"Here's a gem of a book...all peppered with delightful notes from science fiction films, novels, and comics. I can't turn a page without finding a jewel." Clifford Stoll, University of California, Berkeley, author of The Cuckoo's Egg "The research that has gone into this book is impressive." Nature "For professional physicists much of the value lies in the extensive technical appendices and footnotes, and the exhaustive list of references. But if, like me, you are a child at heart, the real fun lies in the zany stories and wild speculations." Physics World Time Machines explores the idea of time travel from the first account in English literature to the latest theories of physicists such as Kip Thorne and Igor Novikov. This very readable work covers a variety of topics including the history of time travel in fiction; the fundamental scientific concepts of time, spacetime, and the fourth dimension; the speculations of Einstein, Richard Feynman, Kurt Goedel, and others; time travel paradoxes, and much more.

Theideatocelebrate50yearsoftheSalpeterIMFoccurredduringtherecent IAU General Assembly in Sydney, Australia. Indeed, it was from Australia that in July 1954 Ed Salpeter submitted his famous paper "The Luminosity Function and Stellar Evolution" with the rst derivation of the empirical stellar IMF. This contribution was to become one of the most famous astrophysics papers of the last 50 years. Here, Ed Salpeter introduced the terms "original mass function" and "original luminosity function", and estimated the pro- bility for the creation of stars of given mass at a particular time, now known as the "Salpeter Initial Mass Function", or IMF. The paper was written at the Australian National University in Canberra on leave of absence from Cornell University (USA) and was published in 1955 as 7 page note in the Astroph- ical Journal Vol. 121, page 161. To celabrate the 50th anniversary of the IMF, along with Ed Salpeter's 80th birthday, we have organized a special meeting that brought together scientists involved in the empirical determination of this fundamental quantity in a va- ety of astrophysical contexts and other scientists fascinated by the deep imp- cations of the IMF on star formation theories, on the physical conditions of the gas before and after star formation, and on galactic evolution and cosmology. The meeting took place in one of the most beautiful spots of the Tuscan countryside, far from the noise and haste of everyday life.

During the last week of September 1968, ESRIN (the European Space Research Institute) held the ESRIN-ESLAB Symposium on 'Low-Frequency Waves and Irregularities in the Ionosphere' in Frascati, near Rome. The symposium was attended by about 60 participants, including speakers from most of the ESRO member states, the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R., and Peru. The main topics covered were: (a) observations of ionospheric irregularities by radar scattering, (b) scintillations of satellite signals, (c) geomagnetic micropulsations, and (d) whistlers. Both theoretical and observational aspects were treated. In addition, laboratory results on low-frequency waves in plasmas were discussed, emphasis being given to their possible relevance to low-frequency ionospheric phenomena. Finally, a brief presentation (not included in these proceedings) of the ESRO rocket and satellite program was given by Dr. Pedersen of ESLAB. The symposium provided an exchange of information among workers in closely related fields. It was also valuable in bringing together people whose experience is predominantly in ionospheric observations with others whose field of interest is mainly in plasma physics (theoretical or laboratory) - a combination that seemed particularly appropriate to ESRIN's program and functions.

The proceedings of this workshop should probably be prefaced with a few words on some of the more confusing jargon. The phrases "Very Low-Mass star" , "VLM star", or simply "VLM" are now used fairly uniformly by as tronomers studying the stars at the bottom of the hydrogen-burning stellar main sequence - unfortunately, however, there is no clear definition as to what constitutes a VLM star. The reader should be warned that VLM stars are variously considered to be stars with; masses less than 0.3M ; masses 0 less than 0.1M ; spectra later than about M6-7; luminosities fainter than 0 Mv = 15; or luminosities fainter than Mbol = 12. The important features of a VLM star, however, would seem to be (1) that it is about as faint as a star can be, and (2) that it still remains a star (ie. it still burns hydrogen) . All of the above criteria, therefore, would seem to qualify an object as a VLM star, and requiring a more stringent definition is probably quibbling.

The book summarizes research into the fundamental properties of the outer Milky Way (including its mass, scale and rotation properties) and covers topics such as spiral structure, the interstellar medium, star formation, satellites of the Milky Way and the outer parts of some nearby galaxies. It contains new work on the outer rotation curve of the Milky Way, first results of a new low frequency galactic disk survey, new results on the scale of the Galaxy (the distance of the Sun from the center and the relation of the disk of the Milky Way to the halo). This is the first volume specifically dedicated to outer galaxy research. Professional astronomers and astrophysicists as well as graduate students will welcome this book as a guide in understanding the outer parts of the Milky Way and also other galaxies.

One of the world's most distinguished astrophysicists presents a comprehensive theoretical treatment of the dynamical evolution of globular clusters. Lyman Spitzcr's research in this field established the framework for decades of investigation. Now he summarizes in a unified, systematic way this branch of theoretical astrophysics with its still challenging problems.

Originally published in 1988.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Devised for a quantitative understanding of the physics of the universe from the solar system through the milky way to clusters of galaxies all the way to cosmology, this acclaimed text offers among the most concise and most critical ones of extant works. Special chapters are devoted to magnetic and radiation processes, disks, black-hole candidacy, bipolar flows, cosmic rays, gamma-ray bursts, image distortions, and special sources. At the same time, planet earth is viewed as the arena for life, with plants and animals having evolved to homo sapiens during cosmic time. This text is unique in covering the basic qualitative and quantitative tools, formulae as well as numbers, needed to for the precise interpretation of frontline phenomena.

This is the second ESO workshop in aseries dedicated to science oppor tunities with the VLT. At the first workshop all areas of astronomical research were discussed. This second workshop is dedicated to research projects on the early Universe and has provided a forum for discussing strategies for studying faint distant objects in the optical and infrared spectral regions. This field is evolving very rapidly. There are several new surveys of galax ies and clusters of galaxies at intermediate redshift and quasars at very high redshift. Major advances in the morphological studies of distant galaxies, surveys of galaxies at high redshift and searches for primeval galaxies have been rendered possible by the new facilities provided by the Rubble Space Telescope and the Keck Telescope. Observational constraints on the evolution and formation of galaxies and large-scale structures as well as the cosmic chemical evolution were criti cally discussed with regard to theory and numerical simulations. In this context, the VLT first generation instrument capabilities were presented comprehensively and their use as cosmological tools discussed . The concluding remarks of the workshop focussed on the analysis of var ious possibilities for the VLT second generation instrumentation. Many of these topics were covered by invited reviews and talks, as well as some contributed talks. They are included in this volume together with the poster papers.

This is an exhaustive survey of present-day solar research including both theory and observations. It deals with eruptive flares, filament eruption in x-rays and radio waves, energy release and transport, and terrestrial response to solar flares. Details of the most recent SOLAR-A project (launched shortly after the conference) are also presented.

This volume gives and excellent survey of our present knowledge of molecularprocesses in stellar and proto-stellar objects. It reviews molecular physicsin stellar environments and is intended to bridge the gap between astrophysicists and chemists. The topics range from the theoretical to the computational and include observational data. Among the topics treated are questions of stellar evolution, the determination of physical propertiesand structures , and the chemical composition of stellar protospheres. Opacity is studied in the context of various types of stellar and proto-stellar objects.

The recent discovery of a type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud provides a rare chance to compare models of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis directly with observations. This workshop covers thermonuclear reaction rates in chaos (experimental and theoretical), stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis and isotopic anomalies in meteorites and, in a final section, the supernovae, in particular SN 1987A. It brings the most interesting news in the rapidly developing field of nuclear astrophysics to researchers and also to graduate students. Recent and future developments are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on experimental and theoretical approaches to obtaining nuclear reaction rates, models of stellar evolution and explosions, and theories of nucleosynthesis. Various aspects of stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, and thermonuclear reactions of astrophysical interest are reviewed. Several contributions deal with supernova explosions of massive stars, and in particular with Supernova 1987A and its impact on current models of the evolution of massive stars, the gravitational collapse of stellar cores, and neutrino physics and astronomy.

This book addresses graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics. The first part is devoted to galactic high-energy astrophysics. It treats particle accelerations (including shocks), the interstellar medium and supernovae remnants, high-energy emissions from normal stars and accretion in close binaries. The second part deals with observationslike pulsar timing, and its measurement with radioastronomical tools, and astrometry, as performed in the HIPPARCOS satellite program.

Recent research on the solar-stellar system has been triggered by a host of recent observational data, in particular from space based observations. For this conference the major topics selected centered on new measurement capabilities (magnetic fields and infrared, with specific emphasis on the new IRAS results), important classes of stars (F stars, M dwarfs and giants, and pre-main sequence stars), and interesting unanswered questions (the nature of nonthermal phenomena, heating processes, angular momentum evolution, and the existence and cause of the corona/wind dividing line). Each section is opened by two or more invited lectures aimed at a wide audience, including graduate students, and continues with some research papers. The proceedings also record the two general discussions on the role of magnetic fields in cool star atmospheres and the role of monitoring programs for studies of cool stars (see also Lecture Notes in Physics Vol. 292).

The study of the magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, as well as those of other planets, stars, and galaxies, has a long history and a rich and varied literature, including in recent years a number of review articles and books dedicated to the dynamo theories of these fields. Against this background of work, some explanation of the scope and purpose of the present monograph, and of the presentation and organization of the material, is therefore needed. Dynamo theory offers an explanation of natural magnetism as a phenomenon of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the dynamics governing the evolution and interaction of motions of an electrically conducting fluid and electromagnetic fields. A natural starting point for a dynamo theory assumes the fluid motion to be a given vector field, without regard for the origin of the forces which drive it. The resulting kinematic dynamo theory is, in the non-relativistic case, a linear advection-diffusion problem for the magnetic field. This kinematic theory, while far simpler than its magnetohydrodynamic counterpart, remains a formidable analytical problem since the interesting solutions lack the easiest symmetries. Much ofthe research has focused on the simplest acceptable flows and especially on cases where the smoothing effect of diffusion can be exploited. A close analog is the advection and diffusion of a scalar field by laminar flows, the diffusion being measured by an appropriate Peclet number. This work has succeeded in establishing dynamo action as an attractive candidate for astrophysical magnetism.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts, which has appeared in semi-annual volumes since 1969, is de voted to the recording, summarizing and indexing of astronomical publications throughout the world. It is prepared under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (according to a resolution adopted at the 14th General Assembly in 1970). Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts aims to present a comprehensive documentation of literature in all fields of astronomy and astrophysics. Every effort will be made to ensure that the averagetime interval between the date of receipt of the original literature and publication ofthe abstracts will not exceed eight months. This time interval is near to that achieved by monthly abstracting journals, com pared to which our system of accumulating abstracts for about six months offers the advantage of greater convenience for the user. Volume 17 contains literature published in 1976 and received before August 15, 1976; some older literature which was received late and which is not recorded in earlier volumes is also included. We acknowledge with thanks contributions to this volume by Dr. J. Bouska, who surveyed journals and publications in the Czech languageand supplied us with abstracts in English, and by the Common wealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (C.S.I.R.O.), Sydney, for providing titles and abstracts of papers on radio astronomy. We want to acknowledge valuable contributions to this vol ume by Zentralstelle fur Atomkernenergie-Dokumentation, Leopoldshafen, which supported our ab stracting service by sending us retrospective literature searches."

In this volume seven leading theoreticians and experimenters review the origin of the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the Big Bang, solar neutrinos, the physics of enormous densities and temperatures in stars and of immense magnetic fields around collapsed stars, strong electric fields in heavy ion collisions, and the extreme conditions in quark-gluon plasmas. The articles address nuclear and particle physicists, especially graduate students, but also astrophysicists and cosmologists, since they have to deal with events under the extreme physical conditions discussed here.

The articles collected in this volume cover topics ranging from Planck-scale physics to galaxy clustering. They deal with various new ideas from cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics that might lead to a better understanding of our physical universe. Among the topics covered are inflationary models, nucleosynthesis, dark matter, large-scale clustering, cosmic microwave background radiations and more. The book addresses researchers but it also gives a good overview of the subject for graduate students in astrophysics and particle physics.

The five lectures presented in this volume address very timely mathematical problems in relativity and cosmology. "Part I" is devoted to the initial value and evolution problems of the Einstein equations. Especially it deals with the Einstein-Yang-Mills-Boltzmann system, fluid models with finite or infinite conductivity, global evolution of a new (two-phase) model for gravitational collapse and the structure of maximal, asymptotically flat, vacuum solutions of the constraint equations which have the additional property of containing trapped surfaces. "Part II" focuses on geometrical-topological problems in relativity and cosmology: on the role of cosmic censorship for the global structure of the Einstein-Maxwell equations and on the mathematical structure of quantum conformal superspace.

The outstanding question in astronomy at the turn of the twentieth century was: What are the stars and why are they as they are? In this volume, the story of how the answer to this fundamental question was unravelled is narrated in an informal style, with emphasis on the underlying physics. Although the foundations of astrophysics were laid down by 1870, and the edifice was sufficiently built up by 1920, the definitive proof of many of the prescient conjectures made in the 1920s and 1930s came to be established less than ten years ago. This book discusses these recent developments in the context of discussing the nature of the stars, their stability and the source of the energy they radiate.

Reading this book will get young students excited about the presently unfolding revolution in astronomy and the challenges that await them in the world of physics, engineering and technology. General readers will also find the book appealing for its highly accessible narrative of the physics of stars.

... "The readers will find Dr Srinivasan, an internationally acclaimed leader in this enterprise, to be a clear and enthusiastic guide to the wonders and mysteries of the cosmos."

Lord Martin Rees

Astronomer Royal

Master of Trinity College, Cambridge

"I know of no comparable book in the present-day literature that so successfully conveys ""the excitement of the development of ideas pertaining to the physics of stars, including the newest discoveries, and at the same time explains the fundamentals so well. "

""

E. P. J. van den Heuvel

Professor of Astrophysics

Winner of the Spinoza and Descartes Prizes

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

"

The articles in this book deal with energetic hadron processes near astrophysical compact objects, including compact binary systems and active galactic nuclei. A variety of observational results suggest that relativistic hadrons can be produced in the vicinity of these objects. Amongthe topics treated in detail are the question whether a large fraction of the energy produced by active galactic nuclei is channeled into a population of relativistic protons and the problem of the origin of very high and ultra-high energy gamma rays from galactic compact sources.

This book provides an overview of the basic concepts and new methods in the emerging scientific area known as quantum plasmas. In the near future, quantum effects in plasmas will be unavoidable, particularly in high density scenarios such as those in the next-generation intense laser-solid density plasma experiment or in compact astrophysics objects. Currently, plasmas are in the forefront of many intriguing questions around the transition from microscopic to macroscopic modeling of charged particle systems. Quantum Plasmas: an Hydrodynamic Approach is devoted to the quantum hydrodynamic model paradigm, which, unlike straight quantum kinetic theory, is much more amenable to investigate the nonlinear realm of quantum plasmas. The reader will have a step-by-step construction of the quantum hydrodynamic method applied to plasmas. The book is intended for specialists in classical plasma physics interested in methods of quantum plasma theory, as well as scientists interested in common aspects of two major areas of knowledge: plasma and quantum theory. In these chapters, the quantum hydrodynamic model for plasmas, which has continuously evolved over the past decade, will be summarized to include both the development and applications of the method.

The series Advances in the Physics of Particles and Nuclei (APPN) is devoted to the archiving, in printed high-quality book format, of the comprehensive, long shelf-life reviews published in The European Physical Journal A and C. APPN will be of benefit in particular to those librarians and research groups, who have chosen to have only electronic access to these journals. Occasionally, original material in review format and refereed by the series' editorial board will also be
included.

This volume contains the following two reviews:
Nora Brambilla et al.: Heavy Quarkonium: Progress, Puzzles and Opportunities Daniel Wicke: Properties of the Top Quark

This is perhaps the most complete, detailed and readable story of manned space-flight ever published. The text begins with the historical origins of the dream of walking on the Moon, covers the earliest Mercury and Gemini flights and then moves on to the end of the Apollo era. In readable, fascinating detail, Hamish Lindsay - who was directly involved in all three programs - chronicles mankind's greatest adventure with a great narrative, interviews, quotes and masses of photographs, including some previously unpublished. In addition to bringing the history of these missions to life the book serves as a detailed reference for space enthusiasts and students.

This collection of papers presents a rather complete review of current knowledge of hot spots in some strong extragalactic radio sources. An overview of known results along with new data on radio observations and optical observations is given in the first and second parts of the book. Recent computational techniques which allow modelling and simulations of hot spots and jet behaviour are presented in the third part. The fourth part discusses particle acceleration and shock front phenomena. The articles will help the reader to appreciate the role hot spots play as laboratories for studying the interaction of jets with the surrounding medium and for testing our understanding of the overall source dynamics. The book is a valuable complement to the existing literature and an excellent introduction to this fairly new field of research.