This textbook presents the established sciences of optical, infrared, and radio astronomy as distinct research areas, focusing on the science targets and the constraints that they place on instrumentation in the different domains. It aims to bridge the gap between specialized books and practical texts, presenting the state of the art in different techniques. For each type of astronomy, the discussion proceeds from the orders of magnitude for observable quantities that drive the building of instrumentation and the development of advanced techniques. The specific telescopes and detectors are then presented, together with the techniques used to measure fluxes and spectra. Finally, the instruments and their limits are discussed to assist readers in choice of setup, planning and execution of observations, and data reduction. The volume also includes worked examples and problem sets to improve student understanding; tables and figures in chapters su mmarize the state of the art of instrumentation and techniques.

This thesis explores the idea that the Higgs boson of the Standard Model and the cosmological inflation are just two manifestations of one and the same scalar field - the Higgs-inflation. By this unification two energy scales that are separated by many orders of magnitude are connected, thereby building a bridge between particle physics and cosmology. An essential ingredient for making this model consistent with observational data is a strong non-minimal coupling to gravity. Predictions for the value of the Higgs mass as well as for cosmological parameters are derived, and can be tested by future experiments. The results become especially exciting in the light of the recently announced discovery of the Higgs boson.
The model of non-minimal Higgs inflation is also used in a quantum cosmological context to predict initial conditions for inflation. These results can in turn be tested by the detection of primordial gravitational waves.
Thepresentation includesall introductory material about cosmology and the Standard Model that is essential forthe further understanding. It also provides an introduction to the mathematical methods used to calculate the effective action by heat kernel methods."

This unique volume contains the proceedings of two "Non-Sleeping Universe" conferences: "Stars and the ISM" and "From Galaxies to the Horizon." The book provides an overview of recent developments in a variety of areas, covering a very wide range of spatial and temporal scales.

The book reviews the present status of understanding the nature of the most luminous objects in the Universe, connected with supermassive black holes and supermassive stars, clusters of galaxies and ultraluminous galaxies, sources of gamma-ray bursts and relativistic jets. Leading experts give overviews of essential physical mechanisms involved, discuss formation and evolution of these objects as well as prospects for their use in cosmology, as probes of the intergalactic medium at high redshifts and as a tool to study the end of dark ages. The theoretical models are complemented by new exciting results from orbital and ground-based observatories such as Chandra, XMM-Newton, HST, SDSS, VLT, Keck, and many others.

This book serves two purposes. The authors present important aspects of modern research on the mathematical structure of Einstein's field equations and they show how to extract their physical content from them by mathematically exact methods. The essays are devoted to exact solutions and to the Cauchy problem of the field equations as well as to post-Newtonian approximations that have direct physical implications. Further topics concern quantum gravity and optics in gravitational fields.
The book addresses researchers in relativity and differential geometry but can also be used as additional reading material for graduate students.

Sometime in the distant past, some fourteen billion years ago, all that is and all that was burst into creation in a tumultuous event. Time and space had no meaning before this genesis event that sparked creation. Cosmic Entity describes how space and time--the universe--came from nothing--a perfect balance of positive and negative energy. All matter that exists today, from the rings of Saturn to the dirt beneath your feet, was created from the seething fireball when the infant universe was less than one second old. This raw material existed in the form of protons (or hydrogen). Cosmic Entity explains how the elements were formed, how matter is synthesized within the cores of stars, and how supernovae (exploding stars) serve to create even heavier elements and seed the galaxies with this raw material. A billion or so years after creation, give or take an eon, the universe expanded and cooled enough for interesting structures--beautiful spiral and elliptical islands of stars called galaxies--to form from the sea of matter. Galaxies grouped together into clusters and colossal super cluster walls of galaxies evident today.

Cosmology deals with the current state of thinking about the basic questions at the center of the field of cosmology. More emphasis than usual is put on the connections to related domains of science, such as geometry, relativity, thermodynamics, particle physics, and - in particular - on the intrinsic connections between the different topics. The chapters are illustrated with many figures that are as exact as currently possible, e.g. in the case of geometry and relativity. Readers acquire a graduate-level knowledge of cosmology as it is required to understand the cosmological impact of their particular research topics, as well as an introduction into the current research in the field.

In July 1992, over 300 astronomers attended the Third Tetons Summer School on the subject of "The Environment and Evolution of Galaxies". This book presents 28 papers based on invited review talks and a panel discussion on "The Nature of High Redshift Objects". The major themes include: the interstellar and intergalactic medium, galaxy formation and evolution, cooling flows, quasars and radiation backgrounds, and interactions between galaxies/AGNs and their environment. Recent advances with the ROSAT, COBE and Hubble Space Telescope are discussed, together with current theoretical developments. The tutorial nature of the papers should make this book a useful supplement for professional astonomers, graduate students, and senior undergraduates. As with previous Tetons conferences, this book provides both the current state of observational and theoretical research and material complementary to courses in extragalactic and interstellar astrophysics.

1. The Workshop and this Tome In the excellent bucolic setting of SchloB Ringberg in Upper Bavaria, over 50 scientists assembled during the week of 23-28 September 1996 to discuss recent results, both theoretical and observational in nature, on the large scale structure of the Universe. Such a topic is perhaps nowadays far too encompassing, and is essentially all of what we used to call "observational cosmology. " The original philosophy of the organization of this meeting was deliber ated aimed at the younger community and their contributions. As a conse quence, the content of the presentations was refreshingly new, as it should be. In spite of the deficiences caused by the lack of certain key researchers in this field, for one reason or another, the final result was rewarding to all. Although the conference was held in Fall 1996, the contributions contained herein were submitted as late as Spring 1998, thus the content maintains some degree of trendiness. Originally the current volume was to be a "proceedings. " This refers to the usual archival tome that fills one's shelf and is rarely consulted, except to see the canonical group photo, which by the way, we also have. Nevertheless, I wanted something more than that. Although the field is rapidly changing, with so-called facts in a state ofconstant volubility, now is a good time for reflection prior to the commencement ofthe Sloan Survey, presumably the definitive large-scale program of low- to moderate-redshift galaxies in our lifetime."

Some 25 years after the birth of inflationary cosmology, this volume sets out to provide both an authoritative and pedagogical introduction and review of the current state of the field. Readers learn about the arguments supporting the many different scenarios of cosmic inflation. Articles are written by eminent scientists, many of whom have made pioneering contributions to the field of inflationary cosmology.

Geometrical Physics in Minkowski Spacetime is an overview and description of the geometry in spacetime, and aids in the creation and development of intuition in four-dimensional Minkowski space. The deepest understanding of relativity and spacetime is in terms of the geometrical absolutes, and this is what the book seeks to develop. The most interesting topics requiring special relativity are covered, including:SpacetimeVectors in SpacetimeElectromagnetismAsymptotic Momentum ConservationCovectors and Dyadics in SpacetimeEnergy Tensor Although the book is not meant for the complete beginner in special relativity, the mathematical prerequisites for the early chapters of the book are very few - linear algebra and elementary geometry (done using vectors and a scalar product). For the later chapters, multivariable calculus and ordinary differential equations are often needed.

Many times all of us could hear from mass media that an asteroid approached and swept past the Earth. Such an asteroid or comet will inevitably strike the planet some day. This volume considers hazards due to collisions with cosmic objects, particularly in light of recent investigations of impacts by the authors. Each chapter written by an expert contains an overview of an aspect and new findings in the field. The main hazardous effects cratering, shock, aerial and seismic waves, fires, ejection of dust and soot, tsunami are described and numerically estimated. Numerical simulations of impacts and impact consequences have received much attention in the book. Fairly small impacting objects 50 -100 m in diameter pose a real threat to humanity and their influence on the atmosphere and ionosphere is emphasized. Especially vulnerable are industrially developed areas with dense population, almost all Europe is one of them.

Is planet earth the end of the line, or is space itself the next stop?
Cyberspace. It's incredible, taking us to any part of the planet we want to visit. But as Paul Levinson shows in his brilliant new book, when it comes to transport, we're still stuck in the past, preferring to take our bodies with us. Whether it's trains, yachts, scooters or pogo-sticks, we're compelled to keep moving, our movements curtailed only by the earth itself. In our imaginations however, we soar way past the limits of current technology.
With a lucid but reflective style that takes in everything from robots and science fiction to religion and philosophy, Paul Levinson asks why there is a deep seated human desire to know what's 'out there'. Why, after getting a man on the moon, did the US space program develop so slowly? In a world where space is constantly repackaged, how do we know what real space is? Is our desire to get into space natural, or a religious craving, and is it a modern phenomenon, or did our ancestors also dream of escaping the clutches of Mother Earth?
Jam-packed with exciting, innovative, even revolutionary thinking about our future, Realspace is essential reading for everyone who has ever sat at their desk, gazed into the distance and imagined boarding a space shuttle...

Advanced technologies in astronomy at various wavelengths have provided us with high resolution and high quality data on the QSO population. This meeting was aimed at understanding the morphology and nature of the host galaxies and environments of QSOs. The invited lectures as well as the contributed and poster papers highlighted the main issues of current research: the stellar and gaseous content of the underlying galaxy; the characterization of the population of companions and the nature of their interaction with the host galaxy; the connection between radio-loud QSO and radio-galaxies, and QSOs and ULIRGs; the evolution with redshift of both the host galaxy and its environment, and the main implications in theories of galaxy formation and evolution. This volume provides a valuable overview and timely update of the exciting and rapidly developing field of QSO hosts and their environments - essential reading for graduate students and researchers.

The motivation for the workshop on which this book is based was the discovery in recent years of a large number of binary and millisecond radio pulsars, in the galactic disk as well as in globular star clusters, the oldest stellar systems in our galaxy. These discoveries have revolutionized our thinking on many aspects concerning the interior structure and evolution of neutron stars, and have revived the interest in the study of neutron star physics in general. In this book some three dozen of the world's experts in the field of radio pulsars, X-ray binaries, stellar evolution, neutron star interiors and stellar dynamics review the latest observational discoveries as well as the current theoretical thinking on the formation and physics of binary X-ray sources and of the binary and milli-second pulsars. These include discoveries such as that of the elevent millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, the relativistic effects in the new double neturon star system PSR 1534+12 and spectacular results from Germany's ROSAT X-Ray Observatory.

The enormous advances in observational techniques over the last two decades has produced a wealth of data and unexpected discoveries which have helped to reshape astrophysics as a field with well-formulated theories and sophisticated numerical calculations. In nuclear particle physics, plasma physics, as well as in general relativity, the Universe has become a laboratory for cutting-edge research. The courses collected in the book are intended to provide students with this insight, giving a general background on each topic such as cosmic rays, nuclear and neutrino astrophysics, solar physics and strong fields, as well as a presentation of the current research and open problems. The book is aimed at graduate students in physics and astrophysics, as well as researchers, bridging a gap between the specialized reviews and the comprehensive books.

The ?eld of cosmology is currently undergoing a revolution driven by d- matic observational progress and by novel theoretical scenarios imported from particle physics. In particular, two most remarkable results were recently - tained from measurements of the angular spectrum of the ?uctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation providing convincing e- dence that the Universe is nearly ?at and from the Hubble diagram of distant supernovae indicating an accelerating expansion rate, which implies the ex- tence of some dark energy as the dominant component of the Universe. Indeed, the next decade will bene't from high quality data on cosmology from diff- ent major experiments and observatories, with a particular important contri- tion from space missions such as WMAP, Planck Surveyor, XMM and SNAP among others. On one side, cosmologists believe they understand the origin of themain ingredients which allowacoherent description of theUniverse from its very earlyphase, namely in?ation, to the actual epoch which accounts for theoriginof theprimordial?uctuations, allowing predictions of their - prints inthe cosmicmicrowave skyandleading to the large scale structure of theUniverse as observed. Ontheother side, theexistence of a non-zero vacuum density is certainly one of the most astonishing results of modern f- damental physics. Understanding its nature andits originwill be one of the major directions of researchinthe following years. In view of the intensive current activity inthe ?eld, aSchoolfully dedicated to these both sides in cosmology was timely

A major outstanding problem in physics is understanding the nature of the dark energy that is driving the accelerating expansion of the Universe. This thesis makes a significant contribution by demonstrating, for the first time, using state-of-the-art computer simulations, that the interpretation of future galaxy survey measurements is far more subtle than is widely assumed, and that a major revision to our models of these effects is urgently needed. The work contained in the thesis was used by the WiggleZ dark energy survey to measure the growth rate of cosmic structure in 2011 and had a direct impact on the design of the surveys to be conducted by the European Space Agency's Euclid mission, a 650 million euro project to measure dark energy.

The Encyclopedia of Cosmology, first published in 1993, recounts the history, philosophical assumptions, methodological ambiguities, and human struggles that have influenced the various responses to the basic questions of cosmology through the ages, as well as referencing important scientific theories. Just as the recognition of social conventions in other cultures can lead to a more productive perspective on our own behaviour, so too a study of the cosmologies of other times and places can enable us recognise elements of our own cosmology that might otherwise pass as inevitable developments. Apart from modern natural science, therefore, this volume incorporates brief treatments of Native American, Cave-Dweller, Chinese, Egyptian, Islamic, Megalithic, Mesopotamian, Greek, Medieval and Copernican cosmology, leading to an appreciation of cosmology as an intellectual creation, not merely a collection of facts. It is a valuable reference tool for any student or academic with an interest in the history of science and cosmology specifically.

Planetary nebulae are a keystone for the understanding of the evolution of stars, for deep insights into the physical processes prevailing in highly excited dilute nebulae, and for the chemical evolution in galaxies. These objects, displaying an intriguing morphology, have a "short" lifetime of a few tens of thousands of years, and have become one of the best studied classes of celestial sources. However, despite large and successful efforts from both the observational and theoretical side, planetary nebulae still keep some of their secrets (like the widely unknown distances) and will undoubtedly also be objects of thorough investigations in the years to come.

The Constraint Equations.- The Penrose Inequality.- The Global Existence Problem in General Relativity.- Smoothness at Null Infinity and the Structure of Initial Data.- Status Quo and Open Problems in the Numerical Construction of Spacetimes.- The Einstein-Vlasov System.- Future Complete U(1) Symmetric Einsteinian Spacetimes, the Unpolarized Case.- Future Complete Vacuum Spacetimes.- The Cauchy Problem on Spacetimes That Are Not Globally Hyperbolic.- Cheeger-Gromov Theory and Applications to General Relativity.- Null Geometry and the Einstein Equations.- Group Actions on Lorentz Spaces, Mathematical Aspects: A Survey.- Gauge, Diffeomorphisms, Initial-Value Formulation, Etc.

Stellar Physics is a rather unique book among the growing literature on star formation and evolution. Not only does the author, a leading expert in the field, give a very thorough description of the current knowledge about stellar physics but he handles with equal care the many problems that this field of research still faces. A bibliography with well over 650 entries makes this book an unparalleled source of references.Fundamental Concepts and Stellar Equilibrium is the first of two volumes, and can be read, as can the second volume, as an independent work. It provides an extensive introduction into all physical processes that play a role in star formation and evolution. The basic equations describing stellar equilibrium are discussed, where attention is paid to both the theoretical and the numerical aspects.