This textbook is a unique and ambitious primer of nuclear physics, which introduces recent theoretical and experimental progresses starting from basics in fundamental quantum mechanics. The highlight is to offer an overview of nuclear structure phenomena relevant to recent key findings such as unstable halo nuclei, superheavy elements, neutron stars, nucleosynthesis, the standard model, lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD), and chiral effective theory. An additional attraction is that general properties of nuclei are comprehensively explained from both the theoretical and experimental viewpoints. The book begins with the conceptual and mathematical basics of quantum mechanics, and goes into the main point of nuclear physics - nuclear structure, radioactive ion beam physics, and nuclear reactions. The last chapters devote interdisciplinary topics in association with astrophysics and particle physics. A number of illustrations and exercises with complete solutions are given. Each chapter is comprehensively written starting from fundamentals to gradually reach modern aspects of nuclear physics with the objective to provide an effective description of the cutting edge in the field.

Visual Astronomy introduces the basics of observational astronomy, a fundamentally limitless opportunity to learn about the universe with your unaided eyes or with tools such as binoculars, telescopes, or cameras.

The Arctic: A Barometer of Global Climate Variability provides a comprehensive source of information on all aspects of the Arctic region. Through thorough research, first-hand accounts and case studies, the book details international arctic research initiatives and native environments, including flora and fauna. Sections explore the impact of climate change, the effect of the Arctic on climate change, the environmental issues facing the region and how it is adapting. It is also a must-read source of information for polar scientists, applicable PhD students, early researchers, environmental scholars, and anyone searching for information on any aspect of the Arctic region. Users will find a great resource that brings together all aspects of Arctic research into one concise book.

Monitoring drought’s slow evolution and identifying the end of a drought is still a big challenge for scientists, natural resource managers, and decision makers. This comprehensive two-volume set with contributions from over 200 experts, and featuring case studies representing numerous countries throughout the world, discusses different aspects of drought from types, indices, and forecasting to monitoring, modeling, and mitigation measures. It also addresses how climate change is impacting drought and decision-making concluding with lessons learned about science, policy, and managing uncertainty. Features: Provides a global perspective on drought prediction and management and a synthesis of the recent state of knowledge. Covers a wide range of topics from essential concepts and advanced techniques for forecasting and modeling drought to societal impacts, consequences, and planning Presents numerous case studies with different management approaches from different regions and countries. Addresses how climate change impacts drought, the increasing challenges associated with managing drought, decision making, and policy implications. Includes contributions from hundreds of experts around the world. Professionals, researchers, academics, and postgraduate students with knowledge in Environmental Sciences, Ecology, Agriculture, Forestry, Hydrology, Water Resources Engineering, and Earth Sciences, as well as those interested in how climate change impacts drought management, will gain new insights from the experts featured in this two-volume handbook.

Structure and Evolution of Single Stars: An introduction is intended for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduates with a background in physics. Following a brief overview of the background observational material, the basic equations describing the structure and evolution of single stars are derived. The relevant physical processes, which include the equation of state, opacity, nuclear reactions and neutrino losses are then reviewed. Subsequent chapters describe the evolution of low-mass stars from formation to the final white dwarf phase. The final chapter deals with the evolution of massive stars.

This is an in-depth look at baryon number violation in the Standard Model including the necessary background in finite temperature field theory, plasma dynamics and how to calculate the out of equilibrium evolution of particle number densities throughout a phase transition. It is a self-contained pedagogical review of the theoretical background to electroweak baryogenesis as well as a summary of the other prevailing mechanisms for producing the asymmetry between matter and antimatter using the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model as a pedagogical tool whenever appropriate.

Electric glow discharges (glows) can be found almost everywhere, from atmospheric electricity to modern plasma technologies, and have long been the object of research. The main purpose of this book is to provide simple illustrations of the basic physical mechanisms and principles that determine the properties of electric glow discharges. It should enable readers to successfully participate in scientific and technical progress.

This book covers some fundamental aspects and frontiers in non-equilibrium physics and soft matter research. Apart from the basic knowledge on nonlinear statistic physics, dynamics, computer simulations, and main approaches and emerging systems in soft matter research, particular attention is devoted to new conceptual flexible functional materials and the enriching areas, such as silk meso-molecular materials, molecular gels, liquid crystals, flexible electronics and new types of catalysis, etc. One of the main characteristics of this book is to start with the structure formation dynamics and the correlation between the structures and macroscopic performance. This lays down the foundation for the mesoscopic materials design and functionalization. The book is intended for upper undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers who are interested in soft matter researches. As one of main references, the basic principles and technologies of computer simulations and experimental methods adopted in soft matter research are also explained. Illustrations and tables are included in this book to improve the readability, and examples and exercises are added to help understanding.

This volume provides a detailed description of some of the most active areas in astrophysics from the largest scales probed by the Planck satellite to massive black holes that lie at the heart of galaxies and up to the much awaited but stunning discovery of thousands of exoplanets. It contains the following chapters: * Jean-Philippe UZAN, The Big-Bang Theory: Construction, Evolution and Status * Jean-Loup PUGET, The Planck Mission and the Cosmic Microwave Background * Reinhard GENZEL, Massive Black Holes: Evidence, Demographics and Cosmic Evolution * Arnaud CASSAN, New Worlds Ahead: The Discovery of Exoplanets Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy'", alongside Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity". The book corresponds to the twentieth Poincare Seminar, held on November 21, 2015, at Institut Henri Poincare in Paris. Originally written as lectures to a broad scientific audience, these four chapters are of high value and will be of general interest to astrophysicists, physicists, mathematicians and historians.

The diverse planetary environments in the solar system react in somewhat different ways to the encompassing influence of the Sun. These different interactions define the electrostatic phenomena that take place on and near planetary surfaces. The desire to understand the electrostatic environments of planetary surfaces goes beyond scientific inquiry. These environments have enormous implications for both human and robotic exploration of the solar system. This book describes in some detail what is known about the electrostatic environment of the solar system from early and current experiments on Earth as well as what is being learned from the instrumentation on the space exploration missions (NASA, European Space Agency, and the Japanese Space Agency) of the last few decades. It begins with a brief review of the basic principles of electrostatics.

This book is aimed at advanced undergraduates, graduate students and other researchers who possess an introductory background in materials physics and/or chemistry, and an interest in the physical and chemical properties of novel materials, especially transition metal oxides. New materials often exhibit novel phenomena of great fundamental and technological importance. Contributing authors review the structural, physical and chemical properties of notable 4d- and 5d-transition metal oxides discovered over the last 10 years. These materials exhibit extraordinary physical properties that differ significantly from those of the heavily studied 3d-transition metal oxides, mainly due to the relatively strong influence of the spin- orbit interaction and orbital order in 4d- and 5d materials. The immense growth in publications addressing the physical properties of these novel materials underlines the need to document recent advances and the current state of this field. This book includes overviews of the current experimental situation concerning these materials.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics "merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."

This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
* Contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

This title is a greatly expanded and updated second edition of the original volume published by Elsevier in 1986. New material has been integrated with the original content in an organized and comprehensive manner.
Five new chapters have been included, which review over one and a half decades of research into lipid-coated microbubbles (LCM) and their medical applications. The new chapters contain much experimental data, which is examined in detail, along with relevant current literature.
This current edition builds on the original work in effectively filling the gap in the market for a comprehensive account of the surfactant stabilization of coated microbubbles.
- Presents updated results from extensive multidisciplinary research on coated microbubbles
- Greatly expanded and updated 2nd edition, with five new chapters
- Fills the gap for a comprehensive and up-to-date account of subject matter