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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > General
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.
and In the IAU Symposium of 1979 devoted to interstellar molecules [8]. Excellent relevant monographs [ 9. 10] . related timely proceedings [ 11] . and recently published elementary textbooks [12. 13] further help to define the pedagogical scope of molecular astrophysics. A significant financial investment has been made in the establishment of ground- and satellite-based observationai facilities for molecuiar astrophysical studies. In the coming years. a wealth of experimental data is bound to accumulate. in which connection close interactions between observers. astrophysical modeliers. and molecular physicists and chemists can play a helpful role in analysis and interpretation. In view of the increasing pace of activity in the field of molecular astrophysics. and in the apparent absence of relevant international meetings since the Liege 1977 and IAU 1979 Symposia. it was deemed appropriate and timely by the organizers to hold a workshop in 1984. Consequently. the NATO Advanced Research Workshop. "Molecular Astrophysics State of the Art and Future Directions". was organized and held at Bad Wlndshelm. West Germany. from 8 to 14 July 1984. The choice of speakers and subject matter of the Workshop was largely subjective. but designed to include most of the generally accepted areas of molecular astrophysical study. Workers from the fields of radio. infrared. and uv-optlcal observations. astrophysical modelling. laboratory spectroscopy. reaction chemistry. collision physics. and theoretical molecular physics and chemistry. were Invited to present survey lectures In their areas of speciality. In addition.
This book is one result from the 1996 Millimeter-wave Summer School held at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE), Tonantz- intla, Puebla, Mexico. In collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, INAOE has embarked upon the ambitious project of building the world's largest filled aperture millimeter-wave telescope - the Large Millimeter-wave Tele- scope (LMT), or Gran Telescopio Milimetrico (GTM). The LMT is currently the largest scientific project in Mexico. The summer school had a dual purpose; first, to introduce the Mexican as- tronomical and physics communities to millimeter wavelength astronomy, and second, to provide a forum for a review of several important aspects of the state of the art in observations, theory, interpretation, and technology relevant to this branch of astronomy. The summer school had 18 invited speakers and 44 par- ticipants. The scientific organizing committee (SOC) consisted of Luis Carrasco (UNAM/INAOE, Mexico), Paul Goldsmith (NAIC, Cornell Univ., USA), and Andy Harris (Univ. of Maryland, USA). Members of the local organizing com- mittee (LOC) were Alberto Carramiiiana (INAOE), Emmanuel Mendez Palma (INAOE), Mari Paz Miralles (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA), and William Wall (INAOE).
Radio surveys play an important role in observational cosmology. However, until recently the surveys have been either of wide area but with low sensitivity or of small area with high sensitivity. Both limit the kinds of cosmology that can be carried out with radio surveys. This situation has been revolutionised in the past few years by the availability of new, large-area, high-sensitivity radio surveys at both low and high radio frequencies. These significant improvements allow studies based on both the statistics of the surveys themselves and multiwavelength follow-up of the galaxies and AGN responsible for the radio emission. It is therefore an opportune time to summarise progress in this field with a workshop. This book comprises the proceedings of the `Observational Cosmology with the New Radio Surveys' workshop, held on Tenerife, January 13-15, 1997. Topics covered include: lessons learned and important results from earlier surveys, descriptions of some of the new surveys, clusters of galaxies and large-scale structure, radio source evolution, CMB studies, gravitational lensing and multiwavelength studies of distant radio sources.
The Galactic cosmic rays have far-reaching effects on the interstellar medium, and they are, in turn, profoundly affected by the particles and fields in space. Supernova remnants and their expanding shock fronts pervade the Galaxy, heating the interstellar medium, and accelerating the cosmic rays. The interplay among the cosmic rays, the interstellar medium in which they propagate, and supernovae has been investigated for decades; yet these studies have generated as many enigmas as they have resolved. These puzzles continue to challenge observers and theorists alike. th This volume is devoted to selected lectures presented in the 7 Course of the International School of Cosmic-Ray Astrophysics in Erice, Italy in July-August, 1990. Alltogether, some 400 participants have attended the biennial sessions of this School since its inception in 1978. As its name implies, the School deals with cosmic-ray phenomena viewed in the broader context of astrophysics. Students and Lecturers are attracted from many astrophysical disciplines. Like earlier courses in this series, the present one was organized under the aegis of the Ettore Majorana Centre as a NATO Advanced Study Institute. Given the diverse scientific backgrounds of the students, it was deemed useful to include lectures at the introductory level. Other lectures and contributed talks were at a more advanced level, featuring new developments. If this collection is useful pedagogically, and if it provides some stimulus and information for the mature research worker, then the editors will feel well rewarded.
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 articles in this book cover a broad range of topics in the field of nuclear physics, including many articles on the subject of high spin physics. With an emphasis on the discussion and analysis of future developments within a number of significant areas, the book's attempt to address the status of research at the beginning of the next century is to be welcomed by researchers and students alike.
Solid particles are followed from their creation through their evolution in the Galaxy to their participation in the formation of solar systems like our own, these being now clearly deduced from observations by the Hubble Space Telescope as well as by IR and visual observations of protostellar disks, like that of the famous Beta Pictoris object. The most recent observational, laboratory and theoretical methods are examined in detail. In our own solar system, studies of meteorites, comets and comet dust reveal many features that follow directly from the interstellar dust from which they formed. The properties of interstellar dust provide possible keys to its origin in comets and asteroids and its ultimate origin in the early solar system. But this is a continuing story: what happens to the solid particles in space after they emerge from stellar sources has important scientific consequences since it ultimately bears on our own origins - the origins of solar systems and, especially, of our own earth and life in the universe.
The morphological scheme devised by Hubble and followers to classify galaxies has proven over many decades to be quite effective in directing our quest for the fundamental pa rameters describing the extragalactic manifold. This statement is however far more true for spirals than for ellipticals. Echoing the concluding remarks in Scott Tremaine's sum mary talk at the Princeton meeting on Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies, "the Hubble classification of spirals is useful because many properties of spirals (gas con tent, spiral arm morphology, bulge prominence, etc. ) all correlate with Hubble time. By contrast, almost nothing correlates with the elliptical Hubble sequence El to E7. " During the last few years much effort has been put into the search for a more meaningful classification of ellipticals than Hubble's. Concomitantly, forwarded by some provocative conjectures by R. Michard, the classical question of whether E galaxies form a physically homogeneous family has been brushed up once more. Results of these and other parallel studies look rather promising and point to suture part of the dichotomy between ellipticals and disk galaxies which had become popular in the early eighties, owing to dynamical arguments. At the same time it appears more and more clear that, besides the usual genetic varieties of galaxies, products of environmental evolution must also be contemplated in building our modern picture of the "reign of galaxies" . The above considerations prompted us to solicit Prof."
In the last few years great improvements in the study of stellar jets and bipolar outflows have been achieved, both observationally and theoretically. High resolution observations at various frequencies (radio, IR, optical and X-ray) of these features in different types of objects have shown a large variety of morphologies at all scales often revealing contrasting symmetries which do not allow straightforward kinematic interpretations valid for all cases. In particular, at present, it seems very difficult to give a statistical definition of what the "standard properties" of jets and bipolar outflows are. On the theoretical side, the identification of physical processes capable of producing the observed rich morphological variety of jets and bipolar outflows and supporting them over long lifetimes is still controversial. Furthermore several models are actively discussed in an attempt of reaching a complete understanding of the phenomenon. The workshop provided an unique opportunity for both observers and theoreticians to gather together and produce an updated and exhaustive picture of the field. In addition the meeting has been enriched by the presentation of some works on jets in external galaxies. This topic was focused on what people working on stellar jets could learn from colleagues working on extragalactic jets and vice versa. Invited papers were prepared with the aim of giving the state of the art about scientific subjects; contributed papers and some selected poster papers presented, on the contrary, very recent results in the various fields.
A wealth of new experimental and theoretical results has been obtained in solar physics since the first edition of this textbook appeared in 1989. Thus all nine chapters have been thoroughly revised, and about 100 pages and many new illustrations have been added to the text. The additions include element diffusion in the solar interior, the recent neutrino experiments, methods of image restoration, observational devices used for spectroscopy and polarimetry, and new developments in helioseismology and numerical simulation. The book takes particular advantage of the results of several recent space missions, which lead to substantial progress in our understanding of the Sun, from the deep interior to the corona and solar wind.
Prof. Leon Mestel has been an inspiration to many to study the role of magnetism in the Cosmos. To mark the occasion of his retin'ment from the University of Sussex after 43 years in astrophysics, several of his friends and former students decided to hold an advanced research workshop in his honour. NATO agreed to finance this venture which was held at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge. The scientific organizing committee was J. Landstreet, D. Lynden-Bell, F. Pacini, M.A. Rud0rman and N.O. Weiss and most leading experts on Cosmical magnetism agreed to come. We are particularly grateful to Lyman Spitzer who, ably helped by his wife Doreen, !!;ave the after dinner addre~s on how the goddess Astrophysica had foreseen Leon's achievements in classical Greek times. Not without regret we decided to maintain the homog0neity of the material and therefore could not cover Leon Mestel's major achievements in non-magnetic astronomy. His work on the cooling of white dwarfs, his understanding that degenerate hydrogen was a nuclear explosive since its pressure was almost independent of temperature and hence, his picture of supernovae, which is now more commonly applied to novae, his seminal understanding of the 'law' of galactic rotation and his work on the non-linear development of t hp anisotropies generated in gravitational collapse.
The nature of time has long puzzled physicists and philosophers. Time potentially has very fundamental yet unknown properties. In 1993 a new model of multi-dimensional time was found to relate closely to properties of the cosmological redshift. An international conference was subsequently convened in April 1996 to examine past, current and new concepts of time as they relate to physics and cosmology. These proceedings incorporate 34 reviews and contributed papers from the conference. The major reviews include observational properties of the redshift, alternative cosmologies, critical problems in cosmology, alternative viewpoints and problems in gravitation theory and particle physics, and new approaches to mathematical models of time. Professionals and students with an interest in cosmology and the structure of the universe will find that this book raises critical problems and explores challenging alternatives to classical viewpoints.
From the beginning of Space Astronomy, the Extreme Ultraviolet band of the spectrum (roughly defined as the decade in energy from 90-900 A) was deemed to be the unobservable ultraviolet'. Pioneering results from an EUV telescope on the Apollo-Soyuz Mission in 1975 forcibly demonstrated that this view was incorrect; but it required the all-sky surveys of the English Wide-Field Camera and the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer to demonstrate the broad potential of this field. Over 700 EUV sources have now been detected. Over 150 researchers from 16 countries gathered to share results in this new field at the International Astronomical Union Colloquium No. 152. Papers were presented on a wide variety of topics including cool star coronae, white dwarf atmospheres and evolution, neutron stars, the Io torus, cataclysmic variable stars, active galactic nuclei, the interstellar medium, winds and atmospheres of early type stars, and EUV plasma diagnostics. Selected manuscripts from this meeting are provided in these Conference Proceedings."
The last decade has been witness to many exciting and rapid developments in the fields of Nuclear Physics and Intermediate Energy Physics, the interface between Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics. These developments involved to a large extent the sub nucleonic degrees of freedom in nuclei. In deep inelastic lepton scattering from nuclei, for example, it was observed that the quark structure of the nucleon is influenced by the nuclear medium. Also, the spin-dependent structure function of the nucleon was found to differ from sum rules based on SU(3) symmetry, a discrepancy referred to as the "spin crisis". In pion electroproduction at threshold and in the production of pions and other mesons in heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies interesting experimental results have been obtained, which triggered lively theoretical discussions. Furthermore, the search for the quark-gluon plasma phase of hadronic matter, a phase that is supposed to have existed in the first few seconds of the Big Bang, has been intensified. Not only were these developments accompanied by technical developments, such as the building of new experimental facilities, but also extensive theoretical efforts have been directed towards understanding these phenomena. These concerted efforts will hopefully lead to an understanding of the transition from the non-perturbative QCD regime to the perturbative one, in which the quark structure of nucleons is better understood. All of the aforementioned developments occur at a high pace, making it difficult to incorporate them into the courses offered to advanced students.
Data archiving has, for many years, been the most disregarded aspect of all data systems. The increase in numbers of telescopes, both groundbased and space-borne, and the increase in efficiency of detectors have generated overwhelming amounts of data. Much of these data were and are not used on short timescales and (should) have been archived, where they can be used later and/or by others. Archiving is essential. Objects can change in the course of time. New technological or scientific developments might require observing objects again. The cost-benefit ratio will become more and more important when considering the allocation of telescope time. The retrieval of old' data can then be crucial. At present there are a number of data collections and data retrieval systems. This book includes a series of clear and up-to-date descriptions of many important available data systems. For professional astronomers, librarians and computer engineers.
Contemporary research in atomic and molecular physics concerns itself with studies of interactions of electron, positron, photons, and ions with atoms, molecules, and clusters; interactions of intense ultrashort laser interaction with atoms, molecules, and solids; laser assisted atomic collisions, optical, and magnetic traps of neutral atoms to produce ultracold and dense samples; high resolution atomic spectroscopy and experiments by using synchrotron radiation sources and ion storage rings. In recent years, important advances have been made in the experimental as well as theoretical understanding of atomic and molecular physics. The advances in atomic and molecu lar physics have helped us to understand many other fields, like astrophyics, atmo spheric physics, environmental science, laser physics, surface physics, computational physics, photonics, and electronics. XII National Conference on Atomic and Molecular Physics was held at the Physics Department, M. 1. S. University, Udaipur from 29th Dec. 1998 to 2ndJan. 1999 under the auspices of the Indian Society of Atomic and Molecular Physics. This volume is an outcome of the contributions from the invited speakers at the conference. The volume contains 24 articles contributed by the distinguished scientists in the field. The contrib utors have covered a wide range of topics in the field in which current research is being done. This also reflects the trend of research in this field in Indian universities and research institutes. We are grateful to the national programme committee, national, and local organiz ing committees, and members of the Physics Department and Computer Centre, M. 1.
More than two centuries have elapsed since the story of the interacting binary stars began with the rediscovery of the variability of Algol by John Goodricke and the interpretation he proposed for explaining the regular periodic brightness variations which he found. Over this long span of time our knowledge about these systems has been growing, and we have now reached a fairly good understanding of the structure and behavior of this interesting group of objects. This book contains a timely summary of our present knowledge of interacting binary stars. The chapters have been written by distinguished scientists who have done relevant research in the field of interacting binary stars.
The ability of storing, managing, and giving access to the huge quantity of data collected by astronomical observatories is one of the major challenges of modern astronomy. At the same time, the growing complexity of data systems implies a change of concepts: the scientist has to manipulate data as well as information. Recent developments of the WorldWideWeb' bring interesting answers to these problems. The book presents a wide selection of databases, archives, data centers, and information systems. Clear and up-to-date descriptions are included, together with their scientific context and motivations. Audience: This volume provides an essential tool for astronomers, librarians, data specialists and computer engineers.
This textbook provides an introduction to the fundamentals of space physics and astrophysics and covers the recent progress in various aspects of these fields. In the introductory Chapter 1, a brief historical account of space research is given, followed by short reviews of the space vehicles used and some aspects of the early years of space research. In Chapter 2, the reader is introduced to the discoveries of the radiation belts and the magnetosphere of the Earth. Chapter 3 begins with the phenomena of the quiet Sun, followed by processes in the active Sun (solar flares, radio bursts and X-ray, gamma-ray and neutron emissions). In Chapters 4 and 5, attention is paid to the physical features and properties of large bodies and aggregates in the matter of the solar system, emphasising discoveries obtained from spacecraft. In Chapter 6 solar energetic particles are presented, bringing out their dual role - as a sample of accelerated matter from the Sun and as a sensitive probe of the interplanetary fields in the heliosphere. Chapter 7 presents a discussion on galactic cosmic rays, explaining the basic features and main findings. Highlights of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and possible origins are included. Chapter 8 presents exciting results of extreme UV, infra-red, X-rays and gamma-rays from space. These are followed by outlines of the new vistas of cosmological problems as revealed by the cosmic background measurements of X-rays, gamma-rays and microwaves. In Chapter 9, the reader is introduced to the physical and dynamical properties of the interstellar medium. This chapter concludes with the astrophysical aspects of the search for the origin of life. In the concluding Chapter 10 some general trends and future directions are briefly presented. The level of presentation is aimed at senior undergraduate students who are familiar with introductory physics. Graduate students will find more advanced topics discussed through their underlying features. Each chapter is followed by a number of problems; solving these will enable students to obtain a good grasp of the topics.
This volume consists of invited lectures and seminars presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "The Infrared and Submillimetre Sky after COBE", which was held at the Centre de Physique Theorique of Les Houches (France) in March 1991. The school has been planned by a Scientific Organizing Committee. It was organized with the aim of providing students and young researchers with an up-to-date account of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the Cosmic Infrared Background (if any), and the infrared emission of the Galaxy, after the early results from COBE (Cosmic Background Explo- rer). It was attended by about sixty researchers from many countries. The lectures and seminars represent a complete coverage of our present knowledge and understanding of: the Early Universe, Large-Scale Structure, Dust in Galaxies, Infrared to Submillimetre Backgrounds, CMB Anisotropies, complementary observations and instrumentation problems, etc. Most of these lectures are reproduced in this volume. Unfortunately, a few lecturers have chosen not to submit their manuscript. I would like to express my gratitude to the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and to the Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics Sections of the CNRS (Centre National de la Re- cherche Scientifique) for their generous support. Further help was obtain- ed from the DRET (Direction des Recherches, Etudes et Techniques), the CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) and the IN2P3 (Institut Natio- nal de Physique Nuc1eaire et de Physique des Particules), which I hereby gratefully acknowledge.
Tracing unexplored connections between nineteenth-century astronomy and literature, The Starry Sky Within offers a new understanding of literary point of view as essentially multiple, mobile, and comparative. Nineteenth-century astronomy revealed a cosmos of celestial systems in constant motion. Stars, comets, planets, and moons coursed through space in complex and changing relation. As the skies were in motion, so too was the human subject. Astronomers showed that human beings never perceive the world from a stable position. The mobility of our bodies in space and the very structure of stereoscopic vision mean that point of view is neither singular nor stable. We always see the world as an amalgam of fractured perspectives. In this innovative study, Henchman shows that the reconceptualization of the skies gave poets and novelists new spaces in which to indulge their longing to escape the limitations of individual perspective. She links astronomy and optics to the form of the multiplot novel, with its many centers of consciousness, complex systems of relation, and criss-crossing points of view. Accounts of a world and a subject both in relative motion shaped the form of grand-scale narratives such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Bleak House, and Daniel Deronda. De Quincey, Tennyson, and Eliot befriended leading astronomers and visited observatories, while Hardy learned about astronomy from the vast popular literature of the day. These writers use cosmic distances to dislodge their readers from the earth, setting human perception against views from high above and then telescoping back to earth again. What results is a new perception of the mobility of point of view in both literature and science.
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.
After a year's successful operation, the European DENIS project is now a scientific reality and its close cousin 2MASS (USA) is about to come into operation. The observational and data reduction processes of both DENIS and 2MASS are fully described in this volume. Already the impact of DENIS is making itself felt in the astronomical community in areas of research as diverse as cosmology, the evolution of galaxies, the interstellar medium, the search for brown dwarfs, and stellar structure and evolution. The first routine results from DENIS and the preliminary results from the 2MASS prototype camera are discussed and compared with other surveys across the wavelength spectrum, both space- and ground-based, including the Digitized Sky Survey, ISO and ROSAT.
An invaluable reference for any student, scientist or administrator, using small telescopes for research. An essential collection of data and opinions for those charged with setting scientific and funding priorities. This three-volume set, The Future of Small Telescopes in the New Millennium details the essential roles that small telescopes should play in 21st century science and how their future productivity can be maximized. Over 70 experts from all corners of the international astronomical community have created a definitive reference on the present and future of "big science with small telescopes." Despite highly publicized closures of telescopes smaller than 4-m in aperture at national facilities and their omission from national science priority studies, the oft-lamented demise of the small telescope has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the future of these workhorses of astronomy will be brighter than ever if creative steps are taken now. This three-volume set defines essential roles that small telescopes should play in 21st century science and the ways in which a productive future for them can be realized. A wide cross-section of the astronomical community has contributed to a definitive assessment of the present and a vision for the future. Volume 1: Perceptions, Productivities and Policies: - Beginning with a summary of recent national scientific priority-setting efforts, Volume 1 examines the public's and the astronomical communities' own perceptions and misconceptions of small telescope productivity. These shape the future scientific research that will be done with telescopes smaller than 4-m in aperture and the number of astronomers that will have access to them. Volume 2: The Telescopes We Use: - Small cost-effective optical-, radio- and space-based facilities face similar problems in scientific prioritization and funding. Volume 2 highlights how current small facilities are evolving to meet the scientific priorities and economical realities of the 21st century through standardization of instrumentation, use of off-the-shelf technology, specialization, optical improvements, new modes of scheduling, automation, and internet access. Volume 3: Science in the Shadow of Giants: - What first-rank science can small telescopes contribute in the coming era of 30-m class giant telescopes? Volume 3 explores a broad selection of scientific initiatives, from planetary astronomy to cosmology, that are ideally suited for small telescopes. The Future of Small Telescopes in the New Millennium is a fundamental resource for those looking to undertake new projects with small telescopes, for those that are responsible for their operation, and for those called upon to help set scientific priorities for the coming decade. It will be useful for the practicing researcher, mountain facility manager, science policy maker, and beginning graduate student. |
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