This thesis presents several significant new results that shed light on two major puzzles of modern cosmology: the nature of inflation, the very early phase of the universe that is thought to have given rise to the large-scale structures that we observe today; and that of the current accelerated expansion. In particular, it develops a clean method for characterizing linear cosmological perturbations for general theories where gravity is modified and/or affected by a new component, called dark energy, responsible for the accelerated expansion. It proposes a new extension to what were long thought to be the most general scalar field theories devoid of instabilities, and demonstrates the robustness of the relation between the energy scale of inflation and the predicted amplitude of gravitational waves. Finally, it consolidates a set of consistency relations between correlation functions of the cosmological density field and investigates the phenomenological consequences of their potential violation. Presented in a clear, succinct and rigorous style, each of these original results is both profound and important and will leave a deep mark on the field.

This Festschrift dedicated to the 60th birth anniversary of Prof. Sandip K. Chakrabarti, a well-known Indian astrophysicist, presents a collection of contributions by about fifty scientists who work on diverse topics in contemporary astrophysics and space science including new and low-cost balloon borne experiments, planetary science, astrochemistry and the origin of life, ionospheric research and earthquake predictions, relativistic astrophysics around black holes, and finally, the observational signatures and radiative properties of compact objects. All the authors are well known scholars in their respective subject and are all PhD students of Prof. Sandip K. Chakrabarti. The book demonstrates a two-dimensional evolution of research areas triggered by Sandip Chakrabarti over the past few decades. The first dimension represents the evolution and diversification of Chakrabarti's own research in which new students were trained. A second dimension arises from the evolution of the research topics pursued by Chakrabarti's fifty odd doctoral students, many of whom have become renowned scientists in their own right, after starting with a certain subject under Chakrabarti and then migrating to completely new subjects with dexterity. The editors have compiled and edited the articles appropriately to some extent to suit the spirit of this Festschrift on the one hand and to keep balance in diverse topics on the other. Thus this volume also provides an overview for whosoever wishes to enter the important subjects of compact objects, astrochemistry, ionospheric science or space exploration in near space. New graduates, PhD scholars, teachers and researchers will benefit from this volume. Moreover it is a record of tremendous success of a school in a range of vast topics.

The idea for organl.zl.ng an Advanced Research Workshop entirely devoted to the Earth rotation was born in 1983 when Professor Raymond Hide suggested this topic to the special NATO panel of global transport mechanism in the Geosciences. Such a specialized meeting did not take place since the GEOP research conference on the rotation of the Earth and polar motion which was held at the Ohio State University (USA) in 1973. In the last ten years, highly precise measurements of the Earth's rotation parameters and new global geophysical data have become available allowing major advance to be made in the under standing of the various irregularities affecting the Earth's rotation. The aim of the workshop was to bring together scientists who have made important contributions in this field during the last decade both at the observational and geophysical interpretation levels. The confe rence was divided into four main topics. The first session was dedicated to the definition, implementation and maintenance of the terrestrial and celestial reference systems. A few critical points have been identified as requiring further improvements: (i) appro priate selection of terrestrial sites recognized for their long term stability, (ii) determination of the relationship between terrestrial and celestial references systems as well as between the various terrestrial ones, (iii) improvment of the theory of a rotating elastic earth (the recently adopted theory needs already some corrections')."

Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 48 held in Morioka, Japan, May 9-15, 1971

Introd uction The problem of integrability or nonintegrability of dynamical systems is one of the central problems of mathematics and mechanics. Integrable cases are of considerable interest, since, by examining them, one can study general laws of behavior for the solutions of these systems. The classical approach to studying dynamical systems assumes a search for explicit formulas for the solutions of motion equations and then their analysis. This approach stimulated the development of new areas in mathematics, such as the al gebraic integration and the theory of elliptic and theta functions. In spite of this, the qualitative methods of studying dynamical systems are much actual. It was Poincare who founded the qualitative theory of differential equa tions. Poincare, working out qualitative methods, studied the problems of celestial mechanics and cosmology in which it is especially important to understand the behavior of trajectories of motion, i.e., the solutions of differential equations at infinite time. Namely, beginning from Poincare systems of equations (in connection with the study of the problems of ce lestial mechanics), the right-hand parts of which don't depend explicitly on the independent variable of time, i.e., dynamical systems, are studied.

This volume contains papers presented at an international conference on nuclear astrophysics, which brought together astronomers, astrophysicists and nuclear physicists for a discussion of nucleosynthesis, its role in the evolution of the universe and its possibilities as a diagnostic tool for stellar interiors. The contributions have been divided into the following sections: astronomical facts; nuclear physics; the early universe and galactic evolution; and stellar models and nucleosynthesis.

This book, which has been in the making for some eighteen years, would never have begun were it not for Dr. David Dewhirst in 1976 kindly having shown the author a packet of papers in the archives of the Cambridge Obser vatories. These letters and miscellaneous papers of Fearon Fallows sparked an interest in the history of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope which, after the diversion of producing several books on later phases of the Observatory, has finally resulted in a detailed study of the origin and first years of the Observatory's life. Publication of this book coincides with the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Observatory, e.G.H. Observatories are built for the use of astronomers. They are built through astronomers, architects, engineers and contractors acting in concert (if not always in harmony). They are constructed, with whatever techniques and skills are available, from bricks, stones and mortar; but their construction may take a toll of personal relationships, patience, and flesh and blood."

The revealing of the phenomenon of superhydrophobicity (the "lotus-effect") has stimulated an interest in wetting of real (rough and chemically heterogeneous) surfaces. In spite of the fact that wetting has been exposed to intensive research for more than 200 years, there still is a broad field open for theoretical and experimental research, including recently revealed superhydrophobic, superoleophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces, so-called liquid marbles, wetting transitions, etc. This book integrates all these aspects within a general framework of wetting of real surfaces, where physical and chemical heterogeneity is essential. Wetting of rough/heterogeneous surfaces is discussed through the use of the variational approach developed recently by the author. It allows natural and elegant grounding of main equations describing wetting of solid surfaces, i.e. Young, Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter equations. The problems of superhydrophobicity, wetting transitions and contact angle hysteresis are discussed in much detail, in view of novel models and new experimental data. The second edition surveys the last achievements in the field of wetting of real surfaces, including new chapters devoted to the wetting of lubricated and gradient surfaces and reactive wetting, which have seen the rapid progress in the last decade. Additional reading, surveying the progress across the entire field of wetting of real surfaces, is suggested to the reader. Contents What is surface tension? Wetting of ideal surfaces Contact angle hysteresis Dynamics of wetting Wetting of rough and chemically heterogeneous surfaces: the Wenzel and Cassie Models Superhydrophobicity, superhydrophilicity, and the rose petal effect Wetting transitions on rough surfaces Electrowetting and wetting in the presence of external fields Nonstick droplets Wetting of lubricated surfaces

The Workshop "Optical Detectors for Astronomy" was held during October 8-10, 1996 at the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany. This was the third meeting of its kind, previous meetings being held in 1991 and 1993, but this is the first ESO "CCD Workshop" that has published proceedings. Most of the leading manufacturers and major astronomical observatories were represented, with the 117 attendees coming together from 14 different countries that spanned every continent on Earth. The motivation for the ESO CCD Workshop series is the creation of informal and open venue of information exchange about astronomical CCD detectors and systems. Judging from the reaction and feedback of the participants, the 1996 workshop was as successful as the previous editions, which is a credit to all who attended. The Workshop was organized as a mixture of invited talks, oral presentations, poster sessions and roundtable discussions, the latter used to foster a free exchange of ideas among participants. These technical sessions were complemented by an opening reception and a congenial evening in downtown Munich, which included a walking tour of the historic area followed by dinner at the famous Franziskaner brewery and an after dinner talk by Walter Kosonocky, who reviewed the history of CCD technology.

The idea of this Colloquium came during the XVIIth General Assembly of the I. A. U. at Montreal. The meeting was organized under the auspices of I. A. U. Commission 5 (Documentation and Astronomical Data). The Scientific Organizing Committee consisted of C. Jaschek (chairperson), O. Dluzhnevskaya, B. Hauck (vice chairperson), W. Heintz, P. Lantos, Th. Lederle, J. Mead~ G. Ruben, Y. Terashita, G. Wilkins. The members of this Committee are to be thanked for their devotion to the organization of what turned out to be a very successful meeting. The program was organized so as to cover most of the aspects concerning work with machine readable data. In a certain sense it is the develop ment of the subjects of I. A. U. Colloquium 35 "Compilation, critical evaluation and distribution of stellar data" held at Strasbourg in 1976. The meeting was opened by welcoming addresses delivered by Dr A. Florsch, Director of the Strasbourg Observatory, Prof. H. Curien, President of the European Science Foundation and Prof. W. Heintz, President of I. A. U. Commission 5. The sessions were devoted to the fol lowing subjects : Existing data centers, Data networks, New hardware, Recent software developments, Bibliographical services, Copyright, Editorial policies and nomenclature, Data in astronomy and Data in space astronomy. The different sessions were chaired by G. A. Pilkins, J. Mead, S. Lavrov, W. Heintz, P. Lantos, M. McCarthy, J. Delhaye and G. Westerhout. On July 9. Dr A.

In the past decade, indirect (Doppler) imaging techniques have opened up a whole new discipline in stellar astronomy, providing increasingly detailed photometric, magnetic, and chemical inhomogeneity images of stellar surfaces. Furthermore, new optical interferometers are already being used with sophisticated interferometer techniques to image stellar surface structures more directly, and in the future the ESO VLT Interferometer and other instruments will extend these capabilities enormously. These developments are highlighted in the first two sections of this book. The large number of recent results, ground-based and space-based, and the lack of a generally accepted dynamo theory with predictive power for the stars and the Sun, result in an ever-growing complexity of interpretation of individual results. The IAU Symposium 176 on Stellar Surface Structure' consequently focused on spatially resolved stellar observations throughout the H-R diagram, from O- and B-stars to late M-stars. Two further sections in this book summarize the current observational data on surface inhomogeneities in stellar photospheres, chromospheres, and coronae. Finally, a special section is devoted to next generation model atmospheres.

High Time Resolution Astrophysics (HTRA) is an important new window to the universe and a vital tool in understanding a range of phenomena from diverse objects and radiative processes. This importance is demonstrated in this volume with the description of a number of topics in astrophysics, including quantum optics, cataclysmic variables, pulsars, X-ray binaries and stellar pulsations to name a few. Underlining this science foundation, technological developments in both instrumentation and detectors are described. These instruments and detectors combined cover a wide range of timescales and can measure fluxes, spectra and polarisation. These advances make it possible for HTRA to make a big contribution to our understanding of the Universe in the next decade.

The study of the fine structure of solar radio emissions is key to understanding plasma processes in the solar corona. It remains a reliable means for both diagnosing the corona and verifying the results of laboratory plasma experiments on wave-wave and wave-particle interactions. This monograph provides a comprehensive review of the fine structure of solar radio bursts. Based on the diversity of experimental data resulting from the progress made in observational techniques, the validity of various theoretical models is reexamined. The book serves as an up-to-date reference work for all researchers in this field.

ROSAT Observations G. HASINGER Max-Planck-Institut flir extraterrestrische Physik, D-85740 Garching, Germany Abstract. This review describes the most recent advances in the study of the extragalactic soft X-ray background and what we can learn about its constituents. The deepest pointed observations with the ROSAT PSPC are discussed. The logN-logS relation is presented, which reaches to the faintest X-ray fluxes and to the highest AGN surface densities ever achieved. The N(>S) relation shows a 2 density in excess of 400 deg- at the faintest fluxes and a flattening below the Einstein Deep Survey limit. About 60% of the extragalactic background has been resolved in the deepest field. Detailed source spectra and first optical and radio identifications will be discussed. The results are put into perspective of the higher energy X -ray background. Key words: X-rays, background radiations, active galactic nuclei. 1. Introduction The extragalactic X-ray background (XRB), discovered about 30 years ago, has been studied extensively with many X-ray experiments, in particular with the satel lites HEAO I and II (see ego Boldt 1987) and with ROSAT (e. g. Hasinger et aI. , 1993). Figure 1 shows a compilation of some of the most recent spectral measure ments for the X-ray background. Over the energy range from 3 to about 100 keY its spectrum can be well approximated by an optically thin thermal bremsstrahlung model with kT ~ 40 keY, while at lower X-ray energies a steepening into a new component has been observed observed (e. g.

This book with its clear explanation of the nature of the universe assumes no prior knowledge of astronomy or cosmology and so will attract interested public and new amateur astronomers.It provides much more on large-scale structures than other popular-level cosmology books. The mix of cosmology /large scale structures/anthropic principle and perspective on the universe should, as far as the author knows, be unique. A special colour feature incorporated in the book will offer three-dimensional views of the surrounding universe to ever greater depths.

This volume presents the lecture notes of the 24th Advanced Course of the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy in March 1994 at Les Diablerets. In three lectures on magnetohydrodynamics, on kinetic plasma physics and on particle acceleration leading experts describe the physical basis of their subjects and extend the discussion to several applications in modern problems of astrophysics. In style and presentation the texts are well-suited for graduate work in plasma astrophysics, one of the very important tools of modern astronomy. The themes developed in this book will be helpful in understanding many processes in the universe from the solar corona to active galaxies.

A monograph on inflationary cosmology and cosmological phase transitions, investigating modern cosmology's relationship to elementary particle physics. This work also includes a non-technical discussion of inflationary cosmology for those unfamiliar with the theory.

Our current perspective has arisen over millennia, through falling apples, elevator thought experiments and stars spiralling into black holes; Free fall and self-force in general relativity.

In fact, we do not have in mind to make a 1:1 reflection of the school. The ordering has been rearranged to tie articles together more coherently. We also propose to ask authors to focus their contributions according to the title we have suggested and to give a more complete description of current and future directions. We expect this will add to the volume s value for all anticipated readers. This volume has the unique feature of presenting a multifaceted approach to mass, which is intended mainly for graduate students and young doctoral researchers in the field of gravitation, who might be hoping to find a concise and introductory presentation of advanced topics outside their research field.

It is true that research from the infinitesimal scale of particle physics to the cosmic scale of the universe is concerned with the mass. While there have been spectacular advances in physics during the past century, mass still remains as a mysterious entity at the forefront of current research. Particle accelerators in the quest for the Higgs boson, laser interferometers sensitive enough to respond to gravitational waves, equivalence principle tests and detectors for dark matter are among the most ambitious and expensive experiments that fundamental physics has ever envisaged, and strongly attest to this fact. Both the self-force and radiation reaction are, in fact, lively topics of research. Related to the nature of motion, they have been hotly debated within general relativity from the inception of the theory. Recent developments have shown that radiation reaction is unavoidable in determining the gravitational waveforms emitted from a source such as the capture of a solar mass star by super-massive black hole (EMRI).

The main theme of this volume is mass and its motion within general relativity (and other theories of gravity), particularly for compact bodies, to which many articles directly refer. Within this framework, there are chapters on post-Newtonian and related methods (Blanchet, Gourgoulhon and Jaramillo, Nagar, Schafer), as well as on the self-force approach to the analysis of motion (Barack, Detweiler, Gal tsov, Poisson, Wald, Whiting), summarised along with an historic development of the field (Spallicci) and a snapshot on the state of the art (Burko). Note that self-acceleration depends directly on the mass of the body experiencing it. Mass itself is essential for this effect on motion.

Auxiliary chapters set the context for these theoretical contributions within the wider context of experimental physics. The space mission LISA (Jennrich) has been designed to detect the gravitational waves from EMRI captures, while other LISA sources may have electromagnetic counterparts (van Putten). Motion in modern gravitation must confront alternative theories (Esposito-Farese) and it must to be comprehensible within a quantum context (Noui), and demands an account of the relation between vacuum fluctuations and inertia (Jaekel and Reynaud). A volume centred on the fundamental role of mass in physics should face issues related to the basic laws of mechanics proposed by Newton (Lammerzahl) and precision measurements (Davis).

The role of the Higgs boson within physics is to give a mass to elementary particles (Djouadi), by interacting with all particles required to have a mass and thereby inducing inertia.

Moreover, most mass in the universe is dark, and only indirectly detected. A proposed alternative to dark matter theories is due to a modified theory of gravity (Esposito-Farese) such as MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics). Even if general relativity does not explain gravity, there still remains the fundamental problem of reconciling any theory of gravity with the physics of quantum fields (Noui), itself so well verified experimentally.

This book deals with the interdisciplinary areas of nuclear physics, supernovae and neutron star physics. It addresses the physics and astrophysics of the spectacular supernova explosions, starting with the collapse of massive stars and ending with the birth of neutron stars or black holes. Recent progress in the understanding of core collapse supernova (CCSN) and observational aspects of future detections of neutrinos from CCSN explosions are discussed. The other main focus in this text is the novel phases of dense nuclear matter, its compositions and equation of state (EoS) from low to very high baryon density relevant to supernovae and neutron stars. The multi-messenger astrophysics of binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its relation to EoS through tidal deformability are also presented in detail. The synthesis of elements heavier than iron in the supernova and neutron star environment by the rapid (r)-process are treated here with special emphasis on the nucleosynthesis in the ejected material from GW170817. This monograph is written for graduate students and researchers in the field of nuclear astrophysics.

Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth goes around the Sun, and the Sun goes around the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole - the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In A Brief History of Black Holes University of Oxford astrophysicist, Dr Becky Smethurst charts the scientific breakthroughs that have uncovered the weird and wonderful world of black holes, from the collapse of massive stars to the iconic first photographs of a black hole in 2019. A cosmic tale of discovery, you'll learn: why black holes aren't really 'black', that you never ever want to be 'spaghettified', how black holes are more like sofa cushions than hoovers, and why beyond the event horizon, the future is a direction in space rather than in time. Full of wit and learning, this captivating book explains why black holes contain the secrets to the most profound questions about our universe. 'A jaunt through space history . . . with charming wit and many pop-culture references' - BBC Sky At Night Magazine

The publication of this book is extremely timely, for the next major advances in manned space flight after Project Apollo will most likely be made in earth orbital operations. Manned exploration of the moon will certainly continue after the initial landing, but it will be performed essentially with the Saturn V launch vehicles and Apollo spacecraft developed in Apollo, especially in the early phases. Modifications to this basic hardware will increase operating capabilities to permit extensive lunar explo ration during prolonged stay times by the astronauts on the moon's surface. Manned orbital space stations have been studied for years, and NASA is already well along in development of its first attempt to provide more spacious accommo dations for astronaut-scientists in its Saturn Workshop program. While the Workshop is certainly not the ultimate space station of which our technology is capable, it is a workable, poor man's approach to the immediate need for using and expanding our present manned space flight capability without a de trimentalloss of momentum. The approach of converting a Saturn rocket stage into a manned laboratory and observatory in space is an improvisation that matches the use of the jerry-built Jupiter C back in 1958 to launch Explorer I. Let's hope that it can get the job done just as effectively.

Bad Hofgastein who made the very successful Salzburger Abend with indi- nous music from Salzburg possible. Special thanks also to the former director of the Institute of Astronomy in Vienna, Prof. Paul Jackson for his generous private donation. We should not forget our hosts Mr. and Mrs. Winkler and their employees from the hotel who made the stay quite enjoyable. None of us will forget the very last evening, when the staff of kitchen under the le- ership of the cook himself came to offer us as farewell the famous Salzburger Nockerln, a traditional Austrian dessert. Everyone got a lot of scienti?c input during the lectures and the discussions and, to summarize, we all had a spl- did week in Salzburg in the Hotel Winkler. We all hope to come again in 2008 to discuss new results and new perspectives on a high level scienti?c standard in the Gasteinertal. Rudolf Dvorak and Sylvio Ferraz-Mello Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (2005) 92:1-18 (c) Springer 2005 DOI 10. 1007/s10569-005-3314-7 FROM ASTROMETRY TO CELESTIAL MECHANICS: ORBIT DETERMINATION WITH VERY SHORT ARCS (Heinrich K. Eichhorn Memorial Lecture) 1 2 ? ' ANDREA MILANI and ZORAN KNEZEVIC 1 Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, via Buonarroti 2, 56127 Pisa, Italy, e-mail: milani@dm. unipi. it 2 Astronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, 11160 Belgrade 74, Serbia and Montenegro, e-mail: zoran@aob. bg. ac.

This book offers a comprehensive and complete description of a new scheme to stabilize the power of a laser on a level needed for high precision metrology experiments. The novel aspect of the scheme is sensing power fluctuations via the radiation pressure driven motion they induce on a micro-oscillator mirror. It is shown that the proposed technique can result in higher signals for power fluctuations than what is achieved by a direct power detection, and also that it enables the generation of a strong bright squeezed beam. The book starts with the basics of power stabilization and an overview on the current state of art. Then, detailed theoretical calculations are performed, and the advantages of the new scheme are highlighted. Finally, a proof-of-principle experiment is described and its results are analyzed in details. The success of the work presented here paves a way for achieving high power stability in future experiments and is of interest for high precision metrology experiments, like gravitational wave detectors, and optomechanical experiments. Nominated as an outstanding PhD thesis by the Gravitational Wave International Committee.

The Theory Institute in Solar-Terrestrial Physics was held at Boston College 19-26 August 1982. The program consisted of a two-week School followed by the first theory conference in the field. This book is based upon the lectures presented at the School. Several years ago there was a convergence of efforts to promote the role of theory in space plasma physics. Reports from the National Academy of Sciences and NASA advisory committees documented the disciplinary maturity of solar-terrestrial physics and recommended that theorists play a greater role in the continued development of the field. The so-called theory program in solar-terrestrial physics was established by NASA in 1979 and implemented in accordance with the guidelines set forth by a panel of scientists, primarily theorists, in the field. The same panel motivated the Boston College program. Published proceedings of the school would provide curricular materials for the training of graduate students in solar-terrestrial physics. J.M. Forbes, T.E. Holzer, A.J. Hundhausen, A.D. Richmond, and G.L. Siscoe were the principal architects of the curriculum of the School, and I am grateful for their contributions. Each also lectured at the School. The chapters in this book were prepared by the authors themselves with one exception. The chapters by Parker are edited reproductions of his lectures. Unfortunately, it is our loss that the lectures of Holzer and Hundhausen are not included in the book.