These seven lectures are intended to serve as an introduction for beginning graduate students to the spectra of small molecules. The author succeeds in illustrating the concepts by using language and metaphors that capture and elegantly convey simple insights into dynamics that lie beyond archival molecular constants. The lectures can simultaneously be viewed as a collection of interlocking special topics that have fascinated the author and his students over the years. Though neither a textbook nor a scholarly monograph, the book provides an illuminating perspective that will benefit students and researchers alike.

Michael Schenk evaluates new technologies and methods, such as cryogenic read-out electronics and a UV laser system, developed to optimise the performance of large liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPC). Amongst others, the author studies the uniformity of the electric field produced by a Greinacher high-voltage generator operating at cryogenic temperatures, measures the linear energy transfer (LET) of muons and the longitudinal diffusion coefficient of electrons in liquid argon. The results are obtained by analysing events induced by cosmic-ray muons and UV laser beams. The studies are carried out with ARGONTUBE, a prototype LArTPC in operation at the University of Bern, Switzerland, designed to investigate the feasibility of drift distances of up to five metres for electrons in liquid argon.

ThisvolumeisacollectionofarticlesoriginallypublishedonaSpecialIssueoftheAstrophysicsandSpaceScienceJournal. It is intended to give a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in solar and stellar modelling, with the aim of comparing and extending what we know from the detailed solar modelling, made possible by the helioseismic tools and by the recent analysis of the solar spectrum, to the modelling and understanding of generic stellar structures and their evolution. Particular emphasis is devoted to the role of the input physics, and its relevant uncertainties, in the construction of stellar models and in the resulting predictions for general observable quantities. Issues related to convection, overshoot, diffusion and settling of helium and heavy elements, rotation, chemical composition and magnetic eld are extensively discussed. Large space is dedicated to the application of helio- and asteroseismic techniques as tools to prove the theory of the evolution and the structure of the stars. Comments on prospects for future improvements and re nements of the theoretical models are given, focusing on the possibility of getting ever more precise helioseismic and asteroseismic observations from ground and space. The articles included in this volume are the results of the HELAS-NA5 workshop 'Synergies between solar and stellar modelling' held in Rome from 22nd to 26th of June 2009, which was an unique occasion to gather the solar and the stellar physics communities to discuss the urgent questions risen by recent photometric and spectroscopic observational results.

Infrared spectroscopy is a new and innovative technology to study protein folding/misfolding events in the broad arsenal of techniques conventionally used in this field. The progress in understanding protein folding and misfolding is primarily due to the development of biophysical methods which permit to probe conformational changes with high kinetic and structural resolution. The most commonly used approaches rely on rapid mixing methods to initiate the folding event via a sudden change in solvent conditions. Traditionally, techniques such as fluorescence, circular dichroism or visible absorption are applied to probe the process. In contrast to these techniques, infrared spectroscopy came into play only very recently, and the progress made in this field up to date which now permits to probe folding events over the time scale from picoseconds to minutes has not yet been discussed in a book. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the developments as seen by some of the main contributors to the field. The chapters are not intended to give exhaustive reviews of the literature but, instead to illustrate examples demonstrating the sort of information, which infrared techniques can provide and how this information can be extracted from the experimental data. By discussing the strengths and limitations of the infrared approaches for the investigation of folding and misfolding mechanisms this book helps the reader to evaluate whether a particular system is appropriate for studies by infrared spectroscopy and which specific advantages the techniques offer to solve specific problems.

Frontiers in Fusion Research provides a systematic overview of the latest physical principles of fusion and plasma confinement. It is primarily devoted to the principle of magnetic plasma confinement, that has been systematized through 50 years of fusion research. Frontiers in Fusion Research begins with an introduction to the study of plasma, discussing the astronomical birth of hydrogen energy and the beginnings of human attempts to harness the Sun's energy for use on Earth. It moves on to chapters that cover a variety of topics such as: * charged particle motion, * plasma kinetic theory, * wave dynamics, * force equilibrium, and * plasma turbulence. The final part of the book describes the characteristics of fusion as a source of energy and examines the current status of this particular field of research. Anyone with a grasp of basic quantum and analytical mechanics, especially physicists and researchers from a range of different backgrounds, may find Frontiers in Fusion Research an interesting and informative guide to the physics of magnetic confinement.

These lectures review the recently developed vector coherent state method. The book is an excellent introduction to the field because of the many examples treated in detail, in particular those from nuclear and particle physics. These calculations will be welcomed by researchers and graduate students. The author reviews the concepts of coherent states of the Heisenberg algebra and shows then that the vector coherent state method maps the higher symmetry algebra into an n-dimensional harmonic oscillator algebra coupled with a simple intrinsic symmetry algebra. The formulation involves some vector (or analogous higher symmetry) coupling of the intrinsic algebra with the n-dimensional oscillator algebra, leading to matrix representations and Wigner coefficients of the higher symmetry algebra expressed in terms of simple calculable functions and recoupling coefficients for the simpler intrinsic algebra.

Charge density analysis of materials provides a firm basis for the evaluation of the properties of materials. The design and engineering of a new combination of metals requires a firm knowledge of intermolecular features. Recent advances in technology and high-speed computation have made the crystal X-ray diffraction technique a unique tool for the determination of charge density distribution in molecular crystal. Methods have been developed to make experimental probes capable of unraveling the features of charge densities in the intra- and inter-molecular regions of crystal structures. In Metal and Alloy Bonding - An Experimental Analysis, the structural details of materials are elucidated with the X-ray diffraction technique. Analyses of the charge density and the local and average structure are given to reveal the structural properties of technologically important materials. Readers will gain a new understanding of the local and average structure of existing materials. The electron density, bonding, and charge transfer studies in Metal and Alloy Bonding - An Experimental Analysis contain useful information for researchers in the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science, and metallurgy. The properties described in these studies can contribute to the successful engineering of these technologically important materials.

The fifteenth European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics has taken place during the week of June 5th to 9th, in the lovely village of Peniscola, approximately midway between Barcelona and Valencia on the Mediterranean coast. This conference continues the tradition initiated in 1972 at Budapest, where the first conference took place, and followed in Graz (1973), Tiibingen (1975), Vlieland (1976), Uppsala (1977), Dubna (1979), Sesimbra (1980), Fer- rara (1981), Tbilisi (1984), Fontevraud (1987), Uzhgorod (1990), Elba (1991) and Amsterdam (1993). During this week, a total of one hundred and fifty one scientist were exchang- ing their knowledge and initiatives in this broad field of Few-Body Physics. Even if the name of the conference restricts its domain to Europe, there has been an important participation of scientists from non-European countries. A conference with more than twenty years of tradition is already an au- tonomous being, with a noticeable inertia. Nevertheless, it is a reasonable thought to bend this inertia trying to introduce some innovation, of course, without any damage to the basic structure and objectives of the conference.

In this volume seven leading theoreticians and experimenters review the origin of the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the Big Bang, solar neutrinos, the physics of enormous densities and temperatures in stars and of immense magnetic fields around collapsed stars, strong electric fields in heavy ion collisions, and the extreme conditions in quark-gluon plasmas. The articles address nuclear and particle physicists, especially graduate students, but also astrophysicists and cosmologists, since they have to deal with events under the extreme physical conditions discussed here.

In the present edition, a number of new features have been added. First of all, a number of typographical errors that had crept into the text have been corrected. More importantly, a number of new examples, figures and smaller sections have been added. In evaluating the two-body matrix elements which characterize the residual interaction, attention has been paid to the multipole expansion and insight into the importance of various multipoles is presented. The 18 example of 0 is now worked out for all the different angular momentum states in the section on configuration mixing. Some additional comments on how to determine one- and two-body matrix elements in jn configurations, on isospin and the application of isospin to the study of light odd-odd nuclei are included. In Chap. 3, a small section on the present use of large-scale shell model calculations and a section on experimental tests of how a nucleon actually moves inside the nucleus (using electromagnetic probing of nucleonic motion) has been added. In Chap. 4, some recent applications of the study of quadrupole motion in jn particle systems (with reference to the Po, Rn, Ra nuclei) are presented. In the discussion of magnetic dipole moments, the effects and importance of collective admixtures are pointed out and discussed. In Chap. 5, some small additions relating to the particle-hole conjugation and to the basic Hartree-Fock theory have been made. In Chap.

Scattering theory is of interest to physicists and to chemists and has a wide variety of applications, but it also presents a considerable challenge to mathematicians, including numerical analysts. Within the Schroedinger picture in this volume are collected the various theoretical and mathematical treatments of scattering together with a host of reviews of its applications to atomic and nuclear physics, to surface physics and chemistry, for example trapping of atoms on surfaces, and to amorphous condensed systems. The reviews give a concise and pedagogically useful presentation of the state of the art, and may serve as introductions for newcomers, in particular for graduate students.

This book introduces systematically the operator method for the solution of the Schroedinger equation. This method permits to describe the states of quantum systems in the entire range of parameters of Hamiltonian with a predefined accuracy. The operator method is unique compared with other non-perturbative methods due to its ability to deliver in zeroth approximation the uniformly suitable estimate for both ground and excited states of quantum system. The method has been generalized for the application to quantum statistics and quantum field theory. In this book, the numerous applications of operator method for various physical systems are demonstrated. Simple models are used to illustrate the basic principles of the method which are further used for the solution of complex problems of quantum theory for many-particle systems. The results obtained are supplemented by numerical calculations, presented as tables and figures.

This book begins with a very readable survey "The Sun Today" by J.-C. Pecker. It is followed by thorough reviews from leading experts covering theory and observations. The focus shifts from the solar core, studied via neutrino emissions and helioseismology, through the interface regions where it is believed the large-scale magnetic fields are generated, to the corona, where most of the high temperature phenomena characteristic of this region may be studied directly. As energetic particles play such a vigorous role in this part of the sun, a separate session was devoted to their transport and storage in the corona.

Measuring the hydrogen content in materials is important both for research and for various applications in material and surface sciences, such as hydrogen embrittlement of steel, controlled thermonuclear reaction first wall studies, and changed material properties caused by dissolved hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most difficult atomic species to analyze by traditional methods, but nuclear physics methods are particularly suited for this purpose. President of the Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences P.K. Khabibullaev and Professor B.G. Skorodumov discuss in this book the characteristics of these methods, such as lower detection limits, selectivity in respect to different isotopes, accuracy, depth resolution and maximum detection depth. Examples of applications that are dealt with include the determination of material humidity, the dating of objects, the study of hydrogen diffusion including non-stationary processes, and the investigation of changes in material properties like superconductivity, plasticity and electrical properties due to contamination by hydrogen.

Written in a pedagogical way, the articles in this book address graduate students as well as researchers and are well suited for seminar work. Subjects at the forefront of nuclear research, bordering other areas of many-particle physics, such as electron scattering at different energy scales, new physics with radioactive beams, multifragmentation, relativistic nuclear physics, high spin nuclear problems, chaos, the role of the continuum in nuclear physics or recent calculations with the shell model are presented. It is felt that the topics treated in this book address the main future lines of development of nuclear physics.

In this volume, experimentalists and theoreticians discuss which experiments and calculations are needed to make significant progress in the field and also how experiments and theoretical descriptions can be compared. The topics treated are the electromagnetic production of Goldstone bosons, pion--pion and pion--nucleon interactions, hadron polarizability and form factors.