Geometry and Topology in Hamiltonian Dynamics and Statistical Mechanics

This book covers a new explanation of the origin of Hamiltonian chaos and its quantitative characterization. The subject of the book is very original and nothing similar has been written hitherto. There are numerous illustrations throughout and the book will be of interest to both mathematicians and physicists. The author focuses on two main areas: Riemannian formulation of Hamiltonian dynamics, providing an original viewpoint about the relationship between geodesic instability and curvature properties of the mechanical manifolds; and a topological theory of thermodynamic phase transitions, relating topology changes of microscopic configuration space with the generation of singularities of thermodynamic observables. The two areas are strongly related because the geometrization of microscopic dynamics, which is the ultimate physical source of phase transitions, naturally leads to investigate how geometry and topology of the mechanical manifolds have to change to induce a phase transition.