Stefano Zapperi is Professor of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics and Coordinator of the Center for Complexity and Biosystems at the University of Milan.
Zapperi (Univ. of Milan) presents an extensive summary of the statistical mechanics of avalanche phenomena in materials science. * J. Lambropoulos, CHOICE * Zapperi (Univ. of Milan) presents an extensive summary of the statistical mechanics of avalanche phenomena in materials science. He argues that intermittent crackling noise reveals localized, impulsive events driven by the interactions of internal microstructural defects with externally applied fields. Emphasizing multiple scales and scaling, the author embeds these avalanche phenomena within the broader fields of critical phenomena and phase transitions, reviewing applications in non-destructive testing and hazard predictive methods. * J. Lambropoulos, University of Rochester *