edited by R A Barrio (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico) & K K Kaski (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland)

This indispensable book is a compilation of invited talks delivered at the symposium, “Current Topics in Physics” held in Mexico City in June 2003, to celebrate the 75th birthday of Professor Sir Roger Elliott. The contributions have been prepared by research associates, former students, post-doctoral fellows and colleagues of Professor Elliott, many of them leading scientists — as Sir Roger himself — in important research institutes around the world. The book gives a very timely and comprehensive overview of various key areas of modern condensed matter and statistical physics. 19 original contributions are included, grouped in three main areas: disorder and dynamical systems, structures and glasses, electrical and magnetic properties.

The contributions are by many of the foremost researchers in the field of condensed matter and statistical physics. In particular, contributions by such prominent scientists as M E Fisher, A A Maradudin, M F Thorpe, M Balkanski, T Fujiwara, and of course Sir Roger Elliott himself make this book a rewarding read.

• Disorder and Dynamical Systems:
  • Reflections on the Beguiling but Wayward Spherical Model (M E Fisher)
  • Phase Transitions in Vector Spin Glasses (A P Young)
  • Transitions, Dynamics and Disorder: From Equilibrium to Non-Equilibrium Systems (R Stinchcombe)
  • Two- Dimensional Growth in a Three Component Mixture with Competing Interactions (C Varea)
  • Glassy Dynamics at the Edge of Chaos (A Robledo)
• Structures and Glasses:
  • Flexibility in Biomolecules (M F Thorpe et al.)
  • Lattice Dynamics of Carbon Nanotubes (V N Popov & M Balkanski)
  • Glassy Behavior Due to Kinetic Constraints: From Topological Foam to Backgammon (D Sherrington)
  • On Glass Transition with Rapid Cooling Effects (R Kerner & O Mares)
  • The Dielectric Loss Function and the Search for Simple Models for Relaxation in Glass Formers (A P Vieira et al.)
  • The Theory of Turing Pattern Formation (T Leppänen)
  • The Dioctadecylamine Monolayer: Non-Equilibrium Phase Domains (A Flores et al.)
• Electrical and Magnetic Properties:
  • Multiple Scattering Effects in the Second Harmonic Generation of Light Reflection from Randomly Rough Metal Surface (A A Maradudin et al.)
  • Theory for Large Scale Electronic Structure Calculations (T Fujiwara et al.)
  • Symmetric Magnetic Clusters (J B Parkinson et al.)
  • Optical and Fermi-Edge Singularities in One-Dimensional Semiconductor Quantum Wires (K P Jain)
  • Probing the Magnetic Coupling in Multilayers Using Domain Wall Excitations (A S Carriço & A L Dantas)
  • Density of Electronic States in the Quantum Percolation Problem (G G Naumis & R A Barrio)
  • Power Terms in the Construction of Thermodynamic Functions for Melting Description (F L Castillo-Alvarado et al.)