The Versatile Soliton [Hardcover]

Alexandre T. Filippov (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0817636358 | ISBN-13: 978-0817636357 | Publication Date: September 21, 2000 | Edition: 1

If you have not already heard about solitons, you will sooner or later encounter them. The soliton, a solitary wave impulse preserving its shape and strikingly similar to a particle, is one of the most fascinating and beautiful phenomena in the physics of nonlinear waves. In this engaging book, the concept of the soliton is traced from the beginning of the last century to modern times, with recent applications in biology, oceanography, solid state physics, electronics, elementary particle physics, and cosmology. The main concepts and results of theoretical physics related to solitons can be explained without using much mathematics. Indeed, on the descriptive and historical level, only some knowledge of high school physics and mathematics is needed. At a higher level, for understanding the elementary theory of oscillations and waves, the reader can intuit much from the numerous illustrations and perhaps skip the formulas presented. But to appreciate the deep connections in this book between apparently different and diverse phenomena and ideas, the reader must be able to follow elementary mathematical computations. Still more advanced mathematics is required for the appendices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Versatile Soliton is an appropriate title indeed. There is much new historical information in the book…The book is written in a lively language and the physics presented in a clear, pedagogical style. Most of the chapters require only knowledge of fairly elementary mathematics and the main ideas of soliton physics are well explained without mathematics at all…Yet it contains valuable information and offers a historical review of soliton physics that cannot be found elsewhere. —Centaurus No doubt, everyone can get new information from the book. First, the book is strongly recommended to young researchers. In a certain sense, the book is unique and definitely will find a niche among numerous textbooks on solitons.—Physicala The well-known author with teaching and research experience has found the right ballance between intuition, mathemtical precision and practical utility. —Acta Sci. Math. In summary, this book is a good elementary treatment of solitons and the related history of physics and mathematics, even for readers with little knowledge of advanced mathematics. For readers with the latter knowledge, it is still a good introduction to the physical ideas required for the understanding of solitons prior to the study of more mathematical treatments from other sources.—Mathematical Reviews This engaging book is an excellent introduction into the wonderful world of soliton mechanics.—Zentralblatt Math

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Boston; 1 edition (September 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817636358
• ISBN-13: 978-0817636357
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,758,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NEW VIEWS OF AN OLD PROBLEM, January 3, 2005

By 

Alwyn Scott (Tucson, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Versatile Soliton (Hardcover)

The author of this lovely book writes about an important scientific problem - recognition of the importance of the soliton concept - in ways that will be of interest to both novices to nonlinear theory and those who are familiar with the underlying ideas. The latter will find much of value in the careful historical discussions, which make it clear that solitary-wave theory has been of interest to many scientists for the past century and a half, and in the references to Soviet and Russian contributions, which have been substantial. For those who come new to this subject, the Dr. Filippov explains all of the key ideas in clear English, using simple physical examples and metaphors. This book should be on the shelves of all who would better understand the many roles that soliton theory now plays in optical communications, superconductive electronics, elementary-particle theory, solid-state physics, and - last but not least - hydrodynamics, where the original Great Wave of Translation - studied in the middle of the nineteenth century by John Scott Russell provides a clear model for the tsunami that has recently devastated the rim of the Indian Ocean.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice book introducing to the subject, July 12, 2008

By 

Villain "Pierre" (france) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Versatile Soliton (Hardcover)

This book gives a nice insight into the history of the concept of soliton. After a long (but interesting) historical introduction, the author goes deeper into the physical and mathematical concepts related to waves and (nonlinear) dynamics. Although the treatment always stays at an elementary level , the author always try to enlight the physical meaning of the results. From this point of view it will please the beginner already having some notions of these concepts.
All the areas of science where the concept of soliton has been proved to be useful are mentionned, which makes the books quite complete on the subject.
I dont give 5 stars because of a lake of clarity of the last chapter on particle physics (but I must admit that this is subjective and that this area of physics is not my speciality) and because of the price (this book is quite expensive). Needless to say that this book remains an original and quite pedagogical introduction on the subject. You will need some other books to get skilled with all the notions relative to soliton (the book by Dauxois and Peyrard will be a good choice to pursue your personnal reading). A good starting point nevertheless !