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Books in Physics

Physics titles offer comprehensive research and advancements across the fundamental and applied areas of physical science. From quantum mechanics and particle physics to astrophysics and materials science, these titles drive innovation and deepen understanding of the principles governing the universe. Essential for researchers, educators, and students, this collection supports scientific progress and practical applications across a diverse range of physics disciplines.

  • Linear Ray and Wave Optics in Phase Space

    Bridging Ray and Wave Optics via the Wigner Phase-Space Picture
    • 1st Edition
    • Amalia Torre
    • English
    Ray, wave and quantum concepts are central to diverse and seemingly incompatible models of light. Each model particularizes a specific ''manifestation'' of light, and then corresponds to adequate physical assumptions and formal approximations, whose domains of applicability are well-established. Accordingly each model comprises its own set of geometric and dynamic postulates with the pertinent mathematical means.At a basic level, the book is a complete introduction to the Wigner optics, which bridges between ray and wave optics, offering the optical phase space as the ambience and the Wigner function based technique as the mathematical machinery to accommodate between the two opposite extremes of light representation: the localized ray of geometrical optics and the unlocalized wave function of wave optics.At a parallel level, the analogies with other branches of both classical and quantum physics, like classical and quantum mechanics, quantum optics, signal theory as well as magnetic optics, are evidenced by pertinent comments and/or rigorous mathematics. So, the Lie algebra and group methods are introduced and explained through the elementary optical systems within both the ray and wave optics contexts, the former being related to the symplectic group and the latter to the metaplectic group. In a like manner, the Wigner function is introduced by following the original issue to individualize a phase space representation of quantum mechanics, which is mirrored by the issue to individualize a local frequency spectrum within the signal theory context. The basic analogy with the optics of charged particles inherently underlying the ray-optics picture in phase space is also evidenced within the wave-optics picture in the Wigner phase space.
  • Chemical Thermodynamics of Compounds and Complexes of U, Np, Pu, Am, Tc, Se, Ni and Zr With Selected Organic Ligands

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 9
    • English
    This volume is part of the series on "Chemical Thermodynamics", published under the aegis of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. It contains a critical review of the literature on thermodynamic data for compounds of complexes of oxalate, citrate, EDTA and iso-saccharinate with uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, technetium, selenium, nickel and zirconium. A review team, composed of five internationally recognized experts, has critically reviewed all the scientific literature containing chemical thermodynamic information for the above mentioned systems. The results of this critical review carried out following the Guidelines of the OECD NEA Thermochemical Database Project have been documented in the present volume, which contains tables of selected values for formation and reaction thermodynamical properties and an extensive bibliography.Contrib... by: Wolfgang Hummel (Chairman), Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, Giorgio Anderegg, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland, Linfeng Rao, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S.A., Ignasi Puigdomènech, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB), Sweden, and Osamu Tochiyama, Tohoku University, Japan.
  • Progress in Low Temperature Physics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 15
    • English
    A number of interrelated areas of low temperature physics are brought together in this volume. The four topics are presented as separate chapters. First is the study of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for defect formation following quench cooling of superfluid 3He and its relation to quantum field theory. Properties of heavy fermion materials are described next with special attention to the competition between magnetism and superconductivity. Some of the newest correlated electron systems are discussed and the arguments for possible unconventional nature of the superconducting order parameter are presented for these systems, including the novel coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Highly polarized degenerate Fermi liquids are of substantial interest in many areas of physics. The most complete description of observations of thermodynamic and transport phenomena are reviewed here for the case of polarized liquid 3He obtained by rapid melting from a polarized solid and subsequent rapid refrigeration. Properties of the melting curve of 3He, and the related technique of melting curve thermometry are described in detail.
  • Progress in Optics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 48
    • English
    In the thirty-seven years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world. Some of the advances in these fields have been recognized by awarding Nobel prizes to seven physicists in the last twenty years. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain nearly 190 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting. We confidently expect that, just like their predecessors, future volumes of Progress in Optics will faithfully record the most important advances that are being made in optics and related fields.
  • Theory and Applications of Computational Chemistry

    The First Forty Years
    • 1st Edition
    • Clifford Dykstra + 3 more
    • English
    Computational chemistry is a means of applying theoretical ideas using computers and a set of techniques for investigating chemical problems within which common questions vary from molecular geometry to the physical properties of substances. Theory and Applications of Computational Chemistry: The First Forty Years is a collection of articles on the emergence of computational chemistry. It shows the enormous breadth of theoretical and computational chemistry today and establishes how theory and computation have become increasingly linked as methodologies and technologies have advanced. Written by the pioneers in the field, the book presents historical perspectives and insights into the subject, and addresses new and current methods, as well as problems and applications in theoretical and computational chemistry. Easy to read and packed with personal insights, technical and classical information, this book provides the perfect introduction for graduate students beginning research in this area. It also provides very readable and useful reviews for theoretical chemists.
  • Life Cycle Tribology

    31st Leeds-Lyon Tribology Symposium
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 48
    • Duncan Dowson + 3 more
    • English
    The 31st Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology was held at Trinity and All Saints College in Leeds under the title "Life Cycle Tribology" from Tuesday 7th September until Friday 10th September 2004. Over the three days of presentations that followed, life cycle tribology was explored across a range of areas including automotive tribology, bearings, bio-degradability and sustainability, bio-tribology, coatings, condition monitoring, contact mechanics, debris effects, elastohydrodynamic lubrication, lubricants, machine systems, nanotribology, rolling contact fatigue, transmissions, tribochemistry and wear and failure. Invited talks in these fields were presented by leading international researchers and practitioners, namely C.J. Hooke, J.A. Williams, R.J.K. Wood, G. Isaac, S.C. Tung, D. Price, I. Sherrington, M. Hadfield, K. Kato, R.I. Taylor, H.P. Evans, R.S. Dwyer-Joyce and H. Rahnejat.
  • Optical Radiometry

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 41
    • English
    This book deals with the practice of Optical Radiation Measurements with introductory material to introduce the topics discussed. It will be most useful for students, scientists and engineers working in any academic, industrial or governmental projects related to optical radiation. The book contains chapters that treat in detail the procedures and techniques for the characterization of both sources and detectors to the highest degree of accuracy and reliability. It has a chapter devoted specifically to optical measurements of laser sources and fiberoptics for communication and a chapter devoted to uncertainty in measurement and its treatment with real examples of optical measurements. The book contains introductory materials that will allow a newcomer to radiometry to develop the expertise to perform exacting and accurate measurement. The authors stress the various causes of uncertainty in each phase of a measurement and thus allow for users to arrive at a correct assessment of their uncertainty of measurement in their particular circumstance.
  • Recent Advances in Multidisciplinary Applied Physics

    Proceedings of the First International Meeting on Applied Physics (APHYS-2003)
    • 1st Edition
    • Antonio Mendez-Vilas
    • English
    The 1st International Meeting on Applied Physics (APHYS-2003) succeeded in creating a new international forum for applied physics in Europe, with specific interest in the application of techniques, training, and culture of physics to research areas usually associated with other scientific and engineering disciplines.This book contains a selection of peer-reviewed papers presented at APHYS-2003, held in Badajoz (Spain), from 15th to 18th October 2003, which included the following Plenary Lectures:* Nanobiotechnology - Interactions of Cells with Nanofeatured Surfaces and with Nanoparticles* Radiation Protection of Nuclear Workers - Ethical Issues* Chaotic Data Encryption for Optical Communications
  • Lectures on Ion-Atom Collisions

    From Nonrelativistic to Relativistic Velocities
    • 1st Edition
    • Jörg Eichler
    • English
    Atomic collisions offer some unique opportunities to study atomic structure and reaction mechanisms in experiment and theory, especially for projectiles of high atomic number provided by modern accelerators. The book is meant as an introduction into the field and provides some basic theoretical understanding of the atomic processes occurring when a projectile hits another atom. It also furnishes the tools for a mathematical description, however, without going deeper into the technical details, which can be found in the literature given. With this aim, the focus is on reactions, in which only a single active electron participates. Collisional excitation, ionization and charge transfer are discussed for collision velocities ranging from slow to comparable to thespeed of light. For the highest projectile velocities, energy can be converted into mass, so that electron-positron pairs are created. In addition to the systematic treatment, a theoretical section specializes on electron-electroncor... and three chapters are devoted to selected highlights bordering to surface science and to physics with antiprotons.
  • Quantum Chemistry

    • 3rd Edition
    • John P. Lowe + 1 more
    • English
    Lowe's new edition assumes little mathematical or physical sophistication and emphasizes an understanding of the techniques and results of quantum chemistry. It can serve as a primary text in quantum chemistry courses, and enables students and researchers to comprehend the current literature. This third edition has been thoroughly updated and includes numerous new exercises to facilitate self-study and solutions to selected exercises.