All kind ofinformationfrom distant celestialbodies comestous intheform of radiation. Inmost the of electromagnetic cases thisradiation propagation be can as a reasonable in described, terms of This is approximation, rays. truenot inthe but also inthe radio only ofthe electro opticalrange range Forthis the of reason laws areoffundamental magneticspectrum. optics ray for importance and astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology. to According arethe of general relativity, light light likegeodesics a rays Lorentzianmetric whichthe is described. how by spacetimegeometry This, is true as as the under the ever, only long light are rays freelypropagating influence ofthe fieldwhich is coded in the only gravitational spacetime ge If a is in an medium ometry. light ray influenced, addition, by optical (e. g. , then it will not follow ofthe by a a plasma), light like geodesic spacetime metric. It is true that for radiation the electromagnetic traveling through universe the influence ofamedium on the ofthe and usually path on ray the is small. there are several cases inwhich this influ frequency However, ence is well in inthe radio For measurable, particular very range. example, the deflection ofradio inthe field oftheSun is consider gravitational rays influenced the Solarcorona. currentand ably by Moreover, planned Doppler with microwaves in the Solar reach in the an experiments system accuracy 5 of 10 15 whichmakes it totakethe influence frequency Awlw necessary ofthe medium into account.

This book aims to span the cultural differences separating the humanities from the natural sciences. In his exposition, the author goes well beyond the typical level found in popular science presentations. There is a separate chapter devoted to the mathematical fundamentals needed for understanding many concepts in physics.

This Brief presents a new way of introducing relativity theory, in which perplexing relativistic effects such as time dilation and Lorentz contraction are explained prior to the discussion of Lorentz-transformation. The notion of relativistic mass is shown to contradict the spirit of relativity theory and the true significance of the mass-energy relation is contrasted with the popular view of it. The author discusses the twin paradox from the point of view of both siblings. Last but not least, the fundamentals of general relativity are described, including the recent Gravity Probe B experiment.

The accretion process is thought to play a key role in the Universe. This book explains, in a form intelligible to graduate students, its relation to the formation of new stars, to the energy release in compact objects and to the formation of black holes. The monograph describes how accretion processes are related to the presence of jets in stellar objects and active galactic nuclei and to jet formation. The authors treat theoretical work as well as current observational facts. This volume of the highly esteemed Les Houches series is meant as an advanced text that can serve to attract students to exciting new research work in astrophysics.

This volume contains papers presented at an international conference to celebrate Fred Hoyle's monumental contributions to astronomy, astrophysics and astrobiology and more generally to humanity and culture. The contributed articles highlight the important aspects of his scientific life and show how much of an example and inspiration he has been for over three generations in the 20th century.
There are a few people of whom it could be said they changed the way we perceive the world. Galileo Galilei, Nicholas Copernicus and Isaac Newton were amongst these. The inclusion of Fred Hoyle in this elite group may be contentious at the moment for the reason that in challenging the most cherished of Holy Grails in science he unwittingly offended many. But once the dust has settled over the many disputes that were raised and in the fullness of time there can be little doubt that Fred Hoyle will be ranked alongside these figures of history.
Hoyle perceived science with an indomitable passion and an obsessive desire to find the truth wherever it lay. His singleness of purpose in this great mission and his deep suspicion of orthodoxy, his powerful intellect and imagination set him apart from most of his contemporaries in the last century.
This volume includes papers presented at a commemorative conference held in Cardiff in June 2002. The material divides naturally into several sections: Personal Reminiscences, Stellar Structure and Evolution, Cosmology, Interstellar Matter, Comets and finally Panspermia. Each article pays its own tribute to Fred Hoyle for his inspiration and guidance that led to major breakthroughs in astrophysics and space science throughout the 20th century.

This book is written for theoretical and mathematical physicists and mat- maticians interested in recent developments in complex general relativity and their application to classical and quantum gravity. Calculations are presented by paying attention to those details normally omitted in research papers, for pedagogical r- sons. Familiarity with fibre-bundle theory is certainly helpful, but in many cases I only rely on two-spinor calculus and conformally invariant concepts in gravitational physics. The key concepts the book is devoted to are complex manifolds, spinor techniques, conformal gravity, ?-planes, ?-surfaces, Penrose transform, complex 3 1 - - space-time models with non-vanishing torsion, spin- fields and spin- potentials. 2 2 Problems have been inserted at the end, to help the reader to check his und- standing of these topics. Thus, I can find at least four reasons for writing yet another book on spinor and twistor methods in general relativity: (i) to write a textbook useful to - ginning graduate students and research workers, where two-component spinor c- culus is the unifying mathematical language.

Modern cosmology is a quickly developing ?eld of research. New technical devices and tools supply the community with new experimental data measured with high accuracy. The self-consistent explanation of these data needs t- oretical models that are based on hypothetical predictions of particle theory. In their turn, such predictions imply cosmology for their probe. Speci?c st- ies of the cosmological consequences of particle theory, linking them to their observable signatures, are actual. This boiling kettle of theoretical research and experimental efforts produces ideas that will be preserved for following generations. The aim of this book is to acquaint the reader with some of these ideas, - fering nontrivial ways to probe the physical basis of modern cosmology. An extensive review of the newest ideas in modern cosmology, e. g. , related with the development of the M-brane theory, lies beyond the scope of our book, which is aimed at providing a ?rmly established system of probes for these ideas, linking their predictions to their possible experimental test. We use the framework of in?ationary paradigm to reveal the phenomena that can shed light on the physical origin of the observed Universe, of its matter content and large-scale structure. The crucial role of quantum ?uctuations in creation of our Universe and in possible features, re?ecting cosmological impact of microphysics, is discussed. These features are shown to be accessible to - perimental test in the near future.

Our esteemed colleague C. V. Vishveshwara, popularly known as Vishu, turned sixty on 6th March 1998. His colleagues and well wishers felt that it would be appropriate to celebrate the occasion by bringing out a volume in his honour. Those of us who have had the good fortune to know Vishu, know that he is unique, in a class by himself. Having been given the privilege to be the volume's editors, we felt that we should attempt something different in this endeavour. Vishu is one of the well known relativists from India whose pioneer ing contributions to the studies of black holes is universally recognised. He was a student of Charles Misner. His Ph. D. thesis on the stability of the Schwarzschild black hole, coordinate invariant characterisation of the sta tionary limit and event horizon for Kerr black holes and subsequent seminal work on quasi-normal modes of black holes have passed on to become the starting points for detailed mathematical investigations on the nature of black holes. He later worked on other aspects related to black holes and compact objects. Many of these topics have matured over the last thirty years. New facets have also developed and become current areas of vigorous research interest. No longer are black holes, ultracompact objects or event horizons mere idealisations of mathematical physicists but concrete entities that astrophysicists detect, measure and look for. Astrophysical evidence is mounting up steadily for black holes."

One of the most of exciting aspects is the general relativity pred- tion of black holes and the Such Big Bang. predictions gained weight the theorems through Penrose. singularity pioneered In various by te- books on theorems general relativity singularity are and then presented used to that black holes exist and that the argue universe started with a To date what has big been is bang. a critical of what lacking analysis these theorems predict-' We of really give a proof a typical singul- theorem and this ity use theorem to illustrate problems arising through the of possibilities violations" and "causality weak "shell very crossing These singularities." add to the problems weight of view that the point theorems alone singularity are not sufficient to the existence of predict physical singularities. The mathematical theme of the book In order to both solid gain a of and intuition understanding good for any mathematical theory, one, should to realise it as model of try a a fam- iar non-mathematical theories have had concept. Physical an especially the important on of and impact development mathematics, conversely various modern theories physical rather require sophisticated mathem- ics for their formulation. both and mathematics Today, physics are so that it is often difficult complex to master the theories in both very s- in the of jects. However, case differential pseudo-Riemannian geometry or the general relativity between and mathematics relationship physics is and it is therefore especially close, to from interd- possible profit an ciplinary approach.

The aim of this book is to give graduate students an overview of quantum gravity but it also covers related topics from astrophysics. Some well-written contributions can serve as an introduction into basic conceptual concepts like time in quantum gravity or the emergence of a classical world from quantum cosmology. This makes the volume attractive to philosophers of science, too. Other topics are black holes, gravitational waves and non-commutative extensions of physical theories.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the Fifth Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (Sociedad Espanola de Astronomfa, SEA). The meeting was held at the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha in Toledo, from September 9 to 13, 2002. The event brought together 219 participants who pre sented their latest results in many different subjects. In comparison with the previous scientific meetings of the Society, the numbers of oral talks and poster contributions (122 and 64, respectively) are rapidly increasing, confirming that the SEA conferences are becoming a point of reference to assess the interests and achievements of astrophysical research in Spain. During the meeting, the SEA made public the granting of the Prize to the Best Spanish Ph. D. Thesis in As tronomy and Astrophysics for the period 2000-2001 ex aequo to Dr. A. Zurita and Dr. E. Villaver. This is the second time that the SEA is awarding this prize, which aim is to encourage young spanish astrophysicists to pursue a high level scientific career. The Society is indebted to the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, and, in particular, to the San Pedro Martir staff, for its hospitality. It is also indebted to the Local Organizing Committee for its dedication and the good atmosphere that prevailed at any moment, and to the Scientific Organizing Committee for its excel lent work."

Since the dawn of mankind, observers of the sky have wondered at the sudden appearance of new stars on the seemingly unchanging heavens and, for at least 2000 years, have recorded these phenomena in their annals and archives. Even in more modern times, since the discovery of SN1885A in S Andromeda which ?gured in the important "island universe" discussions of the 1920's, the puzzle of supernovae (SNe) has played an important role in astrophysics. Only with the seminal work of Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade in the 1930's did we begin to understand the di?erences between novae and SNe and the importance of SNe as the fonts of energy for the interstellar medium and as drivers of chemical evolution in galaxies. As recently as the 1940's and 1950's the early days of radio astronomy were heavily in?uenced by the familiar names of Cassiopeia A and Taurus A, two young supernova remnants, and two Nobel prizes have been awarded for discovery and study of a related phenomenon, pulsars. In spite of the great age of the study of SNe, since at least the Chinese records of SN185and probably earlier, the ?eld is, in fact, very young having only attracted a large devoted following since the spectacular Type II SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the ?rst naked-eye SN in more than 400 years.

XMM satellites were also presented. Concerning extra-galactic cartography, res- ults from the local universe were discussed, like the distribution of super-clusters, and methods to be used with the VLT and the Planck and Hersehe! (ESA, 2007) satellites. The latest results from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey were also debated. The Organization of this workshop is indebted to the colleagues of the Local Organizing Comittee for the help and good humour provided before, during and after the workshop. Special thanks are due to Carlos Martins for the great help and effort provided in the critical moments. We acknowledge the financial support from FCT/Portugal under POCTI Pro- gram from Quadro Comunitario de Apoio III that also made possible the public- ation of these Proceedings and to Sociedade Portuguesa de Astronomia without which the organization of this workshop would not be possible. Guest Editors LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Barbosa, Domingos (barbosa@supernova. ist. utl. pt) CENTRA-Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Por- tugal Bartlett, James G. (bartlett@cdf. in2p3. fr) APC-PCC/ College de France, 11 pl. Marrelin -Berthelot, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France Blanchard, Alain (alain. blanchar@astro. obs-mip. fr) Observatoire Astronomique, Midi-Pyrenees, 14 Avenue Ed. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France Blinnikov, Sergey (sergei. blinnikov@i tep. ru) Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, B. Cheremushk 25, 117218, Moscow, Russia Bouchet, Fran

This book describes a paradigm change in modern physics from the philosophy and mathematical expression of the quantum theory to those of general relativity. The approach applies to all domains - from elementary particles to cosmology. The change is from the positivistic views in which atomism, nondeterminism and measurement are fundamental, to a holistic view in realism, wherein matter - electrons, galaxies, - are correlated modes of a single continuum, the universe. A field that unifies electromagnetism, gravity and inertia is demonstrated explicitly, with new predictions, in terms of quaternion and spinor field equations in a curved spacetime. Quantum mechanics emerges as a linear, flatspace approximation for the equations of inertia in general relativity.

Observability and Scientific Realism It is commonly thought that the birth of modern natural science was made possible by an intellectual shift from a mainly abstract and specuJative conception of the world to a carefully elaborated image based on observations. There is some grain of truth in this claim, but this grain depends very much on what one takes observation to be. In the philosophy of science of our century, observation has been practically equated with sense perception. This is understandable if we think of the attitude of radical empiricism that inspired Ernst Mach and the philosophers of the Vienna Circle, who powerfully influenced our century's philosophy of science. However, this was not the atti tude of the f ounders of modern science: Galileo, f or example, expressed in a f amous passage of the Assayer the conviction that perceptual features of the world are merely subjective, and are produced in the 'anima!' by the motion and impacts of unobservable particles that are endowed uniquely with mathematically expressible properties, and which are therefore the real features of the world. Moreover, on other occasions, when defending the Copernican theory, he explicitly remarked that in admitting that the Sun is static and the Earth turns on its own axis, 'reason must do violence to the sense' , and that it is thanks to this violence that one can know the tme constitution of the universe.

This book is written in a pedagogical style intelligible for graduate students. It reviews recent progress in black-hole and wormhole theory and in mathematical cosmology within the framework of Einstein's field equations and beyond, including quantum effects. This collection of essays, written by leading scientists of long standing reputation, should become an indispensable source for future research.

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.

Digital sky surveys, data from orbiting telescopes, and advances in computation have increased the quantity and quality of astronomical data by several orders of magnitude in recent years. Making sense of this wealth of data requires sophisticated statistical and data analytic techniques. Fortunately, statistical methodologies have similarly made great strides in recent years. Powerful synergies thus emerge when astronomers and statisticians join in examining astrostatistical problems and approaches. The volume focuses on several themes: .The increasing power of Bayesian approaches to modeling astronomical data .The growth of enormous databases, leading an emerging federated Virtual Observatory, and their impact on modern astronomical research .Statistical modeling of critical datasets, such as galaxy clustering and fluctuations in the microwave background radiation, leading to a new era of precision cosmology .Methodologies for uncovering clusters and patterns in multivariate data .The characterization of multiscale patterns in imaging and time series data As in earlier volumes in this series, research contributions discussing topics in one field are joined with commentary from scholars in the other. Short contributed papers covering dozens of astrostatistical topics are also included."

Sponsored by the Global Foundation, Inc., these proceedings are derived from the International Conference on Orbis Scientiae II. Topics covered include: gravitational mass, neutrino mass, particle masses, cosmological masses, susy masses, and big bang creation of mass.

The foundations are thoroughly developed together with the required mathematical background from differential geometry developed in Part III.

The author also discusses the tests of general relativity in detail, including binary pulsars, with much space is devoted to the study of compact objects, especially to neutron stars and to the basic laws of black-hole physics.

This well-structured text and reference enables readers to easily navigate through the various sections as best matches their backgrounds and perspectives, whether mathematical, physical or astronomical.

Very applications oriented, the text includes very recent results, such as the supermassive black-hole in our galaxy and first double pulsar system

Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker s "Aufbau der Physik," first published in 1985, was intended as an overview of his lifelong concern: an understanding of the unity of physics. That is, the idea of a quantum theory of binary alternatives (the so-called ur-theory), a unified quantum theoretical framework in which spinorial symmetry groups are considered to give rise to the structure of space and time.

The book saw numerous reprints, but it was published in German only.

The present edition, in English, provides a newly arranged and revised version, in which some original chapters and sections have been deleted, and a new chapter about further insights and results of ur-theoretic research of the late 1980 s and 1990 s, mainly by the work of Thomas Gornitz, has been included, as well as a general introduction to Weizsacker s Philosophy of Physics.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker also enjoys high esteem by a much broader audience for his socio-cultural, political and religious thoughts and writings. In him the intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue has found one of its most important proponents: a great thinker who combines the perspectives of science, philosophy, religion and politics with a view towards the challenges as well as the responsibilities of our time."

In July 2006, a major international conference was held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada, to celebrate the career and work of a remarkable man of letters. Abner Shimony, who is well known for his pioneering contributions to foundations of quantum mechanics, is a physicist as well as a philosopher, and is highly respected among the intellectuals of both communities. In line with Shimony's conviction that philosophical investigation is not to be divorced from theoretical and empirical work in the sciences, the conference brought together leading theoretical physicists, experimentalists, as well as philosophers. This book collects twenty-three original essays stemming from the conference, on topics including history and methodology of science, Bell's theorem, probability theory, the uncertainty principle, stochastic modifications of quantum mechanics, and relativity theory. It ends with a transcript of a fascinating discussion between Lee Smolin and Shimony, ranging over the entire spectrum of Shimony's wide-ranging contributions to philosophy, science, and philosophy of science.

Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky surveys, which have shown that distant galaxies, formed early in the life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. New observational windows at ultraviolet, infrared and millimetric wavelengths (provided by ROSAT, IRAM, IUE, IRAS, ISO) have revealed that galaxies contain a wealth of components: very hot gas, atomic hydrogen, molecules, dust, dark matter. A significant advance is expected due to new instruments (VLT, FIRST, XMM) which will allow one to explore the most distant Universe. Three Euroconferences have been planned to punctuate this new epoch in galactic research, bringing together specialists in various fields of Astronomy. The first, held in Granada (Spain) in May 2000, addressed the observational clues. The second will take place in October 2001 in St Denis de la Reunion (France) and will review the basic building blocks and small-scale processes in galaxy evolution. The third will take place in July 2002 in Kiel (Germany) and will be devoted to the overall modelling of galaxy evolution. This book contains the proceedings of the first conference. It is recommended to researchers and PhD students in Astrophysics."

Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky surveys which have shown that distant galaxies, formed early in the life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. New observational windows at ultraviolet, infrared and millimetric wavelengths (provided by ROSAT, IRAM, IUE, IRAS, ISO) have revealed that galaxies contain a wealth of components: very hot gas, atomic hydrogen, molecules, dust, dark matter ...

A significant advance is expected due to new instruments (VLT, FIRST, XMM) which will allow one to explore the most distant Universe. Three Euroconferences have been planned to punctuate this new epoch in galactic research, bringing together specialists in various fields of Astronomy.

The first one, held in Granada (Spain) in May 2000, addressed the observational clues. The second one took place in October 2001 in St Denis de la Reunion (France) and reviewed the basic building blocks and small-scale processes in galaxy evolution. The third one will take place in July 2002 in Kiel (Germany) and will be devoted to the overall modelling of galaxy evolution. This book contains the proceedings of the second conference. It is suitable for researchers and PhD students in Astrophysics. "

It was with pleasure that CAUP became for three days the core to the cloud of star formation experts all over the world. Close to the celebration of its 15th anniversary - therefore still in the early stages of institutional evolution - we are proud of our multiple activities in Astronomy: a productive research centre, classi?ed as "Institution of excellence" within the Portuguese research units, but also an "Institution of Public Utility" as recognised by the Government. Fifteen years ago we choose to play a role not only in research, as expected from any research centre but also in the training of the future astronomers and the promotion of science and scienti?c culture. This choice is clearly stated in our by-laws and also in the multiple activities we have carried out since. Along the years we have organized on a regular basis international Workshops similar to "Cores to Clusters." Sometimes we have chosen to organize int- national conferences of a larger size. On other occasions the choice has been for smaller and more informal discussion meetings. Or even doctoral schools with very different objectives. In common all those meetings have always had, besides the formal registered participants, a group of informal participants, our undergraduate students of Astronomy, so eager to be in touch with the real world.