Topological Quantum Matter

by Thomas Klein Kvorning

2018 · Springer

This book offers a theoretical description of topological matter in terms of effective field theories, and in particular topological field theories, focusing on two main topics: topological superconductors and topological insulators. Even though there is vast literature on these subjects, the book fills an important gap by providing a concise introduction to both topological order and symmetry-protected phases using a modern mathematical language, and developing the theoretical concepts by highlighting the physics and the physical properties of the systems. Further, it discusses in detail the topological interactions for topologically ordered matter, and the response to smooth external fields for symmetry protected matter. The book also covers more specialized topics that cannot be found elsewhere. Specifically, the response of superconductors to geometry, including the newly discovered geo-Meissner effect; and a correction to the usual Meissner effect, only present in the topologically interesting chiral superconductors.

Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes

by Thomas L. Elliott

2018 · Simon and Schuster

With its initial publication in 1983, A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes profoundly transformed the emphasis and direction of tool collecting. After several years of meticulous research, Thomas L. Elliott has completely redesigned, revised, and expanded this fifth edition to include entries and information accumulated since the fourth edition. The heart of this guide is the alphabetical directory of plane makers and dealers. This fifth edition now includes: 4590 biographical entries; 6160 imprint illustrations; 3030 wedge outlines; and over 3000 individual ratings for judging relative scarcity and value. Also included are sections providing insights helpful in buying and selling planes, an illustrated glossary of plane terms and styles, and an extensive bibliography for further research. This book is useful to both the beginner and the advanced collector, to historians and genealogists, and to all other with an interest in the subject.

Capital City

by Thomas Kessner

2004 · Simon and Schuster

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, New York City was an undistinguished town, competing with Philadelphia and Boston to be America's dominant port city. Just two generations later, it had built itself into the country's powerhouse center of trade and finance, rivaled only by London as financial capital of the world. In Capital City, Thomas Kessner tells the story of this remarkable transformation. With the advantages of its famous harbor and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New York became the chief commercial center for the growing nation. As the shipping industry prospered, capital accumulated, and a growing banking center emerged, New York went on to finance the Union cause during the Civil War, open the West to development, and consolidate the national railroad system. The city's energy and opportunity attracted ambitious men from all over the country whose names became synonymous with big business: Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan. New York's banks set the interest rates for the nation, its stock exchange fixed the price of securities, its investors transformed American business from family-owned enterprises into modern corporations, and its growing political clout catapulted public figures, such as Samuel Tilden and Teddy Roosevelt, onto the national stage. Combining political and urban history with a colorful cast of characters, Capital City chronicles how Gotham's Gilded Age reshaped the metropolis and the nation as it molded our present-day economy.