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This open access book covers recent advances in experiments using the ultra-cold, very weakly perturbing superfluid environment provided by helium nanodroplets for high resolution spectroscopic, structural and dynamic studies of molecules and synthetic clusters. The recent infra-red, UV-Vis studies of radicals, molecules, clusters, ions and biomolecules, as well as laser dynamical and laser orientational studies, are reviewed. The Coulomb explosion studies of the uniquely quantum structures of small helium clusters, X-ray imaging of large droplets and electron diffraction of embedded molecules are also described. Particular emphasis is given to the synthesis and detection of new species by mass spectrometry and deposition electron microscopy.

This Open Access book gives a comprehensive account of both the history and current achievements of molecular beam research. In 1919, Otto Stern launched the revolutionary molecular beam technique. This technique made it possible to send atoms and molecules with well-defined momentum through vacuum and to measure with high accuracy the deflections they underwent when acted upon by transversal forces. These measurements revealed unforeseen quantum properties of nuclei, atoms, and molecules that became the basis for our current understanding of quantum matter. This volume shows that many key areas of modern physics and chemistry owe their beginnings to the seminal molecular beam work of Otto Stern and his school. Written by internationally recognized experts, the contributions in this volume will help experienced researchers and incoming graduate students alike to keep abreast of current developments in molecular beam research as well as to appreciate the history and evolution of this powerful method and the knowledge it reveals.

Instantons, or pseudoparticles, are solutions to the equations of motion in classical field theories on a Euclidean spacetime. Instantons are found everywhere in quantum theories as they have many applications in quantum tunnelling. Diverse physical phenomena may be described through quantum tunnelling, for example: the Josephson effect, the decay of meta-stable nuclear states, band formation in tight binding models of crystalline solids, the structure of the gauge theory vacuum, confinement in 2+1 dimensions, and the decay of superheated or supercooled phases. Drawing inspiration from Sidney Coleman's Erice lectures, this volume provides an accessible, detailed introduction to instanton methods, with many applications, making it a valuable resource for graduate students in many areas of physics, from condensed matter, particle and nuclear physics, to string theory. This title, first published in 2017, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Research and development of high energy accelerators began in 1911. Since then, progresses achieved are:The impacts of the accelerator development are evidenced by the many ground-breaking discoveries in particle and nuclear physics, atomic and molecular physics, condensed matter physics, biology, biomedical physics, nuclear medicine, medical therapy, and industrial processing. This book is intended to be used as a graduate or senior undergraduate textbook in accelerator physics and science. It can be used as preparatory course material in graduate accelerator physics thesis research. The text covers historical accelerator development, transverse betatron motion, synchrotron motion, an introduction to linear accelerators, and synchrotron radiation phenomena in low emittance electron storage rings, introduction to special topics such as the free electron laser and the beam-beam interaction. Hamiltonian dynamics is used to understand beam manipulation, instability and nonlinearity. Each section is followed by exercises, which are designed to reinforce the concept discussed and to solve a realistic accelerator design problem.

Quantum mechanics constituted a great scientific and cultural revolution that profoundly changed our approach to the study of the microscopic and subatomic world. The birth and evolution of the theories of quantum mechanics are revived through the personal and scientific history of the protagonists, their attempts and their working hypotheses, the discoveries, doubts and discussions. The substantially counterintuitive concepts of the new mechanics have redesigned the meaning of our knowledge of the world of atoms; particular attention is then paid to the impact that this new vision of the microscopic world has had on chemistry and our knowledge of the structure and reactivity of atoms and molecules.

This new edition of The Standard Model and Beyond presents an advanced introduction to the physics and formalism of the standard model and other non-abelian gauge theories. It provides a solid background for understanding supersymmetry, string theory, extra dimensions, dynamical symmetry breaking, and cosmology. In addition to updating all of the experimental and phenomenological results from the first edition, it contains a new chapter on collider physics; expanded discussions of Higgs, neutrino, and dark matter physics; and many new problems. The book first reviews calculational techniques in field theory and the status of quantum electrodynamics. It then focuses on global and local symmetries and the construction of non-abelian gauge theories. The structure and tests of quantum chromodynamics, collider physics, the electroweak interactions and theory, and the physics of neutrino mass and mixing are thoroughly explored. The final chapter discusses the motivations for extending the standard model and examines supersymmetry, extended gauge groups, and grand unification. Thoroughly covering gauge field theories, symmetries, and topics beyond the standard model, this text equips readers with the tools to understand the structure and phenomenological consequences of the standard model, to construct extensions, and to perform calculations at tree level. It establishes the necessary background for readers to carry out more advanced research in particle physics. Supplementary materials are provided on the author’s website and a solutions manual is available for qualifying instructors.

This book offers a systematic exposition of conformal methods and how they can be used to study the global properties of solutions to the equations of Einstein's theory of gravity. It shows that combining these ideas with differential geometry can elucidate the existence and stability of the basic solutions of the theory. Introducing the differential geometric, spinorial and PDE background required to gain a deep understanding of conformal methods, this text provides an accessible account of key results in mathematical relativity over the last thirty years, including the stability of de Sitter and Minkowski spacetimes. For graduate students and researchers, this self-contained account includes useful visual models to help the reader grasp abstract concepts and a list of further reading, making this an ideal reference companion on the topic. This title, first published in 2016, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Magnetostatics, the mathematical theory that describes the forces and fields resulting from the steady flow of electrical currents, has a long history. By capturing the basic concepts, and building towards the computation of magnetic fields, this book is a self-contained discussion of the major subjects in magnetostatics. Overviews of Maxwell's equations, the Poisson equation, and boundary value problems pave the way for dealing with fields from transverse, axial and periodic magnetic arrangements and assemblies of permanent magnets. Examples from accelerator and beam physics give up-to-date context to the theory. Both complex contour integration and numerical techniques for calculating magnetic fields are discussed in detail with plentiful examples. Theoretical and practical information on carefully selected topics make this a one-stop reference for magnet designers, as well as for physics and electrical engineering undergraduate students. This title, first published in 2016, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

In this thesis we experimentally developed high-resolution groundbreaking imaging techniques and novel methods suitable for nanophotonics materials. The experimental results are carefully supported by theory and numerical calculations. We engineered the propagation of light by exploiting devices that strongly localize electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. The proposed techniques have a large field of application. We deeply investigated ordered and disordered based single and coupled nano-resonators, called photonicmolecules, and develop a laser-assisted local oxidation of the dielectric environment. These results put the basis for an unprecedented investigation of light behaviour in optical nano-resonators. Therefore, they would pave the way for novel devices that exploit the strong coupling regime between single light emitters and localized optical modes.

This book gives a modern introduction to particle physics. The main mathematical tools required for the rest of the book are developed in Chapter 2. A quantitative introduction to accelerator physics is presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 covers detector physics, with an emphasis on fundamental physical principles. Chapter 5 covers the static quark model, with applications to light mesons and baryons as well as heavier states containing charm and beauty quarks. Chapter 6 introduces relativistic quantum mechanics and uses spinors to relate Lorentz invariance to the Dirac equation. Chapter 7 covers the basics of the electroweak theory based on broken SU(2) × U(1) symmetry. Chapter 8 reviews some of the key experiments that led to the development of the electroweak theory. Chapter 9 explains the importance of deep inelastic scattering data for providing direct evidence for the existence of quarks. It also gives a brief introduction to quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Chapter 10 considers flavour oscillations in the quark sector and then discusses the evidence for CP violation. Chapter 11 examines the theory of neutrino oscillations as well as the evidence for these oscillations. Chapter 12 gives an elementary introduction to the Higgs mechanism as well as a careful explanation of the experimental evidence for the existence of a Higgs boson. Chapter 13 looks at LHC physics and explains how searches for Beyond the Standard Model Physics are performed. It concludes with a discussion of the evidence for dark matter and dark energy.

Uniting the usually distinct areas of particle physics and quantum field theory, gravity and general relativity, this expansive and comprehensive textbook of fundamental and theoretical physics describes the quest to consolidate the elementary particles that are the basic building blocks of nature. Designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students and abounding in worked examples and detailed derivations, as well as historical anecdotes and philosophical and methodological perspectives, this textbook provides students with a unified understanding of all matter at the fundamental level. Topics range from gauge principles, particle decay and scattering cross-sections, the Higgs mechanism and mass generation, to spacetime geometries and supersymmetry. By combining historically separate areas of study and presenting them in a logically consistent manner, students will appreciate the underlying similarities and conceptual connections across these fields. This title, first published in 2015, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

This text is an introduction to the fields of experimental and theoretical particle physics and cosmology. The book focuses on three principal areas: supersymmetry, string theory, and astrophysics and cosmology. The chapters on supersymmetry introduce the basics of supersymmetry and its phenomenology, and cover dynamics, dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and electric–magnetic duality. The book then introduces general relativity and the big bang theory, and the basic issues in inflationary cosmologies. The section on string theory discusses the spectra of known string theories, and the features of their interactions. Material added in the second edition includes the pivotal Higgs discovery and the results of the WMAP and Planck experiments. This book will be of great interest to graduates and researchers in the fields of particle theory, string theory, astrophysics, and cosmology. It has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Widely used in high-energy and particle physics, gaseous radiation detectors are undergoing continuous development. The first part of this book provides a solid background for understanding the basic processes leading to the detection and tracking of charged particles, photons, and neutrons. Continuing then with the development of the multi-wire proportional chamber, the book describes the design and operation of successive generations of gas-based radiation detectors, as well as their use in experimental physics and other fields. Examples are provided of applications for complex events tracking, particle identification, and neutral radiation imaging. Limitations of the devices are discussed in detail. Including an extensive collection of data and references, this book is ideal for researchers and experimentalists in nuclear and particle physics. It has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Enrico Fermi, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1938, taught at the University of Florence just for two academic years (1924-25 and 1925-26). His research activity in these two years saw the publication of the statistics bearing his name (the two original 1926 papers by E. Fermi are reproduced in full in this book), which is at the basis of semiconductors, and hence of modern electronics. This volume is printed for the placement, at the School of Engineering in Florence, of an IEEE Milestone, within the ‘IEEE Global History Network program’, commemorating the event. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) is the largest professional association in the world devoted to advancing technological innovation in electrical, electronic engineering, and related fields.

Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs) showing bistability and quantum phenomena are promising candidates for spintronic applications. In recent years, the study of hybrid surfaces composed of SMMs on conductive and magnetic surfaces has attracted increasing interest. In this work the preparation of hybrid surfaces made by terbium bis(phthalocyaninato) and Fe4 SMMs is reported. The surfaces were structurally and magnetically characterized by means of laboratory and large scale facility techniques. This investigation has provided interesting hints towards their application in spintronic devices and has paved the way for the magnetic characterization of Fe4 at the single molecule level.

Describing the fundamental theory of particle physics and its applications, this book provides a detailed account of the Standard Model, focusing on techniques that can produce information about real observed phenomena. It begins with a pedagogic account of the Standard Model, introducing essential techniques such as effective field theory and path integral methods. It then focuses on the use of the Standard Model in the calculation of physical properties of particles. Rigorous methods are emphasized, but other useful models are also described. The second edition has been updated to include theoretical and experimental advances, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, our understanding of neutrinos, and the major advances in CP violation and electroweak physics. This book is valuable to graduate students and researchers in particle physics, nuclear physics and related fields. This edition, first published in 2014, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Enrico Fermi, Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938, taught at the Royal University of Florence. Fermi's stay in Florence was short and only lasted two academic years (1924-25 and 1925-26); during those years, he taught "Mathematical Physics" and "Rational Mechanics” courses. This volume contributes to the reconstruction of this quite unknown period of Fermi's life, marked however by the publication of the Fermi statistics, which is also the foundation of the physics of semiconductors, and therefore of modern electronics. The text also features Enrico Fermi’s "Lessons of Rational Mechanics” to Science students and to students from the two-year preparatory course for Engineering studies during the aforementioned time span. The topics Enrico Fermi addressed in his lectures include kinematics and point dynamics, kinematics and statics of rigid systems and system statics in general. Lastly, the lessons contain «Lagrangia»’s equations and some elements of hydromechanics. This book is the first of a series of publications associated with the magazine «Il Colle di Galileo» by Firenze University Press.

The remarkable recent discovery of the Higgs boson at the CERN Large Hadron Collider completed the Standard Model of particle physics and has paved the way for understanding the physics which may lie beyond it. String/M theory has emerged as a broad framework for describing a plethora of diverse physical systems, which includes condensed matter systems, gravitational systems as well as elementary particle physics interactions. If string/M theory is to be considered as a candidate theory of Nature, it must contain an effectively four-dimensional universe among its solutions that is indistinguishable from our own. In these solutions, the extra dimensions of string/M theory are “compactified” on tiny scales which are often comparable to the Planck length. String phenomenology is the branch of string/M theory that studies such solutions, relates their properties to data, and aims to answer many of the outstanding questions of particle physics beyond the Standard Model.This book contains perspectives on string phenomenology from some of the leading experts in the field. Contributions will range from pedagogical general overviews and perspectives to more technical reviews. We hope that the reader will get a sense of the significant progress that has been made in the field in recent years (e.g. in the topic of moduli stabilization) as well as the topics currently being researched, outstanding problems and some perspectives for the future.

Extensively classroom-tested, A Course in Field Theory provides material for an introductory course for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics. Based on the author's course that he has been teaching for more than 20 years, the text presents complete and detailed coverage of the core ideas and theories in quantum field theory.

This volume describes the history of research that led to the experimental evidence of the Higgs boson, officially announced by CERN in Geneva on July 4, 2012. This discovery represented the culmination of a journey that began with the discovery of radioactivity in 1896, and which led to the conjecture of a new interaction: the weak interaction. The attempts to understand this new type of strength are retraced narrating the difficulties, the momentary satisfactions and disillusions of these studies that have been carried out over a period of more than one hundred years. Experimental research that led to reconsidering the existence of the Higgs particle is also illustrated, highlighting, in particular, what has been done at CERN's proton accelerator, LHC (Large Hadron Collider), where the discovery took place.

Unifying topics that are scattered throughout the literature, this book offers a definitive review of mathematical aspects of quantization and quantum field theory. It presents both basic and advanced topics of quantum field theory in a mathematically consistent way, focusing on canonical commutation and anti-commutation relations. It begins with a discussion of the mathematical structures underlying free bosonic or fermionic fields: tensors, algebras, Fock spaces, and CCR and CAR representations. Applications of these topics to physical problems are discussed in later chapters. Although most of the book is devoted to free quantum fields, it also contains an exposition of two important aspects of interacting fields: diagrammatics and the Euclidean approach to constructive quantum field theory. With its in-depth coverage, this text is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in mathematics and physics. This title, first published in 2013, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Filling a gap in the current literature, this book is dedicated to high energy quantum chromodynamics (QCD) including parton saturation and the color glass condensate (CGC). It presents groundbreaking progress on the subject and describes many problems at the forefront of research, bringing postgraduate students, theorists and interested experimentalists up to date with research in this field. The material is presented in a pedagogical way, with numerous examples and exercises. Discussion ranges from the quasi-classical McLerran–Venugopalan model to the linear BFKL and nonlinear BK/JIMWLK small-x evolution equations. The authors adopt both a theoretical and an experimental outlook, and present the physics of strong interactions in a universal way, making it useful for physicists from across high energy and nuclear physics, and applicable to processes studied at high energy accelerators around the world. This title, first published in 2013, has been reissued as an Open Access publication on Cambridge Core.

This thesis has been aimed at investigating the dynamical properties of one-dimensional gaseous nanowires, realized by trapping ultracold gases in laser-light lattice structures. The project was carried out at the European laboratory LENS in Florence, also with international collaborations. In recent years, one-dimensional systems have attracted great interest in different fields of physics, material science and chemistry, owing to their peculiar features: In this work, probing the response of the system to inelastic light-scattering experiments – Bragg spectroscopy – has allowed to explore the dynamics and the correlations inside these structures and the quantum phase-transition from superfluid to insulator, occurring due to inter-particle interactions.

Environment, nuclear power Plant, pollution, rejection, water, Si la tendance au regroupement des industries métallurgiques en pôles de taille mondiale paraît inéluctable, il faut tout faire pour que cette évolution n'entraîne pas un affaissement de la France dans ce domaine clé. En effet, si les grands acteurs mondiaux de la Métallurgie ne peuvent plus s'appuyer,comme encore récemment, sur une recherche et un enseignement publics français forts, l'ensemble de notre système s'asséchera et migrera ailleurs. Qui plus est, la perte de substance ira bien au-delà de la R&D, frappant en particulier le tissu de nos PMI/PME. L'Académie des technologies et l'Académie des sciences présentent ici une analyse de la Métallurgie française, établie par un groupe d'experts animé par André Pineau, de l'Académie des technologies, et Yves Quéré, de l'Académie des sciences. Cet ouvrage synthétique, complété par des annexes numérisées, décrit en premier lieu la Métallurgie comme science, en tant que telle, en lien fort avec l'ingénierie, ou génie métallurgique. Il établit ensuite un diagnostic de la situation pour les divers grands secteurs industriels ainsi que pour la recherche et l'enseignement. L'ambition est ici de montrer que la Métallurgie constitue une discipline scientifique à part entière, présente dans des champs innombrables de l'industrie, où elle est source de progrès et réservoir d'emplois ; et de rappeler qu'il faut du temps pour construire des compétences indispensables, tant scientifi ques que techniques, qu'un rien suffi t à détruire. Le rapport montre également que la Métallurgie a perdu, en France, une grande part de sa substance, en raison à la fois de multiples réorganisations industrielles récentes et d'un désengagement du monde académique, largement dû aux effets de mode. C'est pourquoi des mesures urgentes, dans l'enseignement, la recherche universitaire et industrielle, l'information du public, la sensibilisation des décideurs et des acteurs… doivent être impérativement prises. Devant la gravité des évolutions recensées, qui rejaillissent notamment sur les emplois, les compétences, la R&D…, les deux académies proposent aux décideurs, publics et privés, une stratégie déclinée en une série de recommandations : dans chaque domaine est décrit l'état actuel et sont proposées des pistes de développement scientifi que et appliqué. Perdre une position de pôle dans ces domaines est dangereux ; en prendre une de leader est un défi à relever. Nous sommes actuellement à ce tournant et, en cela, nous sommes sans doute condamnés à l'excellence.

Based on the author's well-established courses, Group Theory for the Standard Model of Particle Physics and Beyond explores the use of symmetries through descriptions of the techniques of Lie groups and Lie algebras. The text develops the models, theoretical framework, and mathematical tools to understand these symmetries.After linking symmetries w

Bringing together the key ideas from nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and powerful methodology from quantum field theory, this 2008 book captures the essence of nonequilibrium quantum field theory. Beginning with the foundational aspects of the theory, the book presents important concepts and useful techniques, discusses issues of basic interest, and shows how thermal field, linear response, kinetic theories and hydrodynamics emerge. It also illustrates how these concepts are applied to research topics including nonequilibrium phase transitions, thermalization in relativistic heavy ion collisions, the nonequilibrium dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation, and the generation of structures from quantum fluctuations in the early Universe. This self-contained book is a valuable reference for graduate students and researchers in particle physics, gravitation, cosmology, atomic-optical and condensed matter physics. It has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Vladimir Gribov was one of the founding fathers of high-energy elementary particle physics. This volume derives from a graduate lecture course he delivered in the 1970s. It provides graduate students and researchers with the opportunity to learn from the teaching of one of the twentieth century's greatest physicists. Its content is still deeply relevant to modern research, for example exploring properties of the relativistic theory of hadron interactions in a domain of peripheral collisions and large distances that quantum chromodynamics has barely approached. In guiding the reader step-by-step from the basics of quantum mechanics and relativistic kinematics to the most challenging problems of high-energy hadron interactions with simplifying models and physical analogies, it demonstrates general methods of addressing difficult problems in theoretical physics. Covering a combination of topics not treated elsewhere, this 2008 title has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

This book is a collection of theoretical advanced summer institute lectures by world experts in the field of collider physics and neutrinos, the two frontier areas of particle physics today. It is aimed at graduate students and beginning researchers, and as such, provides many pedagogical details not generally available in standard conference proceedings.

Supersymmetric models of particle physics predict new superpartner matter states for each particle in the Standard Model. These superpartners will have wide ranging implications, from cosmology to observations at high energy accelerators, such as CERN's LHC. In this 2006 text, the authors develop the basic concepts of supersymmetry and show how it can be incorporated into a theoretical framework for describing unified theories of elementary particles. They develop the technical tools of supersymmetry using four-component spinor notation familiar to high energy experimentalists and phenomenologists. The text takes the reader from an abstract formalism to a straightforward recipe for writing supersymmetric gauge theories of particle physics, and ultimately to the calculations necessary for practical applications at colliders and in cosmology. This is a comprehensive, practical and accessible introduction to supersymmetry for experimental and phenomenological particle physicists and graduate students. It has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Kinks and domain walls are the simplest kind of solitons and are invaluable for testing various ideas and for learning about non-perturbative aspects of field theories. They are the subject of research in essentially every branch of physics, ranging from condensed matter to cosmology. This book, first published in 2006, is an introduction to kinks and domain walls and their principal classical and quantum properties. The book examines classical solitons, building from examples in elementary systems to more complicated settings. The formation of solitons in phase transitions, their dynamics and their cosmological consequences are further discussed. The volume concludes with an explicit description of a few laboratory systems containing solitons. This text will be of interest to both graduate students and academic researchers in theoretical physics, particle physics, cosmology and condensed matter physics. This book has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

This 2004 book provides a pedagogical introduction to the perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The text introduces the basic theory of QCD and its historical development, covering pre-QCD ideas of strong interactions such as the quark and parton models, the notion of colours and the S-matrix approach. The author then discusses gauge theory, techniques of dimensional regularization and renormalization, deep inelastic scattering and hard processes in hadron collisions, hadron jets and e+e– annihilations. Other topics include power corrections and the technologies of the Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov operating product expansion. The final parts of the book are devoted to modern non-perturbative approaches to QCD and the phenomenological aspects of QCD spectral sum rules. The book will be a valuable reference for graduate students and researchers in high-energy particle and nuclear physics, both theoretical and experimental. This book has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

The scattering of high-energy electrons from nuclear and nucleon targets provides a microscope for examining the structure of these tiny objects. The best evidence we have on what nuclei and nucleons actually look like comes from electron scattering. This 2001 book examines the motivation for electron scattering and develops the theoretical analysis of the process. It discusses our theoretical understanding of the underlying structure of nuclei and nucleons at appropriate levels of resolution and sophistication, and summarizes experimental electron scattering capabilities. Only a working knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity is assumed, making this a suitable textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses. It will also provide a valuable summary and reference for researchers already working in electron scattering and other areas of nuclear and particle physics. This text has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

This book provides a thorough introduction to the phenomenology of heavy flavour physics, those working on the B-factories, LHCb, BTeV, HERA and the Tevatron. It explains how heavy quark theory could be implemented on the lattice, and discusses the status of CP-violation in the neutral kaon system.

This 2002 book discusses the classical foundations of field theory, using the language of variational methods and covariance. It explores the limits of what can be achieved with purely classical notions, and shows how these have a deep and important connection with the second quantized field theory, which follows on from the Schwinger Action Principle. The book takes a pragmatic view of field theory, focusing on issues which are usually omitted from quantum field theory texts and cataloging results which are hard to find in the literature. Care is taken to explain how results arise and how to interpret them physically, for graduate students starting out in the field. An ideal supplementary text for courses on elementary field theory, group theory and dynamical systems, it is also a valuable reference for researchers working in these and related areas. It has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Before matter as we know it emerged, the universe was filled with the primordial state of hadronic matter called quark–gluon plasma. This hot soup of quarks and gluons is effectively an inescapable consequence of our current knowledge about the fundamental hadronic interactions: quantum chromodynamics. This book covers the ongoing search to verify the prediction experimentally and discusses the physical properties of this novel form of matter. It begins with an overview of the subject, followed by a discussion of experimental methods and results. The second half of the book covers hadronic matter in confined and deconfined form, and strangeness as a signature of the quark-gluon phase. It is ideal as an introduction for graduate students, as well as providing a valuable reference for researchers already working in this and related fields. This title, first published in 2002, has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

This volume provides a self-contained introduction to applications of loop representations, and the related topic of knot theory, in particle physics and quantum gravity. These topics are of considerable interest because they provide a unified arena for the study of the gauge invariant quantization of Yang-Mills theories and gravity, and suggest a promising approach to the eventual unification of the four fundamental forces. The book begins with a detailed review of loop representation theory and then describes loop representations in Maxwell theory, Yang-Mills theories as well as lattice techniques. Applications in quantum gravity are then discussed, with the following chapters considering knot theories, braid theories and extended loop representations in quantum gravity. A final chapter assesses the current status of the theory and points out possible directions for future research. First published in 1996, this title has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

The violation of charge-conjugation and parity symmetries is a leading area of research in particle and nuclear physics, with important implications for understanding the generation of matter in the universe. CP violation occurs during the decay of the elementary particles known as kaons and the process remains little understood. This book provides a self-contained introduction to CP violation. It outlines the underlying theory and related experiments, taking a systematic approach.

A unified theory embracing all physical phenomena is a major goal of theoretical physics. In the early 1980s, many physicists looked to eleven-dimensional supergravity in the hope that it might provide that elusive superunified theory. In 1984 supergravity was knocked off its pedestal by ten-dimensional superstrings, one-dimensional objects whose v

This volume describes the Pomeron, an object of crucial importance in very high energy particle physics. Starting with a general description of the Pomeron within the framework of Regge theory, the emergence of the Pomeron within scalar field theory is discussed, providing a natural foundation on which to develop the more realistic case of QCD. The reggeization of the gluon is demonstrated and used to build the Pomeron of perturbative QCD. The dynamical nature of the Pomeron and its role in small-x deep inelastic scattering and in diffractive scattering is also examined in detail. The volume concludes with a study of the colour dipole approach to high energy scattering and the explicit role of unitarity corrections. This book will be of interest to theoretical and experimental particle physicists, and applied mathematicians. First published in 1997, this title has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Designed as a sequel to the authors' Introduction to Gauge Field Theory, Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theory and String Theory introduces first-year graduate students to supersymmetric theories, including supergravity and superstring theories. Starting with the necessary background in quantum field theory, the book covers the three key topics of high-energy physics. The emphasis is on practical calculations rather than abstract generalities or phenomenological results. Where possible, the authors show how to calculate, connecting the theoretical with the phenomenological. While the field continues to advance and grow, this book addresses the basic theory at the core and will likely remain relevant even if more advanced ideas change.

The aim of this book is to provide student and researcher with a practical introduction to some of the principal ideas in gauge theories and their applications to elementary particle physics. Elementary particle physics has made remarkable progress. We have a comprehensive theory of particle interactions. One can argue that it gives a complete and correct description of all non-gravitational physics. This theory is based on the principle of gauge symmetry. Strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions are all gauge interactions. A knowledge of gauge theory is essential for anyone interested in modern high energy physics. Regardless of the ultimate correctness of every detail of this theory, it is the framework within which new theoretical and experimental advances will be interpreted in the foreseeable future.

This book introduces the lattice approach to quantum field theory. The spectacular successes of this technique include compelling evidence that exchange of gauge gluons can confine the quarks within subnuclear matter. The lattice framework enables novel schemes for quantitative calculation and has caused considerable cross-disciplinary activity between elementary particle and solid state physicists. The treatment begins with the lattice definition of a path integral and ends on Monte Carlo simulation methods. Other topics include invariant group integration, duality, mean field theory and renormalization group techniques. The reader is assumed to have a basic background in relativistic quantum mechanics and some exposure to gauge theories. First published in 1983, this title has been reissued as an Open Access publication.

Ideas and Methods of Supersymmetry and Supergravity: Or a Walk Through Superspace provides a comprehensive, detailed, and self-contained account of four dimensional simple supersymmetry and supergravity. Throughout the book, the authors cultivate their material in detail with calculations and full discussions of the fundamental ideas and motivations. They develop the subject in its superfield formulations but where appropriate for illustration, analogy, and comparison with conventional field theory, they use the component formulation. The book discusses many subjects that, until now, can only be found in the research literature. In addition, it presents a plethora of new results. Combining classical and quantum field theory with group theory, differential geometry, and algebra, the book begins with a solid mathematical background that is used in the rest of the book. The next chapter covers algebraic aspects of supersymmetry and the concepts of superspace and superfield. In the following chapters, the book presents classical and quantum superfield theory and the superfield formulation of supergravity. A synthesis of results and methods developed in the book, the final chapter concludes with the theory of effective action in curved superspaces. After studying this book, readers should be well prepared to pursue independent research in any area of supersymmetry and supergravity. It will be an indispensable source of reference for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral faculty, and researchers involved in quantum field theory, high energy physics, gravity theory, mathematical physics, and applied mathematics.

Scientists have been debating the meaning of quantum mechanics for more than a century. This book for graduate students and researchers gets to the root of the problem: how the contextual nature of empirical truth and the laws of observation impact on our understanding of quantum physics. Bridging the gap between non-relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, this novel approach to quantum mechanics extends the standard formalism to cover the observer and their apparatus. The author demystifies some of the aspects of quantum mechanics that have traditionally been regarded as extraordinary, such as wave-particle duality and quantum superposition, emphasizing the scientific principles rather than the mathematical modelling. Including key experiments and worked examples throughout, the author encourages the reader to focus on empirically sound concepts and avoid metaphysical speculation.

Heavy ion collision experiments recreating the quark-gluon plasma that filled the nascent universe have established that it is a nearly perfect liquid that flows with such minimal dissipation that it cannot be seen as made of particles. String theory provides a powerful toolbox for studying matter with such properties. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to gauge/string duality and its applications to the study of the thermal and transport properties of quark-gluon plasma, the dynamics of how it forms, how it flows, and its response to probes including jets and quarkonium mesons. Calculations are discussed in the context of data from RHIC and LHC and results from finite temperature lattice QCD. This is an ideal reference for students and researchers in string theory, quantum field theory, quantum many-body physics, heavy ion physics and lattice QCD.

The most non-trivial of the established microscopic theories of physics is quantum chromodynamics, QCD, the theory of the strong interaction. A critical link between theory and experiment is provided by the methods of perturbative QCD, notably the well-known factorization theorems. Giving an accurate account of the concepts, theorems and their justification, this book is a systematic treatment of perturbative QCD. As well as giving a mathematical treatment, the book relates the concepts to experimental data, giving strong motivations for the methods. It also examines in detail transverse-momentum-dependent parton densities, an increasingly important subject not normally treated in other books. Ideal for graduate students starting their work in high-energy physics, it will also interest experienced researchers wanting a clear account of the subject.

Non-Abelian gauge theories, such as quantum chromodynamics (QCD) or electroweak theory, are best studied with the aid of Green's functions that are gauge-invariant off-shell, but unlike for the photon in quantum electrodynamics, conventional graphical constructions fail. The pinch technique provides a systematic framework for constructing such Green's functions, and has many useful applications. Beginning with elementary one-loop examples, this book goes on to extend the method to all orders, showing that the pinch technique is equivalent to calculations in the background field Feynman gauge. The Schwinger–Dyson equations are derived within the pinch technique framework, and are used to show how a dynamical gluon mass arises in QCD. Finally the volume turns to its many applications. This book is ideal for elementary particle theorists and graduate students.

Providing a new perspective on quantum field theory, this book gives a pedagogical exposition of non-perturbative methods in relativistic quantum field theory and introduces the reader to modern research in theoretical physics. After describing non-perturbative methods in detail, it uses these methods to explore two-dimensional and four-dimensional gauge dynamics. The book concludes with a summary emphasizing the interplay between two- and four-dimensional gauge theories. Aimed at graduate students and researchers, this book covers topics from two-dimensional conformal symmetry, affine Lie algebras, solitons, integrable models, bosonization, and 't Hooft model, to four-dimensional conformal invariance, integrability, large N expansion, Skyrme model, monopoles and instantons. Applications, first to simple field theories and gauge dynamics in two dimensions, and then to gauge theories in four dimensions and quantum chromodynamics in particular, are thoroughly described.

In the last decade methods and techniques based on supersymmetry have provided deep insights in quantum chromodynamics and other non-supersymmetric gauge theories at strong coupling. This book summarizes major advances in critical solitons in supersymmetric theories, and their implications for understanding basic dynamical regularities of non-supersymmetric theories. After an extended introduction on the theory of critical solitons, including a historical introduction, the authors focus on three topics: non-Abelian strings and confined monopoles; reducing the level of supersymmetry; and domain walls as D-brane prototypes. They also provide a thorough review of issues at the cutting edge, such as non-Abelian flux tubes. The book presents an extensive summary of the current literature so researchers in this field can understand the background and related issues.

Elementary particles can be identified through various techniques, depending on the purpose of the measurement and which relevant quantities, such as time, energy, and spatial coordinates, have to be measured. Detectors cover the measurement of energies spanning from the very low to the highest energies observed in cosmic rays. Describing the instrumentation for experiments in high energy physics and astroparticle physics, this edition describes track detectors, calorimeters, particle identification, neutrino detectors, momentum measurement, electronics, and data analysis. It also discusses applications of these detectors in other fields, such as nuclear medicine, radiation protection, and environmental science. Problem sets have been added to each chapter and additional instructive material has been provided, making this an excellent reference for graduate students and researchers in particle physics.