Ebook: Nonlinearity in Condensed Matter: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 5–9 May, 1986

The Sixth Annual Conference of the Center for Nonlinear Studies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory was held May 5-9, 1986, on the topic "Nonlinearity in Condensed Matter: Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future. " As conference organizers, we felt that the study of non­ linear phenomena in condensed matter had matured to the point where it made sense to take stock of the numerous lessons to be learned from a variety of contexts where nonlinearity plays a fundamental role and to evaluate the prospects for the growth of this general discipline. The successful 1978 Oxford Symposium on nonlinear (soliton) struc­ ture and dynamics in condensed matter (Springer Ser. Solid-State Sci. , Vol. 8) was held at a time when the ubiquity of solitons was just begin­ ning to be appreciated by the condensed matter community; in subsequent years the soliton paradigm has provided a rather useful framework for in­ vestigating a large number of phenomena, particularly in low-dimensional systems. Nevertheless, we felt that the importance of nonlinearity in wider arenas than "solitonics" merited a significant expansion in the scope of the conference over that of the 1978 symposium. Indeed, many of the lessons are quite general and their potential for cross-fertilization of otherwise poorly connected disciplines was certainly one of the prime motivations for this conference. Thus, while these proceedings contain many contribu­ tions pertaining to soliton behavior in different contexts, the reader will find much more as well, particularly in the later chapters.

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-X
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Nonlinearity: Historical and Technological View....Pages 2-22
Front Matter....Pages 23-23
Soliton Dynamics: Experiments on Magnetic Chains....Pages 24-36
Soliton Dynamics in One-Dimensional Antiferromagnets....Pages 37-41
One-Dimensional Easy-Plane Magnets: Classical Sine-Gordon Theory or a Quantum Model?....Pages 42-52
Towards a Quantitative Theory of Solitons in One-Dimensional Magnets: Quantum Effects, Out-of-Plane Fluctuations and the Specific Heat....Pages 53-58
Quantum Corrections to the Specific Heat of the Easy-Plane Ferromagnetic Chain....Pages 59-68
Monte Carlo Calculations of Quantum Systems....Pages 69-80
Front Matter....Pages 81-81
Photogeneration of Nonlinear Excitations in Semiconducting Polymers: Fast Response Nonlinear Optical Phenomena....Pages 82-93
When Kinks are not Elementary Excitations....Pages 94-105
Phonons and Soliton Diffusion in Polyacetylene....Pages 106-110
Ground State Properties of Polyacetylene with Off-Diagonal Random Disorder....Pages 111-115
Front Matter....Pages 117-117
Neutron Scattering Studies of Non-Linear Systems....Pages 118-129
Novel Experimental Techniques and Realizations of Quasi-Periodicity....Pages 130-141
Heavy-Electron Materials....Pages 142-150
Magnetic Resonance as a Probe of Nonlinearity in Condensed Matter Physics....Pages 151-158
High-Resolution He Beam Scattering as a Tool for the Investigation of the Structural and Dynamical Properties of Surface Soliton Dislocations....Pages 159-165
Front Matter....Pages 167-167
Quantum Mechanics at the Macroscopic Level....Pages 168-171
Soluble Models....Pages 172-182
Variational Schemes for Many-Electron Systems....Pages 183-193
Quantum Monte Carlo....Pages 194-202
Front Matter....Pages 167-167
Quantum Spin Chains and Conformally Invariant Non-Linear ?-Models....Pages 203-210
Collective Coordinates and Linear Modes of the Double-Sine-Gordon Kink....Pages 211-214
A Collective Coordinate Method for Classical Dynamics of Nonlinear Klein-Gordon Kinks....Pages 215-219
Quantum Coherence and the Nonlinear Schr?dinger Equation....Pages 220-225
Energy Transfer, Self-Trapping, and Solitons on a Nonlinear Dimer....Pages 226-231
Front Matter....Pages 233-233
Microscopic Probing of BaTiO3 Ferroelectric Phase Transitions by EPR....Pages 234-245
Structural Transformations in DNA....Pages 246-254
Temperature Dependence of the Soft Mode for Structural Phase Transitions in Highly Anisotropic Systems....Pages 255-259
A Model for the B?Z Transition of DNA Involving Solitary Excitations....Pages 260-264
Front Matter....Pages 265-270
Recent Experimental Results in Spin-Glass Dynamics....Pages 271-271
Spin Glasses: Recent Theoretical Developments....Pages 272-282
The Random Field Problem — Facts and Fiction....Pages 283-289
Statics and Dynamics of the Random Field Ising Model (Theory)....Pages 290-290
A Driven Random Field System: CDW Dynamics....Pages 291-307
Front Matter....Pages 308-318
Topography and Diffusion of Kinks in Incommensurate Insulators: Relationship Between Phase Conjugation and Thermal Hysteresis in Incommensurate Phases, and a Physical Analog for Circadian Biorhythms....Pages 319-319
Model of Icosahedral Order....Pages 320-329
Systematics of Disorder in Quasiperiodic Material....Pages 330-337
Friction and Forced Flow: Collective Transport in Disordered Media....Pages 338-338
Non-Equilibrium Behavior, Hysteresis and Condensate Quakes in the Pinned Charge Density Wave....Pages 339-349
Front Matter....Pages 350-360
Vortex Dynamics in Two-Dimensional Arrays of Superconducting Weak Links....Pages 319-319
Interfacial Pattern Formation: A Progress Report....Pages 361-373
Intrinsic Defect States in Protein Assemblages....Pages 374-385
Is Universality Valid on Hierarchical and Fractal Lattices?....Pages 386-389
Front Matter....Pages 390-394
Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future?....Pages 395-395
Back Matter....Pages 396-399
....Pages 401-401