Foreword

Abstract

The second week was devoted to the old phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation, which has been duly revived by the spectacular experimental realizations in atomic physics, and to recent investigations of charged fluids and related polyelectrolytes. The article by Antonio F. R. Toledo Piza, from São Paulo, Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Atomic Gases, is a detailed and comprehensive review of the recent work on this topic. Finally, the work on charged fluids is reviewed by Yan Levin, from Porto Alegre (Introduction to Statistical Mechanics of Charged Systems). We hope that these review articles will give an overview of new trends and directions in statistical mechanics.