A separate chapter is devoted to martensite transitions and this includes an analysis of soliton solutions of nonlinear equations of elasticity. Revised and expanded translation from the Russian edition of 1984.

Treats phase transition theory and the analysis of phase transitions in terms of both Landau theory and fluctuation theory, with particular attention given to crystals and quasicrystals. Also included is an overview of color symmetry applications in phase transition theory.A separate chapter is devoted to martensite transitions and this includes an analysis of soliton solutions of nonlinear equations of elasticity. Revised and expanded translation from the Russian edition of 1984.

Preface

Preface to the English Edition

Notation

Chapter 1. Introduction to Phenomenological Phase Transition Theory

 1. Fundamentals of Landau's Thermodynamic Theory Elementary thermodynamic analysis (1). Spontaneous symmetry breaking at a continuous phase transition (7). The Landau condition for a second-order phase transition (9). Further development of Landau's theory (10).

 2. Prerequisites on Space-group Representations Space-group irreducible representations (12). Irreducible representations and their decomposition (15). References

Chapter 2. Physical Realization of the Order Parameters at a Micro- scopic Level of Description

Chapter 3. Symmetry Change at Phase Transitions

Chapter 4. Analysis of the Thermodynamic Potential .

Chapter 5. Phase Diagrams in the Space of Thermodynamic Potential Parameters

Chapter 7. Phase IYansitions il~ an External Field

Chapter 8. Martensite Transformations

Chapter 9. Incommensurate Periodicity Phases

Chapter 10. Color Symmetry and its Role in Phase Transition Theory

Chapter 11. Fluctuations and Symmetry

References

Appendix

Index