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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.

  • Lectures on Ion-Atom Collisions

    From Nonrelativistic to Relativistic Velocities
    • 1st Edition
    • September 23, 2005
    • 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
    • September 16, 2005
    • 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.
  • Progress in Optics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 47
    • August 30, 2005
    • English
    In this volume, six review articles which cover a broad range of topics of current interest in modern optics are included. The first article by S. Saltiel, A.A. Sukhorukov and Y.S. Kivshar presents an overview of various types of parametric interactions in nonlinear optics which are associated with simultaneous phase-matching of several optical processes in quadratic non-linear media, the so-called multi-step parametric interactions. The second article by H.E. Tureci, H.G.L. Schwefel, Ph. Jacquod and A.D. Stone reviews the progress that has been made in recent years in the understanding of modes in wave-chaotic systems. The next article by C.P. Search and P. Meystre reviews some important recent developments in non-linear optics and in quantum optics. The fourth article by E. Hasman, G. Biener, A. Niv and V. Kleiner discusses space-variant polarization manipulation. The article reviews both theoretical analysis and experimental techniques. The article which follows, by A.S. Desyatnikov, L. Torner and Y.S. Kivshar presents an overview of recent researches on optical vortices and phase singularities of electromagnetic waves in different types of non-linear media, with emphasis on the properties of vortex solitons. The concluding article by K. Iwata presents a review of imaging techniques with X-rays and visible light in which phase of the radiation that penetrates through a transparent object plays an important part.
  • Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 35
    • August 2, 2005
    • English
    The rare earths play a unique role in science. These seventeen related elements afford a panoply of subtle variations deriving from the systematic development of their electronic configurations, allowing a test of theory with excellent resolution. In contrast they find widespread use in even the most mundane processes such as steel making, for polishing materials and gasoline cracking catalysts. In between are exotic uses such as TV screen phosphors, lasers, high strength permanent magnets and chemical probes.This multi-volume handbook covers the entire rare earth field in an integrated manner. Each chapter is a comprehensive up-to-date, critical review of a particular segment of the field. The work offers the researcher and graduate student alike, a complete and thorough coverage of this fascinating field.
  • Nanophysics: Coherence and Transport

    Lecture Notes of the Les Houches Summer School 2004
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 81
    • August 2, 2005
    • English
    The developments of nanofabrication in the past years have enabled the design of electronic systems that exhibit spectacular signatures of quantum coherence. Nanofabricated quantum wires and dots containing a small number of electrons are ideal experimental playgrounds for probing electron-electron interactions and their interplay with disorder. Going down to even smaller scales, molecules such as carbon nanotubes, fullerenes or hydrogen molecules can now be inserted in nanocircuits. Measurements of transport through a single chain of atoms have been performed as well. Much progress has also been made in the design and fabrication of superconducting and hybrid nanostructures, be they normal/superconducto... or ferromagnetic/superc... Quantum coherence is then no longer that of individual electronic states, but rather that of a superconducting wavefunction of a macroscopic number of Cooper pairs condensed in the same quantum mechanical state. Beyond the study of linear response regime, the physics of non-equilibrium transport (including non-linear transport, rectification of a high frequency electric field as well as shot noise) has received much attention, with significant experimental and theoretical insights. All these quantities exhibit very specific signatures of the quantum nature of transport, which cannot be obtained from basic conductance measurements. Basic concepts and analytical tools needed to understand this new physics are presented in a series of theoretical fundamental courses, in parallel with more phenomenological ones where physics is discussed in a less formal way and illustrated by many experiments.
  • Nonlinearity and Chaos in Molecular Vibrations

    • 1st Edition
    • July 1, 2005
    • Guozhen Wu
    • English
    Nonlinearity and Chaos in Molecular Vibrations deals systematically with a Lie algebraic approach to the study of nonlinear properties of molecular highly excited vibrations. The fundamental concepts of nonlinear dynamics such as chaos, fractals, quasiperiodicity, resonance, and the Lyapunov exponent, and their roles in the study of molecular vibrations are presented.The 20 chapters cover the basic ideas, the concept of dynamical groups, the integrable two-mode SU(2) system, the unintegrable three-mode SU(3) system, the noncompact su(1,1) algebraic application, su(3) symmetry breaking and its application and the quantal effect of asymmetric molecular rotation. Emphasis is given to: resonance and chaos, the fractal structure of eigencoefficients, the C-H bend motion of acetylene, regular and chaotic motion of DCN, the existence of approximately conserved quantum numbers, one-electronic motion in multi-sites, the Lyapunov exponent, actions of periodic trajectories and quantization, the H function and its application in vibrational relaxation as well as the Dixon dip and its destruction and chaos in the transitional states. This approach bridges the gap between molecular vibrational spectroscopy and nonlinear dynamics.The book presents a framework of information that readers can use to build their knowledge, and is therefore highly recommended for all those working in or studying molecular physics, molecular spectroscopy, chemical physics and theoretical physics.
  • Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics

    • 1st Edition
    • June 30, 2005
    • G. Franco Bassani + 2 more
    • English
    The work provides solid coverage in the fundamental theoretical aspects of the subject, with carefully planned cross-linking and structuring to give the user the potential to gain a solid grounding in the theoretical aspects of quantum mechanics, mechanics, electrodynamics, relativity, statistical mechanics, and elementary particiles that form the core physics background for the field. These core areas form the background for coverage of such areas as crystallography, transport phenomena, various theoretical models (electronic, band structure, materials property models, etc), and physical properties of materials (electrical, magnetic, optical, thermal, etc). Coverage of experimental techniques will include, among others, the full range of scattering, microscopy, and spectroscopy techniques. Other entries do cover a range of materials processing (solidification, crystal growth, molecular beam epitaxy, sputtering, sintering, etc) and include coverage of key materials systems (macromolecules, nanostructures, polymers, ceramics, and alloys). Special materials systems that have had and continue to have a major impact on society such as semiconductors, laser materials, and superconductors are covered. The encyclopedia also includes a wide range of applied topics, device-oriented topics, developments in biomaterials, soft condensed matter, complex fluids, etc.Also available online via ScienceDirect – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit www.info.sciencedire...
  • Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 136
    • June 15, 2005
    • Peter W. Hawkes
    • English
    Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics merges two long-running serials-Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics and Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy. This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
  • Statistics of Linear Polymers in Disordered Media

    • 1st Edition
    • June 9, 2005
    • Bikas K. Chakrabarti
    • English
    With the mapping of the partition function graphs of the n-vector magnetic model in the n to 0 limit as the self-avoiding walks, the conformational statistics of linear polymers was clearly understood in early seventies. Various models of disordered solids, percolation model in particular, were also established by late seventies. Subsequently, investigations on thestatistics of linear polymers or of self-avoiding walks in, say, porous medium or disordered lattices were started in early eighties. Inspite of the brilliant ideas forwarded and extensive studies made for the next two decades, the problem is not yet completely solved in its generality. This intriguing and important problem has remained since a topic of vigorous and active research.This book intends to offer the readers a first hand and extensive review of the various aspects of the problem, written by the experts in the respective fields. We hope, the contents of the book will provide a valuable guide for researchers in statistical physics of polymers and will surely induce further research and advances towards a complete understanding of the problem.
  • Stochastic Equations through the Eye of the Physicist

    Basic Concepts, Exact Results and Asymptotic Approximations
    • 1st Edition
    • May 20, 2005
    • Valery I. Klyatskin
    • English
    Fluctuating parameters appear in a variety of physical systems and phenomena. They typically come either as random forces/sources, or advecting velocities, or media (material) parameters, like refraction index, conductivity, diffusivity, etc. The well known example of Brownian particle suspended in fluid and subjected to random molecular bombardment laid the foundation for modern stochastic calculus and statistical physics. Other important examples include turbulent transport and diffusion of particle-tracers (pollutants), or continuous densities (''oil slicks''), wave propagation and scattering in randomly inhomogeneous media, for instance light or sound propagating in the turbulent atmosphere. Such models naturally render to statistical description, where the input parameters and solutions are expressed by random processes and fields. The fundamental problem of stochastic dynamics is to identify the essential characteristics of system (its state and evolution), and relate those to the input parameters of the system and initial data. This raises a host of challenging mathematical issues. One could rarely solve such systems exactly (or approximately) in a closed analytic form, and their solutions depend in a complicated implicit manner on the initial-boundary data, forcing and system's (media) parameters . In mathematical terms such solution becomes a complicated "nonlinear functional" of random fields and processes. Part I gives mathematical formulation for the basic physical models of transport, diffusion, propagation and develops some analytic tools. Part II and III sets up and applies the techniques of variational calculus and stochastic analysis, like Fokker-Plank equation to those models, to produce exact or approximate solutions, or in worst case numeric procedures. The exposition is motivated and demonstrated with numerous examples. Part IV takes up issues for the coherent phenomena in stochastic dynamical systems, described by ordinary and partial differential equations, like wave propagation in randomly layered media (localization), turbulent advection of passive tracers (clustering), wave propagation in disordered 2D and 3D media. For the sake of reader I provide several appendixes (Part V) that give many technical mathematical details needed in the book.