This book discusses the current status of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and its relevance, use and applications in the data storage world at present. Starting from the origin of the protocol, this book traces the evolution of the protocol through the dark ages, when the protocol was proprietary and its transition into being an open protocol. It also discusses the current applications that use the SMB protocol as well as possible applications in the future.The analysis of ...

This book provides a compilation of in-depth articles and reviews on key topics within gravitation, cosmology and related issues. It is a celebratory volume dedicated to Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan ("Paddy"), the renowned relativist and cosmologist from IUCAA, India, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The authors, many of them leaders of their fields, are all colleagues, collaborators and former students of Paddy, who have worked with him over a research career spanning more than four decad...

Einstein said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. But was he right? Can the quantum theory of fields and Einstein's general theory of relativity, the two most accurate and successful theories in all of physics, be united in a single quantum theory of gravity? Can quantum and cosmos ever be combined? On this issue, two of the world's most famous physicists--Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time) and Roger Penrose (The Emperor...

"It would be hard to imagine a better guide to this difficult subject." -- Scientific AmericanIn Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanie...

Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose questions some of the most fashionable ideas in physics today, including string theoryWhat can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extrem...

Underpinning all the other branches of science, physics affects the way we live our lives, and ultimately how life itself functions. Recent scientific advances have led to dramatic reassessment of our understanding of the world around us, and made a significant impact on our lifestyle. In this book, leading international experts, including Nobel prize winners, explore the frontiers of modern physics, from the particles inside an atom to the stars that make up a galaxy, from nano-engineerin...

This new text surveys a series of fundamental problems in astrophysics, both analytically and computationally, for advanced students in physics and astrophysics. The contents are supported by more than 110 class-tested Mathematica® notebooks, allowing rigorous solutions to be explored in a visually engaging way. Topics covered include many classical and historically interesting problems, enabling students to appreciate the mathematical and scientific challenges that have been overcome in t...

The book is an overview of the major subfields and concepts in physics, including a brief outline of the history of physics and its subfields.Physics (from Greek from φυσικός (phusikos): natural, from φύσις (fysis): Nature) is the science of Nature in the broadest sense. Physicists study the behaviour and interactions of matter and radiation. Theories of physics are generally expressed as mathematical relations. Well-established theories are often referred to as physical laws or la...

Providing an up-to-date and lucid presentation of phenomena across modern advanced-level solid state physics, this new edition builds on an elementary understanding to introduce students to the key research topics with the minimum of mathematics. It covers cutting-edge topics, including electron transport and magnetism in solids. It is the first book to explain topological insulators and strongly correlated electrons. Explaining solid state physics in a clear and detailed way, it also has ...

Describing the physical properties of quantum materials near critical points with long-range many-body quantum entanglement, this book introduces readers to the basic theory of quantum phases, their phase transitions and their observable properties. This second edition begins with a new section suitable for an introductory course on quantum phase transitions, assuming no prior knowledge of quantum field theory. It also contains several new chapters to cover important recent advances, such ...

The Springer Handbook of Spacetime is dedicated to the ground-breaking paradigm shifts embodied in the two relativity theories, and describes in detail the profound reshaping of physical sciences they ushered in. It includes in a single volume chapters on foundations, on the underlying mathematics, on physical and astrophysical implications, experimental evidence and cosmological predictions, as well as chapters on efforts to unify general relativity and quantum physics. The Handbook can b...

This book gathers together a range of similar problems that can be encountered in different fields of modern quantum physics and that have common features with regard to multilevel quantum systems. The main motivation was to examine from a uniform standpoint various models and approaches that have been developed in atomic, molecular, condensed matter, chemical, laser and nuclear physics in various contexts. The book should help senior-level undergraduate, graduate students and researchers ...