Book Description

This book provides an introduction to the general principles of nuclear magnetic resonance and relaxation, concentrating on simple models and their application. It includes an introduction to the ideas and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance and emphasizes the concepts of relaxation and the time domain. Some relatively advanced topics are treated, but the approach is graduated and all points of potential difficulty are carefully explained.An introductory classical discussion of relaxation is followed by a quantum-mechanical treatment. A selection of case studies is considered in depth, providing applications of the ideas developed in the text. There are a number of appendixes,including one on random functions.This treatment of one of the most important experimental techniques in modern science will be of great value to final-year undergraduates, graduate students and researchers using nuclear magnetic resonance, particularly physicists, and especially those involved in the study of condensed matter physics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Like bells in my head
Let's not mince words here: this book is sublime. The tender words of Brian lifted me from my toes, and made me want to go outside for the first time. I could imagine him sitting, wearing sandals, writing this book just for me. I wear sandals now. I have grown a beard too.
His T1 and T2 times: they are my clothes and they support me, I am relaxed. Phase encoding, frequency encoding - they tell me where I am and where to be. Fourier transforms move me between domains of light and dark.
The perfection of this book almost moved me to change, and in a good way, not like last time. I stopped though. The last section is too short and makes me want more. I tried to tell the girl from next door, but she can't read yet. I tried to teach her but I did it too hard and now she won't breathe. Was this wrong? Tell me Brian. ... Read more

Book Description

Since QCD is an ever growing area of physics, a number of sections in this third edition of the book have been expanded, in particular, those dealing with deep inelastic scattering. Here new material is included both on higher-order calculations, quite a number of which have become available in the last few years, and on the small-x limit of structure functions, where, triggered by the results of HERA, there has been considerable activity. Two other topics have also received special attention. One is the matter of bound states of heavy quarks, where inclusion of higher-order perturbative and nonperturbative corrections has led to a clarification of the QCD description, particularly for the lowest states of heavy quarkonia. The other concerns the results of high-order (four-loop) calculations and a new determination of the parameters of the theory, quark masses, etc. ... Read more

Book Description

Condon and Shortley has become the standard comprehensive work on the theory of atomic spectra. The first two chapters contain a brief historical introduction and an exposition of quantum mechanics along the lines formulated by Dirac. Then follow sixteen chapters devoted to a unified, logical deduction of the structure of the spectra of atoms from quantum mechanical principles. The theory is given in full detail and the results are amply documented with comparisons with experimental observations. When first published, a reviewer in Nature said that 'Its power and thoroughness leave the general impression of a work of the first rank, which successfully unifies the existing state of our knowledge, and will prove for many years a starting point for further researches and an inspiration to those who may undertake them'. Subsequent reviewers have amply confirmed these views. Science in 1952 commented that it 'has served half a generation and as a guide in further detailed research', and Reviews of Modern Physics in 1957 that this 'monumental book ... continues to be the most comprehensive account of our understanding of atomic spectra - the fruit of several decades' intensive study by a great number of physicists of all countries'. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Solid book, though not so user friendly.
This is the legendary "theory of atomic spectra" so often referred to in various quantum mechanics books. It contains detailed accounts of various schemes of describing the spectra of various atoms, dealing with all sorts of approximation schemes. The first part of this book concisely summarizes some of the important aspects of quantum theory (radiation, angular momentum, perturbation theory and the hydrogen atom), followed bya very good discussion of the spectrum of the hydrogen atom and of one-electron atoms in general. Then various approximations are discussed: the central field approximation, jj-coupling, RS coupling, spin-orbit interactions, almost closed shells, etc . . .Although written in 1935 (and revised in 1962), this books remains relevant for today's students; the laws of nature, after all, don't grow old as books do. Another good thing about this book is the wealth of information one can find in it. If it has to do with atoms, you'll probably find it here - for instance, a very good discussion of rare gases and of the finiteness of the nucleus.The good things having been said, it's now time to move on to some bad points. Two, actually; first of all, some of the modern methods of dealing with atoms are not included in this book (naturally, considering the time it was written in). This means that this book is not aimed at helping current research but at neatly summarizing past knowledge. Also, its style is dry and a bit tiresome.I'd recommend this book to people who are interested in learning about atomic physics. It is too specialized for anyone from outside the field. ... Read more

Book Description

Until recently, such phenomena as the volatility of weather systems, the fluctuation of the shock market, or the random firing of neurons in the brain were considered too "noisy" and complex to be probed by science. But now, with the aid of high-speed computers, scientists have been able to penetrate a reality that is changing the way we perceive the universe. Their findings -- the basis for chaos theory -- represent one of the most exciting scientific pursuits of our time.

No better introduction to this find could be found than John Briggs and F. David Peat's Turbulent Mirror. Together, they explore the many faces of chaos and reveal how its law direct most of the processes of everyday life and how it appears that everything in the universe is interconnected -- discovering an "emerging science of wholeness."

Turbulent Mirror introduces us to the scientists involved in study this endlessly strange field; to the theories that are turning our perception of the world on its head; and to the discoveries in mathematics, biology, and physics that are heralding a revolution more profound than the one responsible for producing the atomic bomb. With practical applications ranging from the control of traffic flow and the development of artifical intelligence to the treatment of heart attacks and schizophrenia, chaos promises to be an increasingly rewarding area of inquiry -- of interest to everyone.

Reviews (5)

A step deeper guild of Chaos Theory to layman
I've finished this book's Chinese version today. In the last year, I'm trying my best effort to absorb knowledge of Chaos Theory, Complexity, and Catastrophe Theory. It's quite hard to get a in-depth guild of the above knowledge to common people in Hong Kong.

My purpose to get the above knowledge is just in order to find the hidden order of financial market, and, of course, to make profit from the market. That's why I find this book is good to serve my purpose. It explained clearly on fractals, the relationship between chaos and order, and non-linearness.

I knew E. Peters has using fratals / Elloit Wave Theory to analyze financial market. Of course, it needs more intra-day data to try to find such fratals in a small scale period, e.g. in a 5-minute charts. But I guess that, such fractal are existing in the market, if you watching index movement everyday.

On another aspest, the technique of plotting data in a phase space is a tool to get the picture of financial market to me. This tools can be compared with weighted moving average, MACD, or other technical indicators. Though, phase space analysis is quite uneasy to a man without advanced mathematics. I'm quite sure such mathematical technique may apply to financial trading.

Besides, the idea of "quasi-periodic" is likely describing financial market. Though I got less knowledge from the book on this topic. It sounds like some ideas from William Gann, and other cyclist writings.

Hince, I'm benefitted from the book to enlighten new view point to see the world, and the market. I recommend any financial market practitioner to read this Chaos Theory guild and then reread some technical analysis classics, and reviewing their trading strategies. I believe that shall be worthy in one's trading life.

N.B. The picture 2.7 is missing (P.76), and there is some printing errors in its Chinese version which printed in 20.6.1997

Science or Science Fiction
While this book does make some interesting points about chaos, I found that the book's blatant disregard for accepted science very hard to stomach. I currently attend Harvey Mudd College, a small, but highly regarded science and engineering school, so I like to think that I know something about the subject.

For example, at one point the authors are describing solitons (a term I had never heard before), states a theory that by generating an extra bit of energy we could put the universe out of the unstable equilibrium it currently exists in and cause it to "begin to boil." While this is all well and good, it makes vast assumptions that the authors neglect to mention. Most importantly it assumes that the universe is in an unstable equilibrium, a fact which although highly unlikely is not impossible. Secondly it assumes that the universe is completely clean of these bits of extra energy currently. They draw this parallel to an example of superheating water because without external particles to build upon no bubbles can form to release the steam. This is also true, but it is still impossible because it is impossible to have a perfect system like this. There are always going to be minute cracks in the pot, or imperfections in the water (fractal theory, covered earlier in the book, even states this!), and so while this might be theoretically possible it will not happen in any real world environment. The book has many other places like this where the authors conveniently leave out details that might weaken their arguments. I find this to make the book as a whole very frustrating to read, even if some of their points are valid.

Another reason that I find the book to be very frustrating is that everything is very sensationalized. At the beginning of the description of fractals the authors say that the first person to think of a fractal curve created "a panic among mathematicians that took some fifty years to resolve." I find it truly hard to believe that the entire mathematical community was pulling their collective hair for fifty years trying to explain this curve, but by phrasing it this way the authors make it seem like science as a whole does not want to accept new ideas because it would make them look bad. In reality though I think the scientific community is ready to accept anything that can be strongly proven theoretically, or experimentally (just look at relativity, or quantum).

Because of all of these failings I would not recommend this book. I am sure that there are many other better books about chaos theory that do an excellent job of describing it without disregarding the rest of science, or trying to place it in places where it does not necessarily belong.

IGNORE CHAOS AT YOUR PERIL
Very well thought out survey of chaos theory presents a metaphorical mirror as a means to magnify and project into view the hidden world of turbulence. The advent of the computer has brought chaos and fractals out of the closet. Here the authors teach the reader how to navigate in the turbulent world from the submicroscopic realms to the distant galaxies. The authors dish up a huge concept list: fractal dimensions, strange attractors, holograms, soliton bubbles, bifurcation, quantum phase locking, coevolution of species and the earth as Gaia -- all in an attempt to teach the reader the folly of allowing the part/whole dichotomy to rule your perception of the universe.

The book is a stark attack on those the authors term reductionists -- those who seek answers in breaking the whole into ever smaller parts. The authors' pet writers are David Bohm, Lynn Margulis, and Llya Prigogine but they toss in another hundred ideas for irregular stepping stones to get where they are going. Where is that? They composed an evangelical message -- that man now has the tools and knowledge to step through Alice's Looking Glass into an entirely new and mystical perception of the whole. They see chaos as a source of future evolution and life.

I give the authors a high mark for original thought. Although using a hundred other science writers to frame their ideas, they direct the reader to go beyond existing theories and strike a path for the center of the turbulent mirror. The diagrams and illustrations also were very helpful. They pictured the brain as a strange attractor, with thought arbitrating between the two realms of order and chaos. My favorite metaphor was the slime mold which, when food gets scarce, merges from being a collection of individual cells to a collective entity moving across the forest floor. This was to show an example of quantum phase locking which "could provide a bridge joining classical, nonlinear reality with linear, quantum reality" (P. 188). Great Two Thousand year Philosophy.

Stunning Revelation about the World We Live in
What I read is a Chinese translation of the book. Although I do not fully understand the researches and examples involved in explaining the development from 'Order to Chaos' (the first few chapters), and I have not yet experienced some of the interesting events that described, I am amazed by the final few chapters about the possible role of chaos theory in the development of cells, organisms, RNA, DNA, and about creativity and 'nuance.' What I find most debatable is the responsibility of reductionism in creating the problems for nature and humanity, or detouring the course of science. I certainly believe that the scientists and thinkers before us forged the foundation for us, and from their experience, we discover the verity of past knowledge. I don't think Darwin would appreciate we calling him a reductionist because at that time, reductionism was the way of science, not to mention that 'reductionism' is a modern classification. The book also details a lot of examples to explain that most phenomenons are the results of nonlinear chaos complexity. I can't help but notice the strong implication of creationism, with chaos theory as the creator instead of God.

Terrific Book
This book provides a great introduction to chaos theory and strikes a devastating blow to reductionism. Using a historical approach, the book walks the reader through the discoveries and mathematics that underlie fractals, chaos and complexity. It also provides a short, fascinating interview with Ilya Prigogine and a great layperson's introduction to his ideas. Turbulent Mirror makes the point that because of "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" one can not really separate the whole from the parts - in essence there really are no "initial conditions." The only weakness of this book, IMHO, is the use of occasional Alice and Wonderland illustrations and a few too many quotes from eastern philosophy. These are not overpowering, however, so if you don't like them them can ignore them and enjoy the rest of the material which is truly great. ... Read more

Book Description

Presents Nuclear Energy, a subject that is often considered off limits to the general reader, in a way that is solid and rigorous, and yet accessible to anyone able to use introductory algebra occasionally.

It answers the questions often left hanging in popular or argumentative books on this subject, without losing the reader in detail and unnecessary mathematical formalism. A practical and tangible contribution to the understanding of a vital piece of science.

Though designed and used for twenty years as part of the author's course for high school students, it's also for all the grown-ups who never got it in their schooling.

Begins at ground zero for the main subject.There are tangible examples, solved problems, and 45 illustrations.

This second in the "serious but not ponderous" series follows the award winning ("Outstanding Academic Title" by CHOICE magazine year 2000) book about Relativity, also written by Presidential Award Winning teacher, Walter Scheider. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Informative but Disappointing
The author starts off in the Preface with the words "Matter is not converted into energy." What crock. Without going too much into the realm of fundamental particles, YES IT DOES. When relativistic conditions (i.e., objects travelling close to the speed of light, etc.) are involved, there is a great probability of change in the atomic mass of the reactants (unstable uranium isotope w/ extra neutrons, etc.). One of the most basic concepts in all of nuclear physics is the type of decay involved -- gamma decay being the highest-energy transfer exchange. As he should very well know, all elements have a natural tendency to decay, and not all elements have alpha decay (two protons & neutrons break off); some emit a photon, a form of energy and therefore massless. The mass of the element therefore decreases with the decay. By the same token, as an object like, say a proton of hydrogen or what not, is accelerated and hurtles to speeds close to that of light, there will be a significant increase in mass (this has been proven experimentally). Enough said. Perhaps what he should have said instead is that matter cannot be arbitrarily converted into energy; this much is true. Otherwise, in a nuke explosion, where energy in the form of X-rays (gamma radiation) result from an unstable chain reaction, there will be missing mass. This is what drives people like Stephen Hawking to search for stuff like dark matter. The equation E=mc^2 was originally supposed to help explain the kinks in Newton's 2nd Law of Motion when approaching the speed of light. A consequence is that E=mc^2 ends up explaining the equivalent rest energy of an object when not in motion. Another consequence is that mass and energy are indeed interchangeable -- but ONLY at velocities that are nearly ridiculous to obtain, the speed of light. This is the turf of nuclear/plasma physics and does not need much more explaining. Once you dig into it, nuclear physics is not any more difficult to grasp fundamentally as long as you understand the basics, such as radiocative decay... certainly not so much as solid-state physics. Other than this one hot point, there isn't much else to say. I don't know what the heck the author was trying to accomplish, other than introduce the basics of nuclear physics, energy and all else. There wasn't a clear agenda nor an intended audience (high school kids? college students? laymen? who??). And the blow-by-blow description of the Three-Mile Island incident, while informative, was out of place. The author tries to cover too much in too little, and make everything look easy (which it is not) to the layreader. If the book was meant to show what nuclear energy is supposed to be and what its uses are, it does a lackluster job. I agree that nuclear physics can be shown in an easier format, and it already has been done in other books. The more technical aspects of nuclear engineering, however, will still be difficult to grasp, even for some physicists no matter what. I would recommend a much better book by Charpak and Georges, "Megawatts and Megatons: A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age?" It is a comprehensive and illustrative work on the basics and effects of nuclear energy, as well as the political intrigues that surround its applications in war and peacetime. To a large degree, the authors are fairly neutral and have no theoretical axe to grind, unlike this one. In closing, it must be said that understanding the concepts of nuclear energy is indeed important; in that vein, the various political and social complexities surrounding its applications must also be made clear, and that is a harder task to achieve. ... Read more

Book Description

The four real division algebras (reals, complexes, quaternions and octonions) are the most obvious signposts to a rich and intricate realm of select and beautiful mathematical structures. Using the new tool of adjoint division algebras, with respect to which the division algebras themselves appear in the role of spinor spaces, some of these structures are developed, including parallelizable spheres, exceptional Lie groups, and triality. In the case of triality the use of adjoint octonions greatly simplifies its investigation. Motivating this work, however, is a strong conviction that the design of our physical reality arises from this select mathematical realm. A compelling case for that conviction is presented, a derivation of the standard model of leptons and quarks.The book will be of particular interest to particle and high energy theorists, and to applied mathematicians. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Mathematics behind physics
This is an excellent book for those who want to study Hamilton's quaternions, and other algebraic structures, used in modern physics. Dixon believes that octonions and triality of Spin(8) are essential in understanding particle physics. This clear exposition contains many ideas which have gone unnoticed from other researchers. The book is a treasure trove for mathematical physicists. The author also compares the Cayley algebra of octonions to other algebraic systems used in physics: matrices and Clifford algebras, in particular the Dirac algebra. ... Read more

Book Description

Boasting more than three hundred illustrations, the majority in full color, The Particle Odyssey takes us on an exhilarating tour of the subatomic world. The pictures here are truly marvelous--over 100 of the best images ever taken of particle 'events'--mysterious, abstract, often beautiful photographs of the tracks of subatomic particles as they speed, curve, dance, or explode through cloud and bubble chambers, stacks of photographic emulsion, and giant multi-element detectors. There are illustrations of spiraling electrons, the tell-tale 'vees' of strange particles, matter and antimatter born from raw energy, energetic jets of particles spraying out from the decay points of quarks and gluons.Complementing the illustrations is a vividly written account of the key experiments and fundamental discoveries that have led to our current understanding of the nature of the universe.There are individual portraits of all the major subatomic particles, from the electron to the newly discovered top quark. The authors describe the history of experimental particle physics: its origins in the discovery of X-rays in 1895; the dissection of the atom by Rutherford and others; the unexpected revelations of the cosmic rays; the discovery of quarks and the rise of the 'standard model' in the last part of the 20th century. And they also look at the great questions that face physicists today--Where did antimatter go? What is dark matter? Can there be a theory of everything? A perfect gift for science buffs, The Particle Odyssey will enthrall everyone eager for a glimpse into the previously unknown the world of the atom. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Pictures alone more than pay for the book
I want to write a review of this book because there are only two
other reviews. A book of this quality deserves many reviews to encourage
people to at least look at it.

Particle physics is extremely abstruse, really only for physicists
and people who like knowledge for its own sake. Many particle physicists
do the best they can to explain their subject in "English," but I don't
think that laypeople (incl. myself) can really grasp the subject w/o
going through the rigors of deriving its basics and knowing how
to use its tools, like QED and QCD, etc. (and I don't!).

So personally I may be moving away from studying the subject, but
I'm very glad I came across "The Particle Odyssey." They say a picture
tells a thousand words - truer words could be spoken as concerns the
book. The reader (even the peruser) can learn an incredible amount at
whatever level he/she is at, just by looking at the pictures and reading
the concise descriptions. We see pictures of the founders of modern physics,
their inventions, also great shots of particle accelerators and particle
tracks, and much more. The book would make a superb coffee-table addition.
It could entertain, even blow the minds of people who looked at it, maybe
spark some interest in younger people, and as I said, anyone can learn
something at the same time (perhaps unlike a familar coffee table favorite,
"A Brief History of Time"!).

The text is about as easy to read, given the complicated subject,
as possible, thorough, and enjoyable. Together with the pictures, the
authors cover the subject (and I do feel qualified to say this) more
than thoroughly.

Anyone with even a passing interest in particle physics would do
quite well to have this amazing, remarkable book.

Good introduction to particle physics and its history
The book is aimed at the intelligent layperson. It would be too basic for a physics professional or even for a physics graduate student. However, it is not basic. Anyone who is not seriously interested in particle physics will quickly bog down and find it boring. For those who are "seriously interested" it will most likely feed their interest. The book is thick with information, but is written in an accessible style. It is roughly 50% text and 50% photos (some full page, most quarter page or smaller), but this is not a coffee table book. The photos support the text and include captions that explain the photo (not merely summarize the text). Throughout the book, the photos demonstrate significant events (eg, Röntgen's first X-ray, the apparatus Chadwick used to discover the neutron, Anderson working with his cloud chamber, Lawrence's first cyclotron) or show portions of the large accelerators or detectors with descriptions of the components pictured.

As the authors state "This book is the story of how a century of discovery and invention has brought us to our modern understanding of the subatomic particles and the nature of the material Universe." Four chapters (3, 5, 7, 9) provide "individual portraits of all the major particles" so far discovered. Chapter 3 covers the basic structure of the atom: electrons, protons, neutrons, and photons. Chapter 5 covers particles discovered in cosmic radiation: positrons, muons, pions, kaons, the lambda, the xi, and the sigma. Chapter 7 covers particles or phenomenon discovered in accelerators: the neutral pion, the neutral cascade, antimatter, resonance, omega-minus, neutrinos, and quarks. Chapter 9 covers the particles discovered in modern accelerators: charmed quarks, tau, bottom quarks, gluons, the W and Z particles, and top quarks. Chapters 2, 4, 6, and 8 describe the history of particle physics. Each of these history chapters introduces the people and the devices they used to make the discoveries described in the subsequent chapter. Two chapters (10, 11) "describe the questions that are aborbing particle physicists today" (eg, What is Mass?, Is there a theory of everything?, Issues in particle astromony). The final chapter (titled "Particles at Work") describes specific applications in society (eg, TVs, diagnostic scans)

The book is as much about how the discoveries are made (ie, the physicists and their experimental apparatuses) as it is about particle physics itself. I read the book with almost no background in particle physics (having read just a few encyclopedia entries on the topic) and found most of the book to be accessible, though never an easy read (about the same reading difficulty as The Economist magazine: economist.com). However, chapter 7 was more difficult and chapter 9 was a difficult read for me (requiring re-reads of many sentences). My knowledge of particle physics is significantly enhanced having read this book and I now have a good appreciation of the accelerators in current use.

Absolutely Gorgeous
The reason I got into physics in the first place was the combined allure of subatomic strangeness and huge machines at the edge of technology and cleverness. This book distills those attractions in beautiful descriptions and stunning photography. If I ever needed reaffirmation in my choice to become a particle physicist, this book would surely do the trick. ... Read more

Book Description

This book addresses both fundamental issues and applications in the field of x-ray and inner-shell processes induced by photons, particles, or nuclear conversion. The volume contains the invited talks and all papers have been peer reviewed. This meeting brings scientists together from different disciplines of x-ray science and technology. Focus has been given to the applications of the high brilliance synchrotron x- ray sources in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and related fields. The book is of interest to scientists in atomic, molecular and solid state physics using synchrotron radiation sources, plasma and x-ray lasers, manufacturers of x-ray equipment, electron and ion analysis apparatus, semiconductor industry chemical industry requiring advanced analytical equipment. Topics include: historical reviews; new x-ray sources and techniques; advances in x-ray optics; photoionization processes and highly charged ions; atomic and nuclear x-ray processes; x-ray scattering; x-ray applications to solids and surfaces; and biological applications. ... Read more

Book Description

This text introduces the theoretical framework for describing the quark-gluon plasma, an important new state of matter.The first part of the book is a self-contained introduction to relativistic thermal field theory. Topics include the path integral approach, the real and imaginary time formalisms, fermion fields and gauge fields at finite temperature.The author illustrates useful techniques such as the evaluation of frequency sums and the use of cutting rules. The second part of the book is devoted to recent developments, and gives a detailed account of collective excitations (bosonic and fermionic), showing how they give rise to energy scales that imply a reorganization of perturbation theory. The author also explains the relation with kinetic theory.He works out in detail applications to processes that occur in heavy ion collisions and in astrophysics. Each chapter ends with exercises and a guide to the literature.Graduate students and researchers in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics will benefit from this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Volume 2 deals at some length with CP-violation, but is mainly devoted to QCD and its application to "hard" processes. The authors briefly cover "soft" hadronic physics, also. This work will provide a comprehensive reference and textbook for all postgraduate students and researchers interested in modern particle physics. ... Read more

Book Description

Aiming to unravel the mystery of quantum mechanics, this book is concerned with questions about action-at-a-distance, holism, and whether quantum mechanics gives a complete account of microphysical reality. With rigorous arguments and clear thinking, the author provides an introduction to the philosophy of physics. ... Read more

Book Description

Motivated by recent dramatic developments in the field, this volume provides a thorough introduction to spin and its role in elementary particle physics. Starting with a simple pedagogical overview of spin and its relativistic generalization, the author successfully avoids the obscurity and impenetrability of traditional treatments of the subject. He surveys the main theoretical and experimental developments of recent years, as well as discussing exciting plans for the future. Emphasis is placed on the importance of spin-dependent measurements in testing QCD and the Standard Model. This book will be of value to graduate students and researchers in all areas of quantum physics, particularly in elementary particle and high energy physics. It is suitable as a supplementary text for graduate courses in theoretical and experimental particle physics. ... Read more

Book Description

At the core of the atom, enshrouded by electrons, lies the nucleus. The discovery of the nucleus transformed the past century and will revolutionize this one. Though many persons associate nuclear physics with weapons of mass destruction, it is an exciting, cutting-edge science that has helped to save lives through innovative medical technologies, such as the MRI. In nuclear astrophysics, state-of-the-art theoretical and computer models help to explain the powerful stellar explosions known as supernovas, to account for how stars shine, and to describe how the chemical elements in the universe were formed.

Nucleus: A Trip into the Heart of Matter by Ray Mackintosh, Jim Al-Khalili, Bjorn Jonsen, and Theresa Penae is a lavishly illustrated book filled with lively prose and captivating details that describe the evolution of our understanding of this phenomenon. The authors, who include expert nuclear physicists and acclaimed science journalists, tell the story of the nucleus from the early experimental work of the quiet New Zealander Lord Rutherford to the huge atom-smashing machines of today and beyond. Nucleus tells of the protons and neutrons of which the nucleus is made, why some nuclei crumble and are radioactive, and how scientists came up with the "standard model," which shows the nucleus composed of quarks held together by gluons. Nucleus is also the tale of the people behind the struggle to understand this fascinating subject more fully, and of how a vibrant research community uses the power of the nucleus to probe unanswered scientific questions while others seek to harness the nucleus as a tool of twenty-first-century medicine.

Intended for a general audience, this book unravels the scientific mysteries that surround the subject of the nucleus. Anyone with a passing interest in science will delight in this guide to the nuclear age. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nice introduction to nuclear physics
This book is a nice introduction to nuclear physics for the non-scientist. My only complaint is that it was not long enough. With only about 130 pages and many pictures and charts it really doesn't cover all that much material. I wish it were much longer, say, 200 or 300 pages or more. Nevertheless, it is the perfect book for those looking for a short, simple introduction to the basics. ... Read more

Book Description

In its simplest manifestation, the Casimir effect is a quantum force of attraction between two parallel uncharged conducting plates. More generally, it refers to the interaction - which may be either attractive or repulsive - between material bodies due to quantum fluctuations in whatever fields are relevant. It is a local version of the van der Waals force between molecules. Its sweep ranges from perhaps its being the origin of the cosmological constant to its being responsible for the confinement of quarks.

This monograph develops the theory of such forces, based primarily on physically transparent Green's function techniques, and makes applications from quarks to the cosmos, as well as observable consequences in condensed matter systems. It is aimed at graduate students and researchers in theoretical physics, quantum field theory, and applied mathematics. ... Read more

Book Description

The discoveries of neutral currents and of the W and Z bosons marked a watershed in the history of CERN. They established the validity of the electroweak theory and convinced physicists of the importance of renormalizable non-Abelian gauge theories of fundamental interactions. The articles collected in this book have been written by distinguished physicists who contributed in a crucial way to these developments. The book provides a historical account of those discoveries and of the construction and testing of the Standard Model. It also contains a discussion of the future of particle physics and gives an updated status of the LHC and its detectors currently being built at CERN. The book addresses those readers interested in particle physics including the educated public. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a book about laser cooling, a new research field with many potential applications. The authors present an original approach, using the tools and concepts of statistical physics. A new understanding of laser cooling, both intuitive and quantitative, is obtained. The volume also comprises a case study allowing non-Gaussian (Lévy) statistics, a technique being used more frequently in many different fields. ... Read more

Book Description

Fascinating, accessible study recounts the process of discovey, from the atomism of the Greeks to the quantum revolutions of the 1920s and the theories and conjectures of today. Topics cover the components of the atom, quantum mechanics, the atomic landscape, atoms in isolation, quantum reality and more. "Lucid and entertaining."—The New York Times Book Review.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

No praise is high enough...
I have wished for a book like this all of my life; I thought I'd never find it. If only there existed authors in all areas of science (& other fields, for that matter) who could summarize the complexities & histories in their respective fields in such a fascinating, accessible, & eloquent way, the world would be a much better place; & if such books were made required reading in public schools & universities, citizens would be more informed & understand their world to a significantly greater extent. I would absolutely be "beside myself" in academic ecstasy, & would treasure all such books--but if asked which one I would take "if stranded alone on a desert island", it would be "Taming the Atom". I cried tears of joy while reading this book; this book facilitated my understanding of various concepts & realities that I could not have obtained otherwise without reading, processing, & synthesizing information from massive amounts of material (& I would not have had the time). I owe a debt (of gratitude) to Dr. von Baeyer which I can never repay; I thank him beyond words for having taken the time to exercise his talent for explanation, & presenting complex concepts & facts in such an accessible, enjoyable, engaging, & fascinating manner; lastly, his writing makes what is priceless, rare, & extremely difficult (aiding in the successful comprehension of a multitude of complex concepts via the written word) seem so easy. I appreciate his work more than I can express. I am in the process of acquiring every book he has written--they will be permanent "residents" in my library, & will be with me for the rest of my life. I am spreading the word of this man's wonderful talent to those who work in various bookstores, & anyone I encounter who has an interest in these sciences (chemistry & physics). If only I could be so fortunate as to have him as a professor, or be privileged to attend any lecture or seminar he might give... I thank him for a book that is so beautiful & important to me; I've loved science all of my life, & always asked "why" when examining the world around me--had a book like this been available to me as a child, I have no doubt that my life today would be very different. I plan to make sure that the public library in the city in which I grew up has a copy of every book Dr. von Baeyer has written, with the personal intention that any child in that city with an interest in science & the means to visit said library, has opportunities @ early comprehension of so much... I thank him & am deeply grateful for his having written this book... ... Read more

Book Description

This commentary on the discovery of the atom's constituents provides an historical account of key events in the physics of the twentieth century that led to the discoveries of the electron, proton and neutron. Steven Weinberg introduces the fundamentals of classical physics that played crucial roles in these discoveries. Connections are shown throughout the book between the historic discoveries of subatomic particles and contemporary research at the frontiers of physics, including the most current discoveries of new elementary particles. Steven Weinberg was Higgins Professor of Physics at Harvard before moving to The University of Texas at Austin, where he founded its Theory Group.At Texas he holds the Josey Regental Chair of Science and is a member of the Physics and Astronomy Departments. His research has spanned a broad range of topics in quantum field theory, elementary particle physics, and cosmology, and has been honored with numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, the Heinemann Prize in Mathematical Physics, the Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Madison Medal of Princeton University, and the Oppenheimer Prize.In addition to the well-known treatise, Gravitation and Cosmololgy, he has written several books for general readers, including the prize-winning The First Three Minutes (now translated into 22 foreign languages), and most recently Dreams of a Final Theory (Pantheon Books, 1993). He has also written a textbook The Quantum Theory of Fields, Vol.I, Vol. II, and Vol. III (Cambridge). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good but short history
I wavered between four or five stars and finally gave the authors, a brilliant scientist, the benefit of the doubt. The book is actually a chronological review of the exploration of the atom. Starting with electricity and the discovery of the electron, we then go on to weighing the atoms to the discovery of the nucleus. A truly fascinating observation of Einstein's work notes that the "energy released by a moving body is larger than when at rest by an amount proportional to the square of its velocity"..e=mc2 was originally expresses as m=e/c2.

After the nucleus we descend further into all the subatomic particles. One must remember that although this book is a revised edition, the 1983 original version seems almost innocent in many of its assumptions. A LONG appendix is provided as much for explanation as for reference. ... Read more

Book Description

Neutrinos play a decisive part in nuclear and elementary particle physics, as well as in astrophysics and cosmology. Because they interact so weakly with matter, some of their basic properties, such as mass charge conjugation symmetry, are largely unknown.These subjects are considered in detail by authors, who also discuss such topics as neutrino mixing, neutrino decay, neutrino oscillations, double beta decay and related ideas.Physical concepts are stressed, and both theoretical methods and experimental techniques are presented.This second edition contains an expanded coverage of new experimental results and recent theoretical advances.In the intervening years since the first edition, many then unresolved problems such as tritium beta decay and reactor neutrino oscillations have been clarified.This edition also gives expanded coverage of solar and supernova neutrinos. ... Read more