A Half-Century Research Footpath in Statistical Physics

The book contains a condensed account of a continued sequence of studies in condensed matter physics and in complex systems that span five decades. The studies were carried out within a framework of procedures and models, some developed in situ, of stochastic processes, statistical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics. The topics, techniques and outcomes show a particular character that privileges the use of analogies or unusual viewpoints that unite the studies in distinctive ways. It includes: The role of entropy in the renormalization group technique. The working analogy of classical and quantum mechanics with the statistical mechanics of inhomogeneous systems. And an answer, with a firm basis, to the long-standing question about the limit of validity of ordinary statistical mechanics and the pertinence of Tsallis statistics. Unsuspected connections underlying different aspects of these investigations are indicated, as well as both natural and unanticipated perspectives for future developments. The statistical physics developments considered are not all recent but extended throughout several decades, not covering all topics but limited to a particular experience.