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The Mathematical Foundations of Mixing

R. Sturman, J. M. Ottino, and S. Wiggins
Cambridge Monographs on Applied and Computational Mathematics
Cambridge University Press (2006), 281 pp., Price: $75.00 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-521-86813-6

This book focuses on Linked Twist Maps as the primary tool in understanding applications of dynamical systems on both the microscopic and macroscopic scales. The text is self-contained and introduces with good mathematical rigor all the essential tools of dynamics: mixing, ergodicity, the K-property, Boltzmann's Ergodic Hypothesis, hyperbolicity, Lyapunov exponents, symbolic dynamics and the shift map, cone fields, and the Smale horseshoe. The ninth chapter of the book gives some possible research directions and open problems.

This is an excellent textbook for a graduate-level introduction to dynamical systems which is motivated by intuition and applications.

Sturman and Wiggins are at the University of Bristol, and Ottino is at Northwestern University.

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