A deeper understanding of neutrinos, with the goal to reveal their nature and exact role within particle physics, is at the frontier of current research. This book reviews the field in a concise fashion and highlights the most pressing issues and areas of strongest topical interest. It provides a clear, self-contained, and logical treatment of the fundamental physics aspects, appropriate for graduate students. Starting with the relevant basics of the SM, neutrinos are introduced, and the quantum mechanical effect of oscillations is explained in detail. A strong focus is then set on the phenomenon of lepton number violation, especially in 0nbb decay, as the crucial probe to understand the nature of neutrinos. The role of neutrinos in astrophysics, expected to be of increasing importance for future research, is then described. Finally, models to explain the neutrino properties are outlined. The central theme of the book is the nature of neutrino masses and the above topics will revolve around this issue.

This textbook avoids complicated calculations and complex mathematical formalism, when explaining nuclear structure by building on a few elementary physical ideas. This edition includes new chapters on exotic nuclei and radioactive beams,and on correclations of collective observables.

The transport of electric charge through most materials is well described in terms of their electronic band structure. The present book deals with two cases where the charge transport in a solid is not described by the simple band structure picture of the solid. These cases are related to the phenomena of the quantum Hall effect and superconductivity. Part I of this book deals with the quantum Hall effect, which is a consequence of the behavior of electrons in solids when they are constrained to move in two dimensions. Part II of the present volume describes the behavior of superconductors, where electrons are bound together in Cooper pairs and travel through a material without resistance.

This book provides an introduction to the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics, with particular focus on its relation to quantum information and its implications for quantum computers and next generation quantum technologies. The text, aimed at graduate level physics students with a working knowledge of quantum mechanics and statistical physics, provides a brief overview of the development of classical thermodynamics and its quantum formulation in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 then explores typical thermodynamic settings, such as cycles and work extraction protocols, when the working material is genuinely quantum. Finally, Chapter 3 explores the thermodynamics of quantum information processing and introduces the reader to some more state of-the-art topics in this exciting and rapidly developing research field.

Volume 1 of this three-part series introduces the fundamental concepts of quantum field theory using the formalism of canonical quantization. This volume is intended for use as a text for an introductory quantum field theory course that can include both particle and condensed matter physics students. Dr. Strickland starts with a brief review of classical field theory and uses this as a jumping off point for the quantization of classical field, thereby promoting them to proper quantum fields. He then presents the formalism for real and complex scalar field theories, fermion field quantization, gauge field quantization, toy models of the nuclear interaction, and finally the full Lagrangian for QED and its renormalization. Part of IOP Series in Nuclear Medicine.

Optics has been part of scientific enquiry from its beginning and remains a key element of modern science. This book provides a concise treatment of physical optics starting with a brief summary of geometrical optics. Scalar diffraction theory is introduced to describe wave propagation and diffraction effects and provides the basis for Fourier methods for treating more complex diffraction problems. The rest of the book treats the physics underlying some important instruments for spectral analysis and optical metrology, reflection and transmission at dielectric surfaces and the polarization of light. This undergraduate-level text aims to aid understanding of optical applications in physical, engineering and life sciences or more advanced topics in modern optics.

The complexity and vulnerability of the human body has driven the development of a diverse range of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques in modern medicine. The Nuclear Medicine procedures of Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Radionuclide Therapy are well-established in clinical practice and are founded upon the principles of radiation physics. This book will offer an insight into the physics of nuclear medicine by explaining the principles of radioactivity, how radionuclides are produced and administered as radiopharmaceuticals to the body and how radiation can be detected and used to produce images for diagnosis. The treatment of diseases such as thyroid cancer, hyperthyroidism and lymphoma by radionuclide therapy will also be explored.

The growing number of scientific and technological applications of plasma physics in the field of Aerospace Engineering requires that graduate students and professionals understand their principles. This introductory book is the expanded version of class notes of lectures I taught for several years to students of Aerospace Engineering and Physics. It is intended as a reading guide, addressed to students and non-specialists to tackle later with more advanced texts. To make the subject more accessible the book does not follow the usual organization of standard textbooks in this field and is divided in two parts. The first introduces the basic kinetic theory (molecular collisions, mean free path, etc.) of neutral gases in equilibrium in connection to the undergraduate physics courses. The basic properties of ionized gases and plasmas (Debye length, plasma frequencies, etc.) are addressed in relation to their equilibrium states and the collisional processes at the microscopic level. The physical description of short and long-range (Coulomb) collisions and the more relevant collisions (elementary processes) between electrons' ions and neutral atoms or molecules are discussed. The second part introduces the physical description of plasmas as a statistical system of interacting particles introducing advanced concepts of kinetic theory, (non-equilibrium distribution functions, Boltzmann collision operator, etc). The fluid transport equations for plasmas of electron ions and neutral atoms and the hydrodynamic models of interest in space science and plasma technology are derived. The plasma production in the laboratory in the context of the physics of electric breakdown is also discussed. Finally, among the myriad of aerospace applications of plasma physics, the low pressure microwave electron multipactor breakdown and plasma thrusters for space propulsion are presented in two separate chapters.