by Maurizio Gasperini (2013)
<p>This reference textbook is an up-to-date and self-contained introduction to the theory of gravitational interactions. The first part of the book follows the traditional presentation of general relativity as a geometric theory of the macroscopic gravitational field. A second, advanced part then discusses the deep analogies (and differences) between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories of the other fundamental interactions. This fills a gap which is present in the context of the traditional approach to general relativity, and which usually makes students puzzled about the role of gravity. The necessary notions of differential geometry are reduced to the minimum, leaving more room for those aspects of gravitational physics of current phenomenological and theoretical interest, such as the properties of gravitational waves, the gravitational interactions of spinors, and the supersymmetric and higher-dimensional generalization of the Einstein equations. Theory of Gravitational Interactions will be of particular value to undergraduate students pursuing a theoretical or astroparticle curriculum. It can also be used by those teaching related subjects, by PhD students and young researchers working in different scientific sectors but wishing to enlarge their spectrum of interests, and, in general, by all scholars interested in the modern aspects and problems of gravitational interaction.</p>
A.J. Leggett
This book aims to give the non-specialist reader a general overview of what physicists think they do and do not know in some representative frontier areas of contemporary physics. It focuses on the fundamental problems at the heart of the subject, and emphasizes the provisional nature of our present understanding of things.
E.N. Economou
The main part of this book is devoted to the simplest kind of Green's functions, namely the solutions of linear differential equations with a -function source. It is shown that these familiar Green's functions are a powerful tool for obtaining relatively simple and general solutions of basic problems such as scattering and boundlevel information. The bound-level treatment gives a clear physical understanding of "difficult" questions such as superconductivity, the Kondo effect, and, to a lesser degree, disorder-induced localization. The more advanced subject of many-body Green's functions is presented in the last part of the book.
Susanne Pfalzner, Paul Gibbon
Studying the dynamics of a large number of particles interacting through long-range forces, commonly referred to as the N-body problem, is a central aspect of many different branches of physics. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the development of fast N-body algorithms to deal efficiently with such complex problems. This book is the first to give a thorough introduction to these so-called tree methods, setting out the basic principles and giving many practical examples of their use. After a description of the key features of the hierarchical tree method, a variety of general N-body techniques are presented. Open boundary problems are then discussed, as well as the optimization of tree codes, periodic boundary problems, and the fast multipole method. No prior specialist knowledge is assumed, and the techniques are illustrated throughout with reference to a broad range of applications. The book will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers working on the modelling of systems in astrophysics, plasma physics, nuclear and particle physics, condensed-matter physics, and materials science.
Raymond Brun, Lucien Z. Dumitrescu
This volume deals with chemical kinetics of high-temperature shocked flows. The first papers describe the kinetics of many processes in gases and gas mixtures behind shock waves in shock tubes, including decomposition, oxidation, dissociation and various reactions, with the general purpose of measuring corresponding rate constants by various diagnostic techniques. Other papers treat problems of induced combustion behind shock paves propagating in combustible media. Theoretical and experimental studies on nonequilibrium flows in external and internal aerodynamics, including vibrational relaxation, dissociation and reaction kinetics and radiation effects, and the analysis of ionization phenomena induced by shock waves and of the behavior of shock waves in ionized media such as plasma jets, discharges or magnetic fields are represented. This volume is for chemists and chemical engineers working in reaction kinetics and combustion fields, plasma physicists, astrophysicists and also aerodynamicists simulating or computing relaxing reactive flows.