Reviews (1)

Unique and Thorough Text on Electromagnetic Wave Theory
This book presents a unified macroscopic theory of electromagnetic waves. It covers a wide range of topics, including those which are standard in many engineering electromagnetics textbooks and some which are unique to this one. For example, standard fare includes transmission line theory, time harmonic fields, reflection and transmission at a boundary, guidance, and resonance. In addition, Kong also covers EM waves in media - isotropic, anisotropic, bianisotropic, plasma - and the kDB system which is something unique. Kong also goes into advanced topics such as dyadic Green's functions, light guidance in fiber optics, and special relativity. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the fundamental importance of the wave vector k in electromagnetic wave theory by Kong. This is the central theme of the text - if you understand k, then you can understand the behavior of the wave.

This text is mainly used for two graduate courses in electromagnetic wave theory at MIT. Essentially the text is a copy of the lecture notes. As a graduate level text, it has a great deal of mathematics. However, the author usually shows enough steps so that the student can follow. Anyhow, the math is tedious but not overly complex, except for a few horrid sections. The notation used throughout the book is not very consistent. For example, coordinates are switched and use of j is replaced with -i. All in all, however, the text is very good. There is flow and reason from section to section and chapter to chapter. Equations are explained reasonably well. Some of the more advanced sections can be hard to get through though. There definitely needs to be more explanation in some sections like the guidance and resonance sections. Be warned though - this textbook is definitely a work in progress. Kong continuously adds new material to every edition, since he'll still be fine-tuning his course material. One can definitely use this text as their first encounter with electromagnetic wave theory. However, exposing yourself to E&M with a text like Griffiths' Electrodynamics would be tremendously helpful as an introduction.

If one has the chance, one should definitely take a course with Professor Kong. He is a god of E&M. And his lectures are an experience you should definitely have - they're great! ... Read more

Book Description

"This invaluable book provides a comprehensive framework for the formulation and solution ofnumerous problems involving the radiation, reception, propagation, and scattering of electromagnetic and acoustic waves. Filled with original derivations and theorems, it includes the first rigorous development of plane-wave expansions for time-domain electromagnetic and acoustic fields.

For the past 35 years, near-field measurement techniques have been confined to the frequency domain. Now, with the publication of this book, probe-corrected near-field measurement techniques have been extended to ultra-wide-band, short-pulse transmitting and receiving antennas and transducers.

By combining unencumbered straightforward derivations with in-depth expositions of prerequisite material, the authors have created an invaluable resource for research scientists and engineers in electromagnetics and acoustics, and a definitive reference on plane-wave expansions and near-field measurements.

Featured topics include:

• An introduction to the basic electromagnetic and acoustic field equations
• A rigorous development of time-domain and frequency-domain plane-wave representations
• The formulation of time-domain, frequency-domain, and static planar near-field measurement techniques with and without probe-correction
• Sampling theorems and computation schemes for time-domain and frequency-domain fields
• Analytic-signal formulas that simplify the formulation and analysis of transient fields
• Wave phenomena, such as ``electromagnetic missiles"" encountered only in the time domain
• Definitive force and power relations for electromagnetic and acoustic fields and sources."

Sponsored by:
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding! Bound to become a classic.
This book gives a very complete, authoritative and up-to-date treatment of acoustic and electromagnetic fields generated by bounded sources from several intertwined viewpoints: (a) their representations by volume sources and by "Huygens sources" distributed over a surface enclosing the source region, (b) plane-wave spectra, (c) far fields, and (d) far-field radiation patterns. When field measurements are made in a plane outside the source region, the plane-wave spectral representation lends itself naturally to correcting for the characteristics of the probe performing the measurements to compute the true fields beyond the scan plane. This explains the subtitle "Near-field Scanning Applications." Throughout the book, the scalar (acoustic) and vector (electromagnetic) cases are treated in tandem, with the acoustic case usually preceding the algebraically more complicated electromagnetic case.

Whereas the above topics have been the subject of a number of previous studies, the novelty of the present approach is in examining them thoroughly in the time domain as well as the frequency domain. The time-domain formulations are derived in two ways: by Fourier transforming the corresponding frequency-domain expressions, and then directly in the time domain from the properties of Green functions. The identity of the results, sometimes after long and difficult mathematical manipulations, helps the reader gain confidence in the final product even if she or he was unable to follow all the details of the derivation. As a mathematician, I was especially impressed by the consistently rigorous level of the treatments. Although mathematical rigor is sometimes dismissed by engineers as largely academic, the authors give ample demonstrations of its practical necessity. For example, the proof in Sections 6.1.1 (or 7.1.3) that the probe output solves the homogeneous Helmholtz equation (or wave equation) outside the region occupied by the sources and the probe is a case study of the need to justify bringing partial differential operators under an integral sign, as a sloppy treatment simply leads to the wrong conclusion that the homogeneous equation is satisfied in all of space!

The book ends with some practical considerations on sampling and numerical applications of the foregoing results. ... Read more

Book Description

This introduction to the mathematical foundations of quantum field theory is based on operator algebraic methods and emphasizes the link between the mathematical formulations and related physical concepts. Topics include special relativity, scattering theory, and sector theory. ... Read more

Book Description

This book presents the interdisciplinary field of solid electrodynamics and its applications in superconductor and microwave technologies. It gives scientists and engineers the foundation necessary to deal with theoretical and applied electromagnetics, continuum mechanics, applied superconductivity, high-speed electronic circuit design, microwave engineering and transducer technology. ... Read more

Book Description

This text describes novel treatments of quantum problems using enhanced quantization procedures, generally involving extended correspondence rules for the association of a classical and a quantum theory. Beginning with a review of classical mechanics, the book goes on to detail Hilbert space, quantum mechanics, and scalar quantum field theory.Later chapters further develop analytical skills, study a special class of models, and present a discussion of continuous and discontinuous perturbations. The final chapter offers a brief summary, concluding with a conjecture regarding interacting covariant scalar quantum field theories. Throughout, symmetry is used as a tool to help develop solutions for simple and complex problems alike. Challenging exercises and detailed references are included. ... Read more

Book Description

Description:

Building on Fundamentals of Electronics Circuit Design, David and Donald Comers new text, Advanced Electronic Circuit Design, extends their highly focused, applied approach into the second and third semesters of the electronic circuit design sequence. This new text covers more advanced topics such as oscillators, power stages, digital/analog converters, and communications circuits such as mixers, and detectors. The text also includes technologies that are emerging.

Advanced Electronic Circuit Design focuses exclusively on MOSFET and BJT circuits, allowing students to explore the fundamental methods of electronic circuit analysis and design in greater depth. Each type of circuit is first introduced without reference to the type of device used for implementation. This initial discussion of general principles establishes a firm foundation on which to proceed to circuits using the actual devices.

Features:

1. Provides concise coverage of several important electronic circuits that are not covered in a fundamentals textbook.

2. Focuses on MOSFET and BJT circuits, rather than offering exhaustive coverage of a wide range of devices and circuits.

3. Includes an Important Concepts summary at the beginning of each section that direct the readers attention to these key points.

4. Includes several Practical Considerations sections that relate developed theory to practical circuits.

Instructor Supplements:

ISBN SUPPLEMENT DESCRIPTIONOnline Solutions Manual

Brief Table of Contents:

1. Introduction2. Fundamental Power Amplifier Stages3. Advanced Power Amplification4. Wideband Amplifiers5. Narrowband Amplifiers6. Sinusoidal Oscillators7. Basic Concepts in Communications8. Amplitude Modulation Circuits9. Angle Modulation Circuits10. Mixed-Signal Interfacing Circuits11. Basic Concepts in Filter Design12. Active Synthesis13. Future Directions ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

The growing demand for instant and reliable communication means that photonic circuits are increasingly finding applications in optical communications systems. One of the prime candidates to provide satisfactory performance at low cost in the photonic circuit is silicon.  Whilst silicon photonics is less well developed as compared to some other material technologies, it is poised to make a serious impact on the telecommunications industry, as well as in many other applications, as other technologies fail to meet the yield/performance/cost trade-offs. Following a sympathetic tutorial approach, this first book on silicon photonics provides a comprehensive overview of the technology. Silicon Photonics explains the concepts of the technology, taking the reader through the introductory principles, on to more complex building blocks of the optical circuit. Starting with the basics of waveguides and the properties peculiar to silicon, the book also features:

• Key design issues in optical circuits.
• Experimental methods.
• Evaluation techniques.
• Operation of waveguide based devices.
• Fabrication of silicon waveguide circuits.
• Evaluation of silicon photonic systems.
• Numerous worked examples, models and case studies.

Silicon Photonics  is an essential tool for photonics engineers and young professionals working in the optical network, optical communications and semiconductor industries. This book is also an invaluable reference and a potential main text to senior undergraduates and postgraduate students studying fibre optics, integrated optics, or optical network technology. ... Read more

Book Description

The general idea advocated in this book is to start fromcomplicated mathematical models describing wave motion as it resultsfrom the rules of continuum mechanics and then to find a simplerviewpoint that still keeps everything essential preserved. Specialattention is paid to the description of the sources of nonlinearities.The complexities in modelling are demonstrated by several examplesincluding solitons, propagating instabilities and waves in waveguides.The selected case studies show some unconventional approaches in orderto explain the richness of nonlinear wave motion. The final chaptersare of more general character, including the essays on nonlinearity,beauty, and complexity. In this way, the thread of the analysis is thefollowing: simple basic arguments result in a complicated theory that,in turn, needs certain simplifications in order to grasp the physicalphenomena involved. What makes this book special compared to otherbooks in the field is that all the examples are cast into a generalphilosophical network of complexity and simplicity. Audience: This volume will be of interest to researchers andstudents whose work involves mathematical modelling of wave phenomena. ... Read more

Book Description

Co-published with Oxford University Press. This highly technical and thought-provoking book stresses the development of mathematical foundations for the application of the electromagnetic model to problems of research and technology. Features include in-depth coverage of linear spaces, Green's functions, spectral expansions, electromagnetic source representations, and electromagnetic boundary value problems. This book will be of interest graduate-level students in engineering, electromagnetics, physics, and applied mathematics as well as to research engineers, physicists, and scientists. ... Read more

Book Description

During the course of this century, gauge invariance has slowly emerged from being an incidental symmetry of electromagnetism to being a fundamental geometrical principle underlying the four known fundamental physical interactions. The development has been in two stages. In the first stage (1916-1956) the geometrical significance of gauge-invariance gradually came to be appreciated and the original abelian gauge-invariance of electromagnetism was generalized to non-abelian gauge invariance. In the second stage (1960-1975) it was found that, contrary to first appearances, the non-abelian gauge-theories provided exactly the framework that was needed to describe the nuclear interactions (both weak and strong) and thus provided a universal framework for describing all known fundamental interactions. In this work, Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh describes the former phase.

O'Raifeartaigh first illustrates how gravitational theory and quantum mechanics played crucial roles in the reassessment of gauge theory as a geometric principle and as a framework for describing both electromagnetism and gravitation. He then describes how the abelian electromagnetic gauge-theory was generalized to its present non-abelian form. The development is illustrated by including a selection of relevant articles, many of them appearing here for the first time in English, notably by Weyl, Schrodinger, Klein, and London in the pre-war years, and by Pauli, Shaw, Yang-Mills, and Utiyama after the war. The articles illustrate that the reassessment of gauge-theory, due in a large measure to Weyl, constituted a major philosophical as well as technical advance. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A sorely needed book
Once thought of as merely a mathematical curiosity, the concept of gauge invariance now plays the dominant role in theoretical particle physics. Gauge invariance is not a really difficult concept in which to understand, but it does have some hidden subtleties that can seem rather obscure in the context of modern quantum field theories. The reader of this book will walk away with a deeper appreciation of the history of gauge invariance, due to the inclusion of original articles written by some of the early contributors to the theory. These contributions were attempts to generalize Einstein's theory of gravitation, and, just as in that theory, made use of concepts from differential geometry. Ideas from the mathematical theory of groups were also used, setting the stage for later developments in particle physics. One can only wonder of course what these individuals would have thought about modern theories of gravitation and particle interactions, making use of highly esoteric and complex mathematical constructions. Their thinking at the time was itself thought of as very exotic, but it pales in comparison with the level of abstraction that now permeates elementary particle physics in the language of superstring and M-theory.

The author has written additional papers on the history of gauge theory,which can easily be found via an online search, and this book could be considered an excellent introduction to them. He addresses more modern developments in gauge theories as they relate to the early history, such as superstring theory. Readers who study this book, will not only come away with a deeper appreciation of the underlying concepts in gauge theory, but will be prepared to appreciate in greater detail these modern developments, being as they are the best current hope for understanding the nonperturbative region in quantum field theories and string theories.

Thought provoking!
I picked this book up when it first came out and gave it a quick read. Now, five years later, having just read it again, I cannot believe that it was not as indelible in my mind then as it is now. A combination of original papers, peppered with O'Raifeartaigh's informed remarks and hindsight, produces an eligant book that follows a timeline that begins with the greatest minds in physics of the last century. The fits and starts of physicists such as London, Fock, Schrodinger, and Klein, though viewed as disparate attempts at the time, give way to an understanding of analogous formulations, and the suggestion of something powerful and underlying. This, of course, being gauge invariance, has equipped the modern physicist with tools that has produced the most striking conclusions: QED and electroweak theory to name a few. The way in which these notions arose, I suspect, is not common knowledge. Just as understanding a breakthrough may only require the reading of a few seminal papers by a few people, the foundation of a good theory often is the result of many people and many false starts. O'Raifeartaigh uses excellent judgement in what to include, and what not to, in his book. It does, incidentally, start with Kuluza-Klein, and run all the way though the 50's to Yang and Mills theory of isotopic spin and gauge invariance (conservation).

A knowledge of tensor analysis (the index (i.e., f_i,j) type), group theory, and differetial geometry is assumed. Topology would broaden the experience.

The papers speak for themselves
A powerhouse collection of papers in modern Physics! O'Raifeartaigh's introduction and commentary brings each paper's contribution into sharp focus (with benefit of hindsight, of course).

The papers by Weyl and Kaluza are startling in their simplicity and boldness. If you haven't read them yet, these two alone justify buying the book.

The book does assume familiarity with General Realitivity and tensor analysis. I would highly reccomend Lawden's "An Intoduction to Tensor Calculus, Relativity and Cosmology", or Misner's very complete "Gravitation". ... Read more

Book Description

Loop representations (and the related topic of knot theory) are of considerable current 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. This text provides a self-contained introduction to applications of loop representations and knot theory in particle physics and quantum gravity. The book begins with a detailed review of loop representation theory. It then goes on to describe loop representations in Maxwell theory, Yang-Mills theories, as well as lattice techniques.The authors then discuss applications in quantum gravity in detail.Following chapters consider 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. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Plenty of material; conisely written
This title is no lie; readers interested in loops / knots / gauge theories *OR* quantum gravity can gain from reading this text, but to do so some skipping around is needed. On the other hand, the programme of quantum gravity associated with the Ashtekhar's ``new variables" is carefully and clearly laid down in this monograph; that is how this reviewer read the text --- straight through in search of the results associated with the new variables. The going can be tough at times in the initial sections, which outline the group of loops and holonomy theory but that strain is only temporary since readers are rewarded in their investment by a thorough practice section that casts Yang Mills theory in the space of loops before turning to QG itself. At times in discussions of ``loop quantum gravity" the question of where kinematics ends and dynamics begins can be obscure, but not so in this text. Further, where the programme is successful is spelled out clearly. However, the programme of loop quantum gravity has adjusted somewhat since publication of this text (particularly with respect to rigorous proof of the existence of the loop transform, selection of an inner product on the Hilbert space of states, and spin foams --- which are *not* overcomplete) so readers should be warned that there is more to this story. But what is presented in this text is more then enough to whet readers appetites.

In short, this text is well worth the effort for readers seeking to understand the `loop QG' programme. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a report of a cognitive journey towards the reliable simulation of scattering problems using finite element methods. The pre-asymptotic analysis of Galerkin FEM for the Helmholtz equation with moderate and large wave number forms the core of the book. The topics include a priori and a posteriori error estimation as well as the stabilized methods. The mathematical investigation of model problems is given in close connection with the physical problem of acoustic scattering and fluid-solid interaction. Starting from the basic physical assumptions, the author methodically develops both the strong and weak forms of the governing equations. The main chapter on finite element analysis is preceded by a systematic treatment of Galerkin methods for indefinite sesquilinear forms. The book also contains broad reference material on numerical methods for the Helmholtz equation in unbounded domains, including Dirichlet-to-Neumann methods, absorbing boundary conditio! ns, infinite elements and the perfectly matched layer. In the final chapter, three dimensional computational simulations are presented and compared with experimental data. Students and researchers in mathematics, physics and engineering, as well as scientists and computational engineers working on scattering problems will find this book of interest. The author has produced a self-contained and easily readable work containing numerous illustrations of the theory with numerical examples and computational results. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive text combines fiber and integrated optics material in a one-semester text for seniors.The text is specific in its coverage of fiber optics, with physical insight into the development of ray-optic and wave-field description of waveguiding.Students will benefit from a review of the required math and electromagnetic background in Chapter 1. Sections on the latest applications such as fiber optic sensors, optical amplifiers, and optical interconnects are included. ... Read more

Book Description

PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Obsolete and full of incorrect statements
Many new discoveries and advances in particle physics and quantum field theory have been made since 1964, the year when this book was originally published. In the 1960s, this book might have been a legitimate attempt to establish a new, albeit controversial paradigm in the research of Quantum Field Theory. However the authors were not too lucky because now, exactly 40 years later, we see that Axiomatic Field Theory has not led anywhere, unlike the specific, constructive, and old-fashioned quantum field theories. Axiomatic Field Theory has given no physical predictions and it has led to no conceptual developments. Today, Axiomatic Field Theory is not an active field of physics anymore. Moreover, most of its conclusions are believed to be incorrect.

Although some sections of the book may sound familiar and they are remotely related to some topics in contemporary physics, the book does not cover the most essential parts of current quantum field theory - such as gauge theories, path integrals, Higgs mechanism, confinement, asymptotic freedom, renormalization group, dualities, solitons, instantons, semiclassical treatment of quantum gravity, string theory, and many others - and even the topics that the book tries to cover are described in a confusing way. For example, the book claims that one can always define the parity operator, which everyone today knows to be wrong, and so on.

The discovery of the Renormalization Group (RG) showed that many exact - and seemingly rigorous - ideas about the operator algebras were too naive to be true. Today, a realistic quantum field theory must be given a distance scale, and all quantities are calculated with respect to this scale. There exists almost no useful quantum field theory that would satisfy the axioms of Axiomatic Field Theory, and therefore the "theorems" derived within the framework of Axiomatic Field Theory have almost no physical impact. Although there are many correct and useful statements in the book, the number of incorrect and misleading sections is too large and it makes the book useless. There are much better recent books written at a comparable level of difficulty, e.g. "Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell" by Anthony Zee.

What is a quantum field ?
This advanced book exposes the mathematical framework of quantum field theory, as discovered by Wightman, who explained, in an article published in Physics Today, that he was led to such abstract language in order to understand the forces that bind the deuteron nucleus! This was only the beginning: present books and papers on the structure of quantum fields employ (and develop!) mathematics which make the Streater-Wightman book look like Harry Potter. Still, this book is assumed reading for all these advanced studies. It is extremely well written, for one thing. The initial chapter introduces the concept of free particle along ideas which I think belong to Wigner: particles are irreducible representations of the Poicare group. So, group theory is necessary for the grammar of quantum field theory. Fields require Schwartz distribution theory, as intuitively discovered by Bohr and Rosenfeld. Then follow general theorems for local field theory, like spin-statistics, CPT (and all that...). There is now an appendix where more modern topics are presented, but the core of the book is more or less what I described. This is a great book, written with great care and wit. It is a pity that most physicists, even quantum field theorists, did'nt read it. ... Read more

Book Description

High-level monograph focuses on an explicit treatment of the principle of general covariance as applied to electromagnetics, examining—among other subjects—the natural invariance of the Maxwell equations, general properties of the medium, nonuniformity, anisotropy and general coordinates in three-space, reciprocity and nonreciprocity, and matter-free space with a gravitational field. Of value to anyone interested in classical physics and to graduate students with a background in electromagnetic theory. 1962 ed.
... Read more

Book Description

Since the turn of the twentieth century, telecommunications has shifted from traditional voice transport to data transport, although digitized voice is still a large contributor. Instead of an evolution of existing transport standards, a revolution was necessary in order to enable additional data-related transport.

Next Generation SDH/SONET provides a detailed description of the enablers of efficient data transport over any synchronous network. These include virtual concatenation (VCAT), the operation to provide more granularity, and the link capacity adjustment scheme (LCAS), an extension of VCAT that provides more flexibility. Equally, generic framing procedure (GFP), the methodology that efficiently transports asynchronous, or variable bit-rate data signals over a synchronous or constant bit-rate, is explored in detail.

● Describes new extensions to SDH/SONET standards to provide more granularity and flexibility in their structures, enabling the efficient transport of data-related signals such as Ethernet and FICON

● Presents comprehensive sections on the implementation of multi-service transport  platforms (MSTP) enabled by VCAT, LCAS and GFP

● Provides valuable advice on how to exploit existing networks to create or extend LANs towards metro (MAN) or wide (WAN) area networks and also to support storage area (SAN) networks

This volume will appeal to manufacturers, engineers and all those involved in developing and deploying SDH, SONET and OTN technology.  It will also be an invaluable resource for postgraduate students on network communications courses. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the major goals in atomic physics is to refine our ability to manipulate the atom. This timely and authoritative book offers an overview of the role played by wavepackets in physics and chemistry. It examines dynamic processes occurring in many areas of physics and chemistry, including quantum control, quantum information, and quantum measurement systems. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent, very concise text
This book is a very nice introduction if you already have some notions of QFT. It can happily supplement Lowell Brown's book for instance. Its main characteristics is conciseness, it goes straight to the point, in the minimum expenditure of time and effort, without sacrifying mathematical correctness. Unfortunately some important topics are almost absent from the book, such as Ward identities, or infrared divergences. But the book remains self-contained despite this. ... Read more