Nerd Wisdom

Much of my own work is at the intersection of statistical mechanics and algorithms, in particular understanding and developing new algorithms using ideas originating in statistical mechanics. Werner Krauth also works at the intersection of the two fields, but coming from a very different angle: he is a leading expert on the development and application of algorithms to compute and understand the properties of physical systems.

In his recently published book, “Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations,” targeted at advanced undergraduates or graduate students, he covers a very wide range of interesting algorithms. To give you an idea of the coverage, I’ll just list the chapters: “Monte Carlo methods,” “Hard disks and spheres,” “Density matrices and path integrals,” “Bosons,” “Order and disorder in spin systems, “Entropic forces,”and “Dynamic Monte Carlo methods.”

Krauth’s presentation is leavened by his humor, and he often uses the results obtained using his algorithms to make surprising points about physics that would otherwise be hard to convey.

I am often asked by computer science or electrical engineering scientists and researchers for good introductions to physics, and particularly statistical mechanics, and I’m now happy to be able to recommend this book.

Specifying physics explicitly in terms of algorithms, as Krauth does, gives a very concrete basis for understanding concepts that can otherwise seem terribly abstract. Gerald Sussman and Jack Wisdom make this point in the preface of their already classic book (which is available online) “Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics”:

“Computational algorithms are used to communicate precisely some of the methods used in the analysis of dynamical phenomena. Expressing the methods of variational mechanics in a computer language forces them to be unambiguous and computationally effective. Computation requires us to be precise about the representation of mechanical and geometric notions as computational objects and permits us to represent explicitly the algorithms for manipulating these objects. Also, once formalized as a procedure, a mathematical idea becomes a tool that can be used directly to compute results.”

But while Sussman and Wisdom’s book focuses in great detail on classical mechanics, Krauth’s book covers more broadly subjects in classical mechanics, statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and even quantum statistical mechanics. Another difference is that Sussman and Wisdom specify their algorithms in executable Scheme code, while Krauth uses pseudo-code. Of course, both choices have their advantages, just as both of these books are worth your time.

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