The second edition of Introduction to Modern Dynamics: Chaos, Networks, Space and Time is available from Oxford University Press and Amazon.

Most physics majors will use modern dynamics in their careers: nonlinearity, chaos, network theory, econophysics, game theory, neural nets, geodesic geometry, among many others.

The first edition of Introduction to Modern Dynamics (IMD) was an upper-division junior-level mechanics textbook at the level of Thornton and Marion (Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems) and Taylor (Classical Mechanics).  IMD helped lead an emerging trend in physics education to update the undergraduate physics curriculum.  Conventional junior-level mechanics courses emphasized Lagrangian and Hamiltonian physics, but notably missing from the classic subjects are modern dynamics topics that most physics majors will use in their careers: nonlinearity, chaos, network theory, econophysics, game theory, neural nets, geodesic geometry, among many others.  These are the topics at the forefront of physics that drive high-tech businesses and start-ups, which is where more than half of all physicists work. IMD introduced these modern topics to junior-level physics majors in an accessible form that allowed them to master the fundamentals to prepare them for the modern world.

The second edition (IMD2) continues that trend by expanding the chapters to include additional material and topics.  It rearranges several of the introductory chapters for improved logical flow and expands them to include key conventional topics that were missing in the first edition (e.g., Lagrange undetermined multipliers and expanded examples of Lagrangian applications).  It is also an opportunity to correct several typographical errors and other errata that students have identified over the past several years.  The second edition also has expanded homework problems.

The goal of IMD2 is to strengthen the sections on conventional topics (that students need to master to take their GREs) to make IMD2 attractive as a mainstream physics textbook for broader adoption at the junior level, while continuing the program of updating the topics and approaches that are relevant for the roles that physicists play in the 21^st century.

(New Chapters and Sections highlighted in red.)

Synopsis of 2^nd Ed. Chapters

Chapter 1. Physics and Geometry (Sample Chapter)

This chapter has been rearranged relative to the 1^st edition to provide a more logical flow of the overarching concepts of geometric mechanics that guide the subsequent chapters.  The central role of coordinate transformations is strengthened, as is the material on rigid-body motion with expanded examples.

Chapter 2. Lagrangian Mechanics (Sample Chapter)

Much of the structure and material is retained from the 1^st edition while adding two important sections.  The section on applications of Lagrangian mechanics adds many direct examples of the use of Lagrange’s equations of motion.  An additional new section covers the important topic of Lagrange’s undetermined multipliers

Chapter 3. Hamiltonian Dynamics and Phase Space (Sample Chapter)

The importance of Hamiltonian systems and dynamics merits a stand-alone chapter.  The topics from the 1^st edition are expanded in this new chapter, including a new section on adiabatic invariants that plays an important role in the development of quantum theory.  Some topics are de-emphasized from the 1^st edition, such as general canonical transformations and the symplectic structure of phase space, although the specific transformation to action-angle coordinates is retained and amplified.

Chapter 4. Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

The first part of this chapter is retained from the 1^st edition with numerous minor corrections and updates of figures.  The second part of the IMD 1^st edition, treating Hamiltonian chaos, will be expanded into the new Chapter 5.

Chapter 5. Hamiltonian Chaos

This new stand-alone chapter expands on the last half of Chapter 3 of the IMD 1^st edition.  The physical character of Hamiltonian chaos is substantially distinct from dissipative chaos that it deserves its own chapter.  It is also a central topic of interest for complex systems that are either conservative or that have integral invariants, such as our N-body solar system that played such an important role in the history of chaos theory beginning with Poincaré.  The new chapter highlights Poincaré’s homoclinic tangle, illustrated by the Chirikov Standard Map.  The Standard Map is an excellent introduction to KAM theory, which is one of the crowning achievements of the theory of dynamical systems by Komogorov, Arnold and Moser, connecting to deeper aspects of synchronization and rational resonances that drive the structure of systems as diverse as the rotation of the Moon and the rings of Saturn.  This is also a perfect lead-in to the next chapter on synchronization.  An optional section at the end of this chapter briefly discusses quantum chaos to show how Hamiltonian chaos can be extended into the quantum regime.

Chapter 6. Synchronization

This is an updated version of the IMD 1^st ed. chapter.  It has a reduced initial section on coupled linear oscillators, retaining the key ideas about linear eigenmodes but removing some irrelevant details in the 1^st edition.  A new section is added that defines and emphasizes the importance of quasi-periodicity.  A new section on the synchronization of chaotic oscillators is added.

Chapter 7. Network Dynamics

This chapter rearranges the structure of the chapter from the 1^st edition, moving synchronization on networks earlier to connect from the previous chapter.  The section on diffusion and epidemics is moved to the back of the chapter and expanded in the 2^nd edition into two separate sections on these topics, adding new material on discrete matrix approaches to continuous dynamics.

Chapter 8. Neurodynamics and Neural Networks

This chapter is retained from the 1^st edition with numerous minor corrections and updates of figures.

Chapter 9. Evolutionary Dynamics

Two new sections are added to this chapter.  A section on game theory and evolutionary stable solutions introduces core concepts of evolutionary dynamics that merge well with the other topics of the chapter such as the pay-off matrix and replicator dynamics.  A new section on nearly neutral networks introduces new types of behavior that occur in high-dimensional spaces which are counter intuitive but important for understanding evolutionary drift.

Chapter 10.  Economic Dynamics

This chapter will be significantly updated relative to the 1^st edition.  Most of the sections will be rewritten with improved examples and figures.  Three new sections will be added.  The 1^st edition section on consumer market competition will be split into two new sections describing the Cournot duopoly and Pareto optimality in one section, and Walras’ Law and general equilibrium theory in another section.  The concept of the Pareto frontier in economics is becoming an important part of biophysical approaches to population dynamics.  In addition, new trends in economics are drawing from general equilibrium theory, first introduced by Walras in the nineteenth century, but now merging with modern ideas of fixed points and stable and unstable manifolds.  A third new section is added on econophysics, highlighting the distinctions that contrast economic dynamics (phase space dynamical approaches to economics) from the emerging field of econophysics (statistical mechanics approaches to economics).

Chapter 11. Metric Spaces and Geodesic Motion

 This chapter is retained from the 1^st edition with several minor corrections and updates of figures.

Chapter 12. Relativistic Dynamics

This chapter is retained from the 1^st edition with minor corrections and updates of figures.  More examples will be added, such as invariant mass reconstruction.  The connection between relativistic acceleration and Einstein’s equivalence principle will be strengthened.

Chapter 13. The General Theory of Relativity and Gravitation

This chapter is retained from the 1^st edition with minor corrections and updates of figures.  A new section will derive the properties of gravitational waves, given the spectacular success of LIGO and the new field of gravitational astronomy.

Homework Problems:

All chapters will have expanded and updated homework problems.  Many of the homework problems from the 1^st edition will remain, but the number of problems at the end of each chapter will be nearly doubled, while removing some of the less interesting or problematic problems.

Bibliography

D. D. Nolte, Introduction to Modern Dynamics: Chaos, Networks, Space and Time, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2019)