Qualitative Analysis of Physical Problems

Qualitative Analysis of Physical Problems reviews the essential features of all the main approaches used for the qualitative analysis of physical problems and demonstrates their application to problems from a wide variety of fields. Topics covered include model construction, dimensional analysis, symmetry, and the method of the small parameter. This book consists of six chapters and begins by looking at various approaches for the construction of models, along with nontrivial applications of dimensional analysis to some typical model systems. The following chapters focus on the application of symmetry to the microscopic and macroscopic properties of systems; the implications of analyticity and occurrence of singularities; and some methods of deriving the magnitude of the solutions (that is, approximate numerical values) for problems that usually cannot be solved exactly in closed form. The final chapter demonstrates the use of qualitative analysis to address the problem of second harmonic generation in nonlinear optics. This monograph will be a useful resource for graduate students, experimental and theoretical physicists, chemists, engineers, college and high school teachers, and those who are interested in obtaining a general perspective of modern physics.