theories. In most contexts, 'classical field theory' is specifically intended to describe electromagnetism and gravitation, two of the fundamental forces of nature. A physical field can be thought of as the assignment of a physical quantity at each point of space and time. For example, in a weather forecast, the wind velocity during a day over a country is described by assigning a vector to each point in space. Each vector represents the direction of the movement of air at that point, so the set of all wind vectors in an area at a given point in time constitutes a vector field. As the day progresses, the directions in which the vectors point change as the directions of the wind change. The first field theories, Newtonian gravitat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partition Function (mathematics)
The partition function or configuration integral, as used in probability theory, information theory and dynamical systems, is a generalization of the definition of a partition function in statistical mechanics. It is a special case of a normalizing constant in probability theory, for the Boltzmann distribution. The partition function occurs in many problems of probability theory because, in situations where there is a natural symmetry, its associated probability measure, the Gibbs measure, has the Markov property. This means that the partition function occurs not only in physical systems with translation symmetry, but also in such varied settings as neural networks (the Hopfield network), and applications such as genomics, corpus linguistics and artificial intelligence, which employ Markov networks, and Markov logic networks. The Gibbs measure is also the unique measure that has the property of maximizing the entropy for a fixed expectation value of the energy; this underlies the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ising Model
The Ising model () (or Lenz-Ising model or Ising-Lenz model), named after the physicists Ernst Ising and Wilhelm Lenz, is a mathematical model of ferromagnetism in statistical mechanics. The model consists of discrete variables that represent magnetic dipole moments of atomic "spins" that can be in one of two states (+1 or −1). The spins are arranged in a graph, usually a lattice (where the local structure repeats periodically in all directions), allowing each spin to interact with its neighbors. Neighboring spins that agree have a lower energy than those that disagree; the system tends to the lowest energy but heat disturbs this tendency, thus creating the possibility of different structural phases. The model allows the identification of phase transitions as a simplified model of reality. The two-dimensional square-lattice Ising model is one of the simplest statistical models to show a phase transition. The Ising model was invented by the physicist , who gave it as a prob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random-field
In physics and mathematics, a random field is a random function over an arbitrary domain (usually a multi-dimensional space such as \mathbb^n). That is, it is a function f(x) that takes on a random value at each point x \in \mathbb^n(or some other domain). It is also sometimes thought of as a synonym for a stochastic process with some restriction on its index set. That is, by modern definitions, a random field is a generalization of a stochastic process where the underlying parameter need no longer be real or integer valued "time" but can instead take values that are multidimensional vectors or points on some manifold. Formal definition Given a probability space (\Omega, \mathcal, P), an ''X''-valued random field is a collection of ''X''-valued random variables indexed by elements in a topological space ''T''. That is, a random field ''F'' is a collection : \ where each F_t is an ''X''-valued random variable. Examples In its discrete version, a random field is a list of rando ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Many-body System
The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. ''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be used to provide an accurate description of the system. ''Many'' can be anywhere from three to infinity (in the case of a practically infinite, homogeneous or periodic system, such as a crystal), although three- and four-body systems can be treated by specific means (respectively the Faddeev and Faddeev–Yakubovsky equations) and are thus sometimes separately classified as few-body systems. In general terms, while the underlying physical laws that govern the motion of each individual particle may (or may not) be simple, the study of the collection of particles can be extremely complex. In such a quantum system, the repeated interactions between particles create quantum correlations, or entanglement. As a consequence, the wave function of the system is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scheutjens–Fleer Theory
Scheutjens–Fleer theory is a lattice-based self-consistent field theory that is the basis for many computational analyses of polymer adsorption Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which a f .... References * Polymers at Interfaces by G.J. Fleer, M.A. Cohen Stuart, J.M.H.M. Scheutjens, T. Cosgrove, B. Vincent. Polymer chemistry Solutions Thermodynamics Statistical mechanics {{thermodynamics-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flory–Huggins Solution Theory
Flory–Huggins solution theory is a lattice model of the thermodynamics of polymer solutions which takes account of the great dissimilarity in molecular sizes in adapting the usual expression for the entropy of mixing. The result is an equation for the Gibbs free energy change \Delta G_m for mixing a polymer with a solvent. Although it makes simplifying assumptions, it generates useful results for interpreting experiments. Theory The thermodynamic equation for the Gibbs energy change accompanying mixing at constant temperature and (external) pressure is :\Delta G_m = \Delta H_m - T\Delta S_m \, A change, denoted by \Delta, is the value of a variable for a solution or mixture minus the values for the pure components considered separately. The objective is to find explicit formulas for \Delta H_m and \Delta S_m, the enthalpy and entropy increments associated with the mixing process. The result obtained by Flory and Huggins is :\Delta G_m = RT ,n_1\ln\phi_1 + n_2\ln\phi_2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landau Theory
Landau theory in physics is a theory that Lev Landau introduced in an attempt to formulate a general theory of continuous (i.e., second-order) phase transitions. It can also be adapted to systems under externally-applied fields, and used as a quantitative model for discontinuous (i.e., first-order) transitions. Although the theory has now been superseded by the renormalization group and scaling theory formulations, it remains an exceptionally broad and powerful framework for phase transitions, and the associated concept of the Phase transitions#Order parameters, order parameter as a descriptor of the essential character of the transition has proven transformative. Mean-field formulation (no long-range correlation) Landau was motivated to suggest that the free energy of any system should obey two conditions: *Be analytic in the order parameter and its gradients. *Obey the symmetry of the Hamiltonian mechanics, Hamiltonian. Given these two conditions, one can write down (in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bethe Lattice
In statistical mechanics and mathematics, the Bethe lattice (also called a regular tree) is an infinite connected cycle-free graph where all vertices have the same number of neighbors. The Bethe lattice was introduced into the physics literature by Hans Bethe in 1935. In such a graph, each node is connected to ''z'' neighbors; the number ''z'' is called either the coordination number or the degree, depending on the field. Due to its distinctive topological structure, the statistical mechanics of lattice models on this graph are often easier to solve than on other lattices. The solutions are related to the often used Bethe approximation for these systems. Basic Properties When working with the Bethe lattice, it is often convenient to mark a given vertex as the root, to be used as a reference point when considering local properties of the graph. Sizes of Layers Once a vertex is marked as the root, we can group the other vertices into layers based on their distance from the ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
