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Books > Science & Mathematics > Physics > Applied physics & special topics > Astrophysics
With a focus on modified gravity this book presents a review of the recent developments in the fields of gravity and cosmology, presenting the state of the art, high-lighting the open problems, and outlining the directions of future research. General Relativity and the CDM framework are currently the standard lore and constitute the concordance paradigm of cosmology. Nevertheless, long-standing open theoretical issues, as well as possible new observational ones arising from the explosive development of cosmology in the last two decades, offer the motivation and lead a large amount of research to be devoted in constructing various extensions and modifications. In this review all extended theories and scenarios are first examined under the light of theoretical consistency, and are then applied in various geometrical backgrounds, such as the cosmological and the spherical symmetric ones. Their predictions at both the background and perturbation levels, and concerning cosmology at early, intermediate and late times, are then confronted with the huge amount of observational data that astrophysics and cosmology has been able to offer in the last two decades. Theories, scenarios and models that successfully and efficiently pass the above steps are classified as viable and are candidates for the description of Nature, allowing readers to get a clear overview of the state of the art and where the field of modified gravity is likely to go. This work was performed in the framework of the COST European Action "Cosmology and Astrophysics Network for Theoretical Advances and Training Actions" - CANTATA.
Written by a leading expert on comets, this textbook is divided into seven main elements with a view to allowing advanced students to appreciate the interconnections between the different elements. The author opens with a brief introductory segment on the motivation for studying comets and the overall scope of the book. The first chapter describes fundamental aspects most usually addressed by ground-based observation. The author then looks at the basic physical phenomena in four separate chapters addressing the nucleus, the emitted gas, the emitted dust, and the solar wind interaction. Each chapter introduces the basic physics and chemistry but then new specific measurements by Rosetta instruments at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko are brought in. A concerted effort has been made to distinguish between established fact and conjecture. Deviations and inconsistencies are brought out and their significance explained. Links to previous observations of comets Tempel 1, Wild 2, Hartley 2, Halley and others are made. The author then closes with three smaller chapters on related objects, the loss of comets, and prospects for future exploration. This textbook includes over 275 graphics and figures - most of which are original. Thorough explanations and derivations are included throughout the chapters. The text is therefore designed to support MSc. students and new PhD students in the field wanting to gain a solid overview of the state-of-the-art.
This book presents recent results on the modelling of space plasmas with Kappa distributions and their interpretation. Hot and dilute space plasmas most often do not reach thermal equilibrium, their dynamics being essentially conditioned by the kinetic effects of plasma particles, i.e., electrons, protons, and heavier ions. Deviations from thermal equilibrium shown by these plasma particles are often described by Kappa distributions. Although well-known, these distributions are still controversial in achieving a statistical characterization and a physical interpretation of non-equilibrium plasmas. The results of the Kappa modelling presented here mark a significant progress with respect to all these aspects and open perspectives to understanding the high-resolution data collected by the new generation of telescopes and spacecraft missions. The book is directed to the large community of plasma astrophysics, including graduate students and specialists from associated disciplines, given the palette of the proposed topics reaching from applications to the solar atmosphere and the solar wind, via linear and quasilinear modelling of multi-species plasmas and waves within, to the fundamental physics of nonequilibrium plasmas.
Olbers' paradox states that given the Universe is unbounded,
governed by the standard laws of physics, and populated by light
sources, the night sky should be ablaze with light. Obviously this
is not so. However, the paradox does not lie in nature but in our
understanding of physics. A Universe with a finite age, such as
follows from big-bang theory, necessarily has galaxies of finite
age. This means we can only see some of the galaxies in the
Universe, which is the main reason why the night sky is dark. Just
how dark can be calculated using the astrophysics of galaxies and
stars and the dynamics of relativistic cosmology.
Numerical relativity has emerged as the key tool to model gravitational waves - recently detected for the first time - that are emitted when black holes or neutron stars collide. This book provides a pedagogical, accessible, and concise introduction to the subject. Relying heavily on analogies with Newtonian gravity, scalar fields and electromagnetic fields, it introduces key concepts of numerical relativity in a context familiar to readers without prior expertise in general relativity. Readers can explore these concepts by working through numerous exercises, and can see them 'in action' by experimenting with the accompanying Python sample codes, and so develop familiarity with many techniques commonly employed by publicly available numerical relativity codes. This is an attractive, student-friendly resource for short courses on numerical relativity, as well as providing supplementary reading for courses on general relativity and computational physics.
This book is a comprehensive survey of the current state of knowledge about the dynamics and gravitational properties of cosmic strings treated in the idealized classical approximation as line singularities described by the Nambu-Goto action. The author's purpose is to provide a standard reference to all work that has been published since the mid-1970s and to link this work together in a single conceptual framework and a single notational formalism. A working knowledge of basic general relativity is assumed. The book will be essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students in mathematics, theoretical physics, and astronomy interested in cosmic strings.
Interstellar dust grains catalyse chemical reactions, absorb,
scatter, polarise and re-radiate starlight and constitute the
building blocks for the formation of planets. Understanding this
interstellar component is therefore of primary importance in many
areas of astronomy & astrophysics. For example, observers need
to understand how dust effects light passing through molecular
clouds. Astrophysicists wish to comprehend how dust enables the
collapse of clouds or how it determines the spectral behaviour of
protostars, star forming regions or whole galaxies. This book gives
a thorough theoretical description of the fundamental physics of
interstellar dust: its composition, morphology, size distribution,
dynamics, optical and thermal properties, alignment, polarisation,
scattering, radiation and spectral features.
This thesis summarizes the original analysis work performed by the author on data from XENON1T, a search for dark matter with a ton-size noble liquid detector operated at Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory in Italy. The nature of dark matter is one of the most open and pressing questions of modern physics, and the unique data acquired with this detector allows the exploration and investigation of several potential scenarios. The analysis of Dr. Shockley searches for a class of elusive elementary particles that interact with the electrons of ordinary atoms, instead of the nucleus. Results of the analysis present, with high confidence, an excess with respect to the expected background. Beyond more mundane explanations, this additional rate of electron-mediated interactions might be a first hint of physics beyond the standard model. This accessible thesis provides details on the detector, the data, and the theory, delivering to the reader an in-depth and coherent picture of the search for physics beyond the standard model.
Owing to the increased accuracy requirements in fields such as astrometry and geodesy the general theory of relativity must be taken into account for any mission requiring highly accurate orbit information and for practically all observation and measurement techniques. This book highlights the confluence of Applied Mathematics, Physics and Space Science as seen from Einstein's general theory of relativity and aims to bridge the gap between theoretical and applied domains. The book investigates three distinct areas of general relativity: Exact solutions of the Einstein field equations of gravitation. Dynamics of near-Earth objects and solar system bodies. Relativistic orbitography. This book is an updated and expanded version of the author's PhD thesis which was awarded the International Astronomical Union PhD prize in Division A: Fundamental Astronomy. Included is a new introduction aimed at graduate students of General Relativity and extended discussions and results on topics in post-Newtonian dynamics and general relativistic spacecraft propagation.
Accretion disks are ubiquitous in our universe, and produce intense brightening. How does the gas in the disk lose its angular momentum to release massive amounts of gravitational energy? This is one of the biggest open questions in astronomy. This book studies four types of newly detected outbursts in dwarf novae through optical observations and/or numerical simulations and puts forward physical interpretations of these outbursts on the basis of the disk instability model, the most plausible model for dwarf-nova outbursts. It demonstrates that the disk-instability model can explain rich variety in dwarf-nova outbursts if some new aspects are taken into account (e.g. the extremely slow growth of tidal instability and thermal instability in the disk misaligned against the binary orbital plane). Moreover, it shares valuable insights on the evolution of binary systems by finding period bouncers and dwarf novae with F-type companion stars, which are rare objects.
Unifying the Universe: The Physics of Heaven and Earth presents a non-technical approach to physics for the lay-science enthusiast. This popular textbook, which evolved from a conceptual course at Cornell University, is intended for non-science undergraduate students taking their first physics module. This second edition maintains its unique approach in crossing boundaries between physics and humanities, with connections to art, poetry, history, and philosophy. It explores how the process of scientific thought is inextricably linked with cultural, creative, and aesthetic aspects of human endeavor, opening the readers up to new ways of looking at the world. The text has been fully updated throughout to address current and exciting new topics in the field, such as exo-planets, the accelerating Universe, dark matter, dark energy, gravitational waves, super-symmetry, string theory, big bang cosmology, and the Higgs boson. There is also an entirely new chapter on the Quantum World, which connects the fascinating topics of quantum entanglement and quantum computing. Key Features: Provides a solid, yet accessible, background to basic physics without complex mathematics Uses a human interest approach to show how science is significant for more than its technological consequences Discusses the arts and philosophies of historical periods that are pertinent to the subject
The review papers in this volume provide an in-depth examination of complex astrophysical phenomena of star formation via multi-wavelength observations and modeling. Among the fundamental issues discussed in the book are: The role of gravity and magnetized turbulence in the formation and evolution of molecular clouds The stellar feedback (supernovae, HII regions, winds, cosmic rays) in regulating star formation The origin of the stellar initial mass function and its universality across various environments Jets, magnetic fields and high energy particles in stellar clusters The origin of the first stars and black holes The goal of these papers is to review the major processes governing star formation and to investigate how they are interlinked. In doing so, they provide an in-depth look at the tremendous theoretical and observational progress that has been made in the recent past and also outline future perspectives. Previously published in Space Science Reviews in the Topical Collection "Star Formation"
This book focuses on new experimental and theoretical advances concerning the role of strange and heavy-flavour quarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions and in astrophysical phenomena. The topics covered include * Strangeness and heavy-quark production in nuclear collisions and hadronic interactions, * Hadron resonances in the strongly-coupled partonic and hadronic medium, * Bulk matter phenomena associated with strange and heavy quarks, * QCD phase structure, * Collectivity in small systems, * Strangeness in astrophysics,* Open questions and new developments.
A thorough introduction to modern ideas on cosmology and on the
physical basis of the general theory of relativity, An Introduction
to the Science of Cosmology explores various theories and ideas in
big bang cosmology, providing insight into current problems.
Assuming no previous knowledge of astronomy or cosmology, this book
takes you beyond introductory texts to the point where you are able
to read and appreciate the scientific literature, which is broadly
referenced in the book. The authors present the standard big bang
theory of the universe and provide an introduction to current
inflationary cosmology, emphasizing the underlying physics without
excessive technical detail.
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.
This book seeks to present a new way of thinking about the interaction of gravitational fields with quantum systems. Despite the massive amounts of research and experimentation, the myriad meetings, seminars and conferences, all of the articles, treatises and books, and the seemingly endless theorization, quantization and just plain speculation that have been engaged in regarding our evolving understanding of the quantum world, that world remains an enigma, even to the experts. The usefulness of general relativity in this regard has proven to be imperfect at best, but there is a new approach. We do not simply have to accept the limitations of Einstein's most celebrated theorem in regard to quantum theory; we can also embrace them, and thereby utilize them, to reveal new facts about the behavior of quantum systems within inertial and gravitational fields, and therefore about the very structure of space-time at the quantum level. By taking existing knowledge of the essential functionality of spin (along with the careful identification of the omnipresent inertial effects) and applying it to the quantum world, the book gives the reader a much clearer picture of the difference between the classical and quantum behaviors of a particle, shows that Einstein's ideas may not be as incompatible within this realm as many have come to believe, sparks new revelations of the way in which gravity affects quantum systems and brings a new level of efficiency-quantum efficiency, if you will-to the study of gravitational theory.
This thesis develops the dispersive optical model into a tool that allows for the assessment of the validity of nuclear reaction models, thereby generating unambiguous removal probabilities of nucleons from valence orbits using the electron-induced proton knockout reaction. These removal probabilities document the substantial quantitative degree in which nuclei deviate from the independent-particle model description. Another outcome reported within is the prediction for the neutron distribution of Ca-40, Ca-48, and Pb-208. The neutron radii of these nuclei have direct relevance for the understanding of neutron stars and are currently the subject of delicate experiments. Unlike other approaches, the current method is consistent with all other relevant data and describes nuclei beyond the independent-particle model. Finally, a new interpretation of the saturation probabilities of infinite nuclear matter is proposed suggesting that the semi-empirical mass formula must be supplemented with a better extrapolation from nuclei to infinite matter.
Determining orbits for natural and artificial celestial bodies is an essential step in the exploration and understanding of the Solar System. However, recent progress in the quality and quantity of data from astronomical observations and spacecraft tracking has generated orbit determination problems which cannot be handled by classical algorithms. This book presents new algorithms capable of handling the millions of bodies which could be observed by next generation surveys, and which can fully exploit tracking data with state-of-the-art levels of accuracy. After a general mathematical background and summary of classical algorithms, the new algorithms are introduced using the latest mathematical tools and results, to which the authors have personally contributed. Case studies based on actual astronomical surveys and space missions are provided, with applications of these new methods. Intended for graduate students and researchers in applied mathematics, physics, astronomy and aerospace engineering, this book is also of interest to non-professional astronomers.
This is the first monograph dedicated entirely to problems of stability and chaotic behaviour in planetary systems and its subsystems. The author explores the three rapidly developing interplaying fields of resonant and chaotic dynamics of Hamiltonian systems, the dynamics of Solar system bodies, and the dynamics of exoplanetary systems. The necessary concepts, methods and tools used to study dynamical chaos (such as symplectic maps, Lyapunov exponents and timescales, chaotic diffusion rates, stability diagrams and charts) are described and then used to show in detail how the observed dynamical architectures arise in the Solar system (and its subsystems) and in exoplanetary systems. The book concentrates, in particular, on chaotic diffusion and clearing effects. The potential readership of this book includes scientists and students working in astrophysics, planetary science, celestial mechanics, and nonlinear dynamics.
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the radiation left over from the Big Bang, is arguably the most important topic in modern cosmology. Its theory and observation have revolutionized cosmology from an order-of-magnitude science to a precision science. This graduate textbook describes CMB physics from first principles in a detailed yet pedagogical way, assuming only that the reader has a working knowledge of General Relativity. Among the changes in this second edition are new chapters on non-Gaussianities in the CMB and on large-scale structure, and extended discussions on lensing and baryon acoustic oscillations, topics that have developed significantly in the last decade. Discussions of CMB experiments have been updated from WMAP data to the new Planck data. The CMB success story in estimating cosmological parameters is then treated in detail, conveying the beauty of the interplay of theoretical understanding and precise experimental measurements.
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST, OBSERVER, NEW SCIENTIST, BBC FOCUS, INDEPENDENT AND WASHINGTON POST 'A rollicking tour of the wildest physics. . . Like an animated discussion with your favourite quirky and brilliant professor' Leah Crane, New Scientist 'Weird science, explained beautifully' - John Scalzi We know the universe had a beginning. But what happens at the end of the story? With lively wit and wry humour, astrophysicist Katie Mack takes us on a mind-bending tour through each of the cosmos' possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, Vacuum Decay, the Big Rip and the Bounce. Guiding us through major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory and much more, she describes how small tweaks to our incomplete understanding of reality can result in starkly different futures. Our universe could collapse in upon itself, or rip itself apart, or even - in the next five minutes - succumb to an inescapable expanding bubble of doom. This captivating story of cosmic escapism examines a mesmerizing yet unfamiliar physics landscape while sharing the excitement a leading astrophysicist feels when thinking about the universe and our place in it. Amid stellar explosions and bouncing universes, Mack shows that even though we puny humans have no chance of changing how it all ends, we can at least begin to understand it. The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.
The origin of the solar system has been a matter of speculation for
many centuries, and since the time of Newton it has been possible
to apply scientific principles to the problem. A succession of
theories, starting with that of Pierre Laplace in 1796, has gained
general acceptance, only to fall from favor due to its
contradiction in some basic scientific principle or new heavenly
observation. Modern observations by spacecraft of the solar system,
the stars, and extra-solar planetary systems continuously provide
new information that may be helpful in finding a plausible theory
as well as present new constraints for any such theory to satisfy.
The origin of the solar system has been a matter of speculation for
many centuries, and since the time of Newton it has been possible
to apply scientific principles to the problem. A succession of
theories, starting with that of Pierre Laplace in 1796, has gained
general acceptance, only to fall from favor due to its
contradiction in some basic scientific principle or new heavenly
observation. Modern observations by spacecraft of the solar system,
the stars, and extra-solar planetary systems continuously provide
new information that may be helpful in finding a plausible theory
as well as present new constraints for any such theory to satisfy.
A unified theory embracing all physical phenomena is a major goal
of theoretical physics. In the early 1980s, many physicists looked
to eleven-dimensional supergravity in the hope that it might
provide that elusive superunified theory. In 1984 supergravity was
knocked off its pedestal by ten-dimensional superstrings,
one-dimensional objects whose vibrational modes represent the
elementary particles. Superstrings provided a perturbative finite
theory of gravity which, after compactification to four spacetime
dimensions, seemed in principle capable of explaining the Standard
Model. Despite these major successes, however, nagging doubts
persisted about superstrings. Then in 1987 and 1992 the elementary
supermembrane and its dual partner, the solitonic superfivebrane,
were discovered. These are supersymmetric extended objects with
respectively two and five dimensions moving in an
eleven-dimensional spacetime.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. The first part discusses the basic theoretical and observational topics related to black hole astrophysics; the optics and the detectors employed in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy; and past, present, and future X-ray and gamma-ray missions. The second part then describes data reduction and analysis, the statistics used in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, and demonstrates how to write a successful proposal and a scientific paper. Data reduction in connection with specific X-ray and gamma-ray missions is covered in the appendices. Presenting the state of the art in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, this is both a valuable textbook for students and an important reference resource for researchers in the field. |
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