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 programs, and new methods to analyze the "data" generated by these programs. Brief descriptions of these and other developments, together with numerous addi tional references, are included in a new chapter , "Recent Trends in Monte Carlo Simulations" , which has been written for this second edition. Typographical correc tions have been made and fuller references given where appropriate, but otherwise the layout and contents of the other chapters are left unchanged. Thus this book, together with its companion volume mentioned above, gives a fairly complete and up to-date review of the field. It is hoped that the reduced price of this paperback edition will make it accessible to a wide range of scientists and students in the fields to which it is relevant: theoretical phYSics and physical chemistry , con densed-matter physics and materials science, computational physics and applied mathematics, etc.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Theory and Technical Aspects of Monte Carlo Simulations (With 5 Figures).- 1.1 Purpose of the Monte Carlo Method.- 1.2 Description of the Monte Carlo Technique in Classical Statistical Mechanics.- 1.3 Aspects of Simulations of Kinetic Processes.- 1.4 Variants of the Monte Carlo Method.- 1.5 Conclusions.- References.- Addendum.- 2. Simulation of Classical Fluids..- 2.1 Overview.- 2.2 Hard Core and Discontinous Potentials.- 2.3 Soft Short-Range Potentials.- 2.4 Ionic Systems.- 2.5 Molecular Fluids.- 2.6 Gas-Liquid Interface.- References.- 3. Phase Diagrams of Mixtures and Magnetic Systems (With 13 Figures).- 3.1 Ordinary Phase Transitions in Magnets and Binary Alloys.- 3.2 Multicritical Points and Crossover Behavior.- 3.3 Phase Transitions in Miscellaneous Systems.- 3.4 Conclusions.- References.- Addendum.- 4. Quantum Many-Body Problems (With 4 Figures).- Abstract.- 4.1 Introductory Remarks.- 4.2 Variational Methods.- 4.3 Nearly Classical Systems.- 4.4 The Green's Function Monte Carlo Method (GFMC).- 4.5 Virial Coefficients and Pair Correlations.- 4.6 Conclusions.- References.- 5. Simulation of Small Systems. (With 9 Figures).- 5.1 Introductory Remarks.- 5.2 Statics.- 5.3 Cluster Dynamics.- Cluster Counting Algorithm.- References.- Addendum.- 6. Monte Carlo Studies of Relaxation Phenomena: Kinetics of Phase Changes and Critical Slowing Down. (With 15 Figures).- 6.1 Introductory Remarks.- 6.2 Kinetics of Fluctuations in Thermal Equilibrium.- 6.3 Kinetics of Nonlinear Relaxation.- 6.4 Conclusions and Outlook.- References.- 7. Monte Carlo Simulation of Crystal Growth (With 17 Figures).- 7.1 Introductory Remarks.- 7.2 Crystal Surfaces at Equilibrium.- 7.3 Growth Kinetics.- 7.4 Outlook.- References.- 8. Monte Carlo Studies of Systems with Disorder(With 17 Figures).- 8.1 Dilute Impurities in Magnets.- 8.2 Dilute Ferromagnets and the Percolation Problem.- 8.3 Spin Glasses.- 8.4 Disordered Heteropolymers and Their Helix-Coil Transition.- 8.5 Structurally Disordered Solids (Glasses etc.).- 8.6 Conclusions and Outlook.- References.- 9. Applications in Surface Physics. (With 11 Figures).- 9.1 Introductory Remarks.- 9.2 Critical Behavior of Magnetic Systems with Surfaces.- 9.3 Surface Effects in Binary Alloys.- 9.4 Phase Transitions in Adsorbed Surface Layers.- 9.5 Kinetic Phenomena at Surfaces.- 9.6 Conclusions.- References.- Addendum.- 10. Recent Trends in the Development and Application of the Monte Carlo Method. (With 6 Figures).- 10.1 Performance of Monte Carlo Programs.- 10.2 Some Comments on Finite-Size Effects.- 10.3 New Directions for the Application of the Monte Carlo Method.- 10.4 Quantum Statistical Mechanics on Lattices.- 10.5 Concluding Remarks.- References.- Addendum.