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This book surveys the models for the origin of life and presents a new model starting with shaped droplets and ending with life as polygonal Archaea; it collects the most published micrographs of Archaea (discovered only in 1977), which support this conclusion, and thus provides the first visual survey of Archaea. Origin of Life via Archaea's purpose is to add a new hypothesis on what are called “shaped droplets”, as the starting point, for flat, polygonal Archaea, supporting the Vesicles First hypothesis. The book contains over 6000 distinct references and micrographs of 440 extant species of Archaea, 41% of which exhibit polygonal phenotypes. It surveys the intellectual battleground of the many ideas of the origin of life on earth, chemical equilibrium, autocatalysis, and biotic polymers. This book contains 17 chapters, some coauthored, on a wide range of topics on the origin of life, including Archaea's origin, patterns, and species. It shows how various aspects of the origin of life may have occurred at chemical equilibrium, not requiring an energy source, contrary to the general assumption. For the reader's value, its compendium of Archaea micrographs might also serve many other interesting questions about Archaea. One chapter presents a theory for the shape of flat, polygonal Archaea in terms of the energetics at the surface, edges and corners of the S-layer. Another shows how membrane peptides may have originated. The book also includes a large table of most extant Archaea, that is searchable in the electronic version. It ends with a chapter on problems needing further research. Audience This book will be used by astrobiologists, origin of life biologists, physicists of small systems, geologists, biochemists, theoretical and vesicle chemists.

Treatise on Geochemistry, Third Edition, 8 volume set is an invaluable resource for geoscientists and others seeking to understand the origin, evolution, and functioning of our inhabited world, in service of a sustainable future.Our need to understand our planet is being reshaped by two ongoing scientific revolutions: the discovery of thousands of exoplanets and the advent of the Anthropocene. These seemingly disparate revolutions challenge us to deepen our understanding of Earth, as our best path to understanding how inhabited planets work. Geochemical knowledge and discovery are at the heart of this challenge, the crossroads where all geoscience subdisciplines meet – much as chemistry is often said to be the'central science', geochemistry is the'central geoscience'. Treatise on Geochemistry fills the gap between mature and established geochemical knowledge, including analytical developments and the rapidly evolving frontiers of the field. - Provides complete and comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the multi-disciplinary field of geochemistry - Restructured to streamline and consolidate topics and draw explicit connections to the twin revolutions of Astrobiology and the Anthropocene in each volume's introductory chapter - Updates to the new edition include new and expanded coverage of emerging topics like cosmochemistry, planetary geochemistry, and exoplanets - Follows a common template, making the work consistent and easier to navigate

At every stage of the fuel cycle, the materials used are at the heart of nuclear energy safety issues. These materials, which range from steel to polymers, including ceramics, glass, concrete and graphite, are submitted to extreme stresses combining mechanical, thermal and irradiation constraints. The objective of this book is to provide a basis for the research of nuclear materials subjected to irradiation, with the desire to contextualize them in the industrial environment. Therefore, most of the chapters are co-authored and contain a mix of basic and applied research. The reader will find chapters on nuclear reactor materials (structural materials, neutron absorbers, moderators and nuclear fuel) and on materials in waste management (glass, concrete and organic materials). These material chapters are complemented by more general information on defects and their creation, radiolysis and irradiation and characterization tools.

This handbook comprises a comprehensive reference source that unifies the entire fields of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics, assembling the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field from atomic spectroscopy to applications to comets and global change. Its 91 chapters are written by over 100 authors, all leaders in their respective disciplines.Carefully edited to ensure a uniform coverage and style and with extensive cross references, together with a guide to the primary research literature, it is both a source of information and an inspiration for graduate students and other researchers new to the field. All chapters offer diagrams of apparatus, graphs, and tables of data.Twenty-seven years on since the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Handbook was first published, and sixteen years since the publication of the revised Springer edition, the Springer AMO Physics Handbook has become a standard reference in the field, and a starting point for generations of graduate students. In recent years, there have been dramatic advances in many areas of AMO physics involving both fundamental changes and new applications in areas such as quantum information, ultracold atoms, and searches for dark matter. This new edition contains an expanded coverage of these rapidly emerging fields.

Now in its third edition the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology serves as the key to a common understanding in the extremely interdisciplinary community of astrobiologists. Each new or experienced researcher and graduate student in adjacent fields of astrobiology will appreciate this reference work in the quest to understand the big picture. The carefully selected group of active researchers contributing to this work are aiming to give a comprehensive international perspective on and to accelerate the interdisciplinary advance of astrobiology.The interdisciplinary field of astrobiology constitutes a joint arena where provocative discoveries are coalescing concerning, e.g. the prevalence of exoplanets, the diversity and hardiness of life, and its chances for emergence. Biologists, astrophysicists, (bio)-chemists, geoscientists and space scientists share this exciting mission of revealing the origin and commonality of life in the Universe. With its overview articles and its definitions the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology not only provides a common language and understanding for the members of the different disciplines but also serves for educating a new generation of young astrobiologists who are no longer separated by the jargon of individual scientific disciplines.This new edition offers ~170 new entries. More than half of the existing entries were updated, expanded or supplemented with figures supporting the understanding of the text. Especially in the fields of astrochemistry and terrestrial extremophiles but also in exoplanets and space sciences in general there is a huge body of new results that have been taken into account in this new edition.Because the entries in the Encyclopedia are in alphabetical order without regard for scientific field, this edition includes a section “Astrobiology by Discipline” which lists the entries by scientific field and subfield. This should be particularly helpful to those enquiring about astrobiology, as it illustrates the broad and detailed nature of the field.

Dust in the Galactic Environment, Third Edition provides a thorough overview of the subject, covering general concepts, methods of investigation, important results and their significance, relevant literature, and some suggestions for promising avenues of future research. Major advances have been made in the last two decades in our understanding of astrophysical dust. These have been driven by discoveries arising from new observational facilities such as the Spitzer, Planck, and Herschel Space Telescopes, as well as important parallel developments in laboratory studies of cosmic and terrestrial analog materials. This new, expanded edition reviews these developments, summarizes the current state of the field, and considers possibilities for future advances, for example with the James Webb Space Telescope. It includes introductory material for new entrants to the field alongside detailed discussion for more advanced students and researchers.Key features:Timely update to a standard text, including results from Spitzer, Planck and Herschel Space TelescopesHighly active and topical area of current research with broad relevance in astrophysics, astrochemistry, and planetary sciencesEmphasises cosmic dust as a source of planet-building materials and organic moleculesWritten by a renowned expert in the field

An in-depth view of the panspermia hypothesis examined against the latest knowledge of planetary formation and related processes. Panspermia is the concept that life can be passively transported through space on various bodies and seed, habitable planets and moons, which we are beginning to learn may exist in large numbers. It is an old idea, but not popular with those who prefer that life on Earth started on Earth, an alternative, also unproven hypothesis. This book updates the concept of panspermia in the light of new evidence on planet formation, molecular clouds, solar system motions, supernovae ejection mechanisms, etc. Thus, it is to be a book about newly understood prospects for the movement of life through space. The novel approach presented in this book gives new insights into the panspermia theory and its connection with planetary formation and the evolution of galaxies. This offers a good starting point for future research proposals about exolife and a better perspective for empirical scrutiny of panspermia theory. Also, the key to understanding life in the universe is to understand that the planetary formation process is convolved with the evolution of stellar systems in their galactic environment. The book provides the synthesis of all these elements and gives the readers an up-to-date insight on how panspermia might fit into the big picture. Audience Given the intrinsic interdisciplinary nature of the panspermia hypothesis the book will have a wide audience across various scientific disciplines covering astronomy, biology, physics and chemistry. Apart from scientists, the book will appeal to engineers who are involved in planning and realization of future space missions.

Written by a leading expert on comets, this textbook is divided into seven main elements with a view to allowing advanced students to appreciate the interconnections between the different elements. The author opens with a brief introductory segment on the motivation for studying comets and the overall scope of the book. The first chapter describes fundamental aspects most usually addressed by ground-based observation. The author then looks at the basic physical phenomena in four separate chapters addressing the nucleus, the emitted gas, the emitted dust, and the solar wind interaction. Each chapter introduces the basic physics and chemistry but then new specific measurements by Rosetta instruments at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko are brought in. A concerted effort has been made to distinguish between established fact and conjecture. Deviations and inconsistencies are brought out and their significance explained. Links to previous observations of comets Tempel 1, Wild 2, Hartley 2, Halley and others are made. The author then closes with three smaller chapters on related objects, the loss of comets, and prospects for future exploration. This textbook includes over 275 graphics and figures – most of which are original. Thorough explanations and derivations are included throughout the chapters. The text is therefore designed to support MSc. students and new PhD students in the field wanting to gain a solid overview of the state-of-the-art.

This book focuses on the most recent, relevant, comprehensive and significant aspects in the well-established multidisciplinary field Laboratory Astrophysics. It focuses on astrophysical environments, which include asteroids, comets, the interstellar medium, and circumstellar and circumplanetary regions. Its scope lies between physics and chemistry, since it explores physical properties of the gas, ice, and dust present in those systems, as well as chemical reactions occurring in the gas phase, the bare dust surface, or in the ice bulk and its surface. Each chapter provides the necessary mathematical background to understand the subject, followed by a case study of the corresponding system. The book provides adequate material to help interpret the observations, or the computer models of astrophysical environments. It introduces and describes the use of spectroscopic tools for laboratory astrophysics. This book is mainly addressed to PhD graduates working in thisfield or observers and modelers searching for information on ice and dust processes.

This book describes the latest developments in the new research discipline of X-ray nanochemistry, which uses nanomaterials to enhance the effectiveness of X-ray irradiation. Nanomaterials now can be synthesized in such a way as to meet the demand for complex functions that enhance the X-ray effect. Innovative methods of delivering the X-rays, which can interact with those nanomaterials much more strongly than energetic electrons and gamma rays, also create new opportunities to enhance the X-ray effect. As a result, new concepts are conceived and new developments are made in the last decade, which are discussed and summarized in this book. This book will help define the discipline and encourage more students and scientists to work in this discipline. These efforts will eventually lead to formation of a full set of physical, chemical and materials principles for this new research field.

Encyclopedia of Interfacial Chemistry: Surface Science and Electrochemistry, Seven Volume Set summarizes current, fundamental knowledge of interfacial chemistry, bringing readers the latest developments in the field. As the chemical and physical properties and processes at solid and liquid interfaces are the scientific basis of so many technologies which enhance our lives and create new opportunities, its important to highlight how these technologies enable the design and optimization of functional materials for heterogeneous and electro-catalysts in food production, pollution control, energy conversion and storage, medical applications requiring biocompatibility, drug delivery, and more. This book provides an interdisciplinary view that lies at the intersection of these fields. - Presents fundamental knowledge of interfacial chemistry, surface science and electrochemistry and provides cutting-edge research from academics and practitioners across various fields and global regions

Planetary rings are among the most intriguing structures of our solar system and have fascinated generations of astronomers. Collating emerging knowledge in the field, this volume reviews our current understanding of ring systems with reference to the rings of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and more. Written by leading experts, the history of ring research and the basics of ring–particle orbits is followed by a review of the known planetary ring systems. All aspects of ring system science are described in detail, including specific dynamical processes, types of structures, thermal properties and their origins, and investigations using computer simulations and laboratory experiments. The concluding chapters discuss the prospects of future missions to planetary rings, the ways in which ring science informs and is informed by the study of other astrophysical disks, and a perspective on the field's future. Researchers of all levels will benefit from this thorough and engaging presentation.

This book discusses the chemistry, physical properties and structural effects of halides. Topics include the physical properties of alkali halide clusters and cluster-assembled materials; the synthesis of the nano-crystalline organic-inorganic composite nylon-6,6 nickel carbonate membrane; nucleophilic substitution and palladium-catalyzed coupling mechanisms of aromatic halides; dislocation pinned by a monovalent ion in various alkali halide crystals; and the nonlinear elastic properties and Gruneisen constants of alkali halide. (Imprint Novinka)

This book contains the invited lectures and contributed papers presented at the V International Conference on the Physics of Highly Charged Ions, which was held at the lustus-Liebig-Universi­ tat Giessen, 10-14 September 1990. This conference was the ftfth in a series -after Stockholm (1982), Oxford (1984), Groningen (1986) and Grenoble (1988) -to deal with a rapidly growing fteld, which comprises the spectroscopy of highly charged ions and their interactions with photons, electrons, atoms, ions, and solids. Most of the matter of the universe is in the ionized state. Investigations dealing with hot plasmas on earth have been greatly furthered by thermonuclear-fusion research. The increasing maturity of this programme has revealed the fundamental role of highly charged ions in fusion plasmas. Today, it is clear that a detailed knowledge of the production mechanisms of highly charged ions and their interactions with other plasma constituents is an important prerequisite for a better understanding of the microscopic and macroscopic plasma properties. The study of highly charged ions involves various branches of physics. It was the aim of the conference to bring together physicists working in atomic collisions and spectroscopy, in plasma physics and astrophysics, as well as in solid-state and ion-source physics. About 220 scientists from 20 nations attended the conference, indicating the strong worldwide interest and the vital­ ity of research in this fteld.

Volume 55 of the Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Series contains seven contributions, covering a diversity of subject areas in atomic, molecular and optical physics. In their contribution, Stowe, Thorpe, Pe'er, Ye, Stalnaker, Gerginov, and Diddams explore recent developments in direct frequency comb spectroscopy. Precise phase coherence among successive ultrashort pulses of a frequency comb allows one to probe fast dynamics in the time domain and high-resolution structural information in the frequency domain for both atoms and molecules. The authors provide a detailed review of some of the current applications that exploit the unique features of frequency comb spectroscopy and discuss its future directions. Yurvsky, Olshanii and Weiss review theory and experiment of elongated atom traps that confine ultracold gases in a quasi-one-dimensional regime. Under certain conditions, these quasi-one-dimensional gases are well-described by integrable one-dimensional many-body models with exact quantum solutions. Thermodynamic and correlation properties of one such model that has been experimentally realized are reviewed. DePaola, Morgenstein and Andersen discuss magneto-optical trap recoil ion momentum spectroscopy (MOTRIMS), exploring collisions between a projectile and target resulting in charged target fragments. MOTRIMS combines the technology of laser cooling and trapping of target atoms with the momentum analysis of the charged fragments that recoil from the target. The authors review the different MOTRIMS experimental approaches and the spectroscopic and collisional investigations performed so far. Safronova and Johnson give an overview of atomic many-body perturbation theory and discuss why extensions of the theory are needed. They present'all-order results based on a linearized version of coupled cluster expansions and apply the theory to calculations of energies, transition matrix elements and hyperfine constants. Another contribution on atomic theory, authored by Fischer, explores the advantages of expanding the atomic radial wave functions in a B-spline basis. The differential equations are replaced by non-linear systems of equations and the problems of orthogonality requirements can be dealt with using projection operators. Electron-ion collisional processes are analyzed by Mueller, including descriptions of the experimental techniques needed to obtain cross section data and typical values for these cross sections. The present status of the field is discussed in relation to the detailed cross sections and rate coefficients that are needed for understanding laboratory or astrophysical plasmas. Finally, Duan and Monroe review ways to achieve scalable and robust quantum communication, state engineering, and quantum computation. Using radiation and atoms, ions, or atomic ensembles, they show that they can construct scalable quantum networks that are inherently insensitive to noise. Progress in experimental realization of their proposals is outlined. - International experts - Comprehensive articles - New developments

This volume contains contributions covering a wide range of subjects in the area of photonic, electronic and atomic collisions. These include the collisions of heavy particles and electrons with atoms, molecules and clusters; the coherent control of reaction dynamics using lasers and electromagnetic fields with molecules, clusters and liquids; recent experimental progress in the synthesis of antihydrogen; the interaction of solar winds with cometary atmospheres, and the physical interpretation of reactions in biological systems.