Effective field theories have been widely used in nuclear physics. This volume is devoted to exploring the intricate structure of compact-star matter inaccessible directly from QCD. It is principally anchored on hidden symmetries and topology presumed to be encoded in QCD. It differs from standard effective field theory and energy density functional approaches in that it exploits renormalization-group flow in the complex 'vacuum' sliding with density inferred from topology change identifie...

This book presents, in the form of reviews by world's leading physicists in wide-ranging fields in theoretical physics, the influence and prescience of Skyrme's daring idea of 1960, originally conceived for nuclear physics, that fermions can arise from bosons via topological solitons, pervasively playing a powerful role in wide-ranging areas of physics, from nuclear/astrophysics, to particle physics, to string theory and to condensed matter physics.The skyrmion description, both from gauge...

This memorial volume is dedicated to physicist Gerald E Brown (1926-2013) or 'Gerry' as he was known to his many students, postdocs, colleagues and friends. As written by one of the contributors to this book, 'Gerry was an inspiring father figure for generations of theoretical nuclear physicists and a great human being'.This book covers a wide range of topics in nuclear physics, including nuclear structure, two- and three-body nuclear forces, strangeness nuclear physics, chiral symmetry, h...

This is the fifth volume in the series on the subject of quark-gluon plasma, a unique phase created in heavy-ion collisions at high energy. It contains review articles by the world experts on various aspects of quark-gluon plasma taking into account the advances driven by the latest experimental data collected at both the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The articles are pedagogical and comprehensive which can be helpful for both new researchers e...

This book is a collection of lecture notes which were presented by invited speakers at the Eleventh School on Theoretical Physics 'Symmetry and Structural Properties of Condensed Matter SSPCM 2014' in Rzeszów (Poland) in September 2014. The main challenge for the lecturers was the objective to present their subject as a review as well as in the form of introduction for beginners. Topics considered in the volume concentrate on: spin dynamics and spin transport in magnetic and non-magnetic s...

This Briefs volume describes the properties and structure of elementary excitations in isotope low-dimensional structures. Without assuming prior knowledge of quantum physics, the present book provides the basic knowledge needed to understand the recent developments in the sub-disciplines of nanoscience isotopetronics, novel device concepts and materials for nanotechnology. It is the first and comprehensive interdisciplinary account of the newly developed scientific discipline isotopetroni...

The science of magnetically confined plasmas covers the entire spectrum of physics from classical and relativistic electrodynamics to quantum mechanics. During the last sixty years of research, our initial primitive understanding of plasma physics has made impressive progress thanks to a variety of experiments — from tabletop devices with plasma temperatures of a few thousands of degrees and confinement times of less than 100 microseconds, to large tokamaks with plasma temperatures of up t...

The physics of strong light-matter coupling has been addressed in different scientific communities over the last three decades. Since the early eighties, atoms coupled to optical and microwave cavities have led to pioneering demonstrations of cavity quantum electrodynamics, Gedanken experiments, and building blocks for quantum information processing, for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2012. In the framework of semiconducting devices, strong coupling has allowed investigati...

This book provides a sound foundation for understanding abstract concepts of phase and reaction equilibria (e.g. partial molar Gibbs energy, fugacity, and activity), and shows how to apply these concepts to solve practical problems using numerous clear examples. It also presents numerical methods necessary for solving real-world problems as well the basic mathematics needed, facilitating its use as a self-study reference work. In the example problems requiring MATHCAD® for the solution, th...

This book reviews up-to-date ideas of how the luminescence radiation in semiconductors originates and how to analyze it experimentally. The book fills a gap between general textbooks on optical properties of solids and specialized monographs on luminescence. It is unique in its coherent treatment of the phenomenon of luminescence from the very introductory definitions, from light emission in bulk crystalline and amorphous materials to the advanced chapters that deal with semiconductor nano...

“French Nobel Laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is second to none in his understanding of the modern theory and application of atom-photon interactions. He is also known for his lucid and accessible writing style … Advances in Atomic Physics is an impressive and wonderful-to-read reference text … Certainly researchers in the fields of atom-photon interactions and atom traps will want it as a reference on their bookshelves … A selection of chapters may be of benefit to students: the early cha...

X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) is a powerful and versatile technique for studying structures of materials in chemistry, physics, biology and other fields. This textbook is a comprehensive, practical guide to carrying out and interpreting XAFS experiments. Assuming only undergraduate-level physics and mathematics, the textbook is ideally suited for graduate students in physics and chemistry starting XAFS-based research. It contains concise executable example programs in...