Written by international experts, this book explores the possibilities for the next 20 years in conducting gravitational experiments in space that would make the most of the new and much-improved existing capabilities. They start from the premise that over the next decade the gravitational physics community will benefit from dramatic improvements in many technologies critical to the tests of gravity. This volume contains a comprehensive presentation of the theory, technology, missions and projects on relativistic gravity in space.

The 16th conference of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation (GR16), held at the International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa, from 15 to 21 July, was attended by 450 delegates from around the world. The scientific programme comprised 18 plenary lectures, I public lecture and 19 workshops which, excepting 3 plenary lectures, are presented in this proceedings. It was the first major international conference on general relativity and gravitation held on the African continent.

The year 1995 marks the 90th anniversary of Einstein's first description of the theory of relativity. In this unique reference book, Einstein's multi-disciplinary contributions to science and society are presented in an easy-to-read dictionary format. The book is a synthesis of existing literature on Einstein including his own writings, biographies, and the secondary literature published during the past 40 years. The author presents all facets of Einstein's life, which began in Ulm, Germany, and came to an end in Princeton, New Jersey, spanning a tumultuous period marked by two world wars and the dawn of the atomic age. The year 1995 marks the 90th anniversary of Einstein's first description of the theory of relativity. In this unique reference book, Einstein's multi-disciplinary contributions to science and society are presented in an easy-to-read dictionary format. Einstein's personal life, physics, philosophy, and politics are covered in more than 600 entries. The book is a synthesis of existing literature on Einstein, including his own writings, biographies, and the secondary literature published during the past 40 years. The author presents all facets of Einstein's life, which began in Ulm, Germany, and came to an end in Princeton, New Jersey, spanning a tumultuous period marked by two world wars and the dawn of the atomic age. Abundant information is presented in a style that is accessible to students and non-scientists. Entries are cross-referenced for easy access to related information. The work also includes a chronological synopsis, a genealogical chart, and several appendices.

The Nordic mythological Cosmic Serpent, Ouroboros, is said to be coiled in the depths of the sea, surrounding the Earth with its tail in its mouth. In physics, this snake is a metaphor for the Universe, where the head, symbolizing the largest entity the Cosmos is one with the tail, symbolizing the smallest the fundamental particle.

Particle accelerators, colliders and detectors are built by physicists and engineers to uncover the nature of the Universe while discovering its building blocks. Charming the Cosmic Snake takes the readers through the science behind these experimental machines: the physics principles that each stage of the development of particle accelerators helped to reveal, and the particles they helped to discover. The book culminates with a description of the Large Hadron Collider, one of the world s largest and most complex machines operating in a 27-km circumference tunnel near Geneva. That collider may prove or disprove many of our basic theories about the nature of matter.

The book provides the material honestly without misrepresenting the science for the sake of excitement or glossing over difficult notions. The principles behind each type of accelerator is made accessible to the undergraduate student and even to a lay reader with cartoons, illustrations and metaphors. Simultaneously, the book also caters to different levels of reader s background and provides additional materials for the more interested or diligent reader.

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.

The aim of this book is to present the theory and applications of the relativistic Boltzmann equation in a self-contained manner, even for those readers who have no familiarity with special and general relativity. Though an attempt is made to present the basic concepts in a complete fashion, the style of presentation is chosen to be appealing to readers who want to understand how kinetic theory is used for explicit calculations. The book will be helpful not only as a textbook for an advanced course on relativistic kinetic theory but also as a reference for physicists, astrophysicists and applied mathematicians who are interested in the theory and applications of the relativistic Boltzmann equation.

This thesis describes in detail a search for weakly interacting massive particles as possible dark matter candidates, making use of so-called mono-jet events. It includes a detailed description of the run-1 system, important operational challenges, and the upgrade for run-2. The nature of dark matter, which accounts for roughly 25% of the energy-matter content of the universe, is one of the biggest open questions in fundamental science. The analysis is based on the full set of proton-proton collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at s = 8 TeV. Special attention is given to the experimental challenges and analysis techniques, as well as the overall scientific context beyond particle physics. The results complement those of non-collider experiments and yield some of the strongest exclusion bounds on parameters of dark matter models by the end of the Large Hadron Collider run-1. Details of the upgrade of the ATLAS Central Trigger for run-2 are also included.

This volume from the Einstein Studies Series is based largely on papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on the History of General Relativity, held in Amsterdam on June 26-29, 2002. These contributions from notable experts offer both new and historical insights on gravitation, general relativity, cosmology, unified field theory, and the history of science.

Topics discussed include the prehistory of special relativity, early attempts at a relativistic theory of gravitation, the beginnings of general relativity, the problem of motion in the context of relativity, conservation laws, the axiomatization of relativity, classical and contemporary cosmology, gravitation and electromagnetism, quantum gravity, and relativity as seen through the eyes of the public and renowned relativists.

Contributors: K. Brading; G. Gale; H.F.M. Goenner; J. Goldberg; S. Katzir; D. Kennefick; H. Kragh; C. Lehner; U. Majer; J. Mattingly; E.T. Newman; J.D. Norton; J. Renn; R. Rynasiewicz; J.M. SAnchez-Ron; T. Sauer; C. Smeenk; J. Stachel; M. Wazeck; and D. WA1/4nsch.

In this XVII Course of the International School of Cosmology and Gravitation devoted to "ADVANCES IN THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN QUANTUM AND GRAVITY PHYSICS" we have considered different aspects of the influence of gravity on quantum systems. In order to achieve this aim, in many lectures, seminars and discussions we have strengthened the interplay between gravity and quantum systems starting from the situation in the early universe based on astrophysical observations, up to the earthly based experiments with atom interferometry for probing the structure of space-time. Thus we have had timely lectures on the quantum field and horizon of a black hole including reviews of the problem of black holes thermodynamics and entropy, quantum information, quantum black holes, quantum evaporation and Hawking radiation, recent advances in stockastic gravity. We have also discussed quantum fluctuations in inflationary universe, quantum effects and reheating after inflation, and superplanckian energies in Hawking radiation. In this regard the subject of spinors in purely affine space-time and Dirac matter according to Weyl in the generalized theory of gravitation were developed . The dualism between space-time and matter has been deeply analyzed in order to see why, for general relativity, this is an obstacle for quantization of the theory. Also canonical Gravity and Mach's principle, torsion and curvature as commutator for Quantum Gravity and Dirac Geometry of real space-time were analysed, together with the problem of 5-Dimensional Projective Unified Field theory and Multidimensional Gravity and Cosmology.

This thesis describes one of the most precise experimental tests of Lorentz symmetry in electrodynamics by light-speed anisotropy measurement with an asymmetric optical ring cavity. The author aims to answer the fundamental, hypothetical debate on Lorentz symmetry in the Universe. He concludes that the symmetry is protected within an error of 10-15, which means providing one of the most stringent upper limits on the violation of the Lorentz symmetry in the framework of the Standard Model Extension. It introduces the following three keys which play an important role in achieving high-precision measurement: (1) a high-index element (silicon) interpolated into part of the light paths in the optical ring cavity, which improves sensitivity to the violation of the Lorentz symmetry, (2) double-pass configuration of the interferometer, which suppresses environmental noises, and (3) continuous data acquisition by rotating the optical ring cavity, which makes it possible to search for higher-order violations of Lorentz symmetry. In addition to those well-described keys, a comprehensive summary from theoretical formulations to experimental design details, data acquisition, and data analysis helps the reader follow up the experiments precisely.

This book presents lecture materials from the Third LOFAR Data School, transformed into a coherent and complete reference book describing the LOFAR design, along with descriptions of primary science cases, data processing techniques, and recipes for data handling. Together with hands-on exercises the chapters, based on the lecture notes, teach fundamentals and practical knowledge. LOFAR is a new and innovative radio telescope operating at low radio frequencies (10-250 MHz) and is the first of a new generation of radio interferometers that are leading the way to the ambitious Square Kilometre Array (SKA) to be built in the next decade. This unique reference guide serves as a primary information source for research groups around the world that seek to make the most of LOFAR data, as well as those who will push these topics forward to the next level with the design, construction, and realization of the SKA. This book will also be useful as supplementary reading material for any astrophysics overview or astrophysical techniques course, particularly those geared towards radio astronomy (and radio astronomy techniques).

This book is for physicists, historians and philosophers of physics as well as students seeking an introduction to ongoing debates in relativistic and quantum physics. This title covers the recent debates on the emergence of relativity and quantum theory. It includes chapters with an introductory character, comprehensible to students and science teachers. It strengthens the bonds between the communities of scientists, historians, and philosophers.

The current volume of the Parmenides Series "On Thinking" addresses our deepest and most personal experience of the world, the experience of "the present," from a modern perspective combining physics and philosophy. Many prominent researchers have contributed articles to the volume, in which they present models and express their opinions on and, in some cases, also their skepticism about the subject and how it may be (or may not be) addressed, as well as which aspects they consider most relevant in this context. While Einstein might have once hoped that "the present" would find its place in the theory of general relativity, in a later discussion with Carnap he expressed his disappointment that he was never able to achieve this goal. This collection of articles provides a unique overview of different modern approaches, representing not only a valuable summary for experts, but also a nearly inexhaustible source of profound and novel ideas for those who are simply interested in this question.

Spinors are used extensively in physics. It is widely accepted that they are more fundamental than tensors, and the easy way to see this is through the results obtained in general relativity theory by using spinors -- results that could not have been obtained by using tensor methods only.

The foundation of the concept of spinors is groups; spinors appear as representations of groups. This textbook expounds the relationship between spinors and representations of groups. As is well known, spinors and representations are both widely used in the theory of elementary particles.

The authors present the origin of spinors from representation theory, but nevertheless apply the theory of spinors to general relativity theory, and part of the book is devoted to curved space-time applications.

Based on lectures given at Ben Gurion University, this textbook is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics and mathematics, as well as being a reference for researchers.

Relativistic quantum electrodynamics, which describes the electromagnetic interactions of electrons and atomic nuclei, provides the basis for modeling the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids and of their interactions with photons and other projectiles. The theory underlying the widely used GRASP relativistic atomic structure program, the DARC electron-atom scattering code and the new BERTHA relativistic molecular structure program is presented in depth, together with computational aspects relevant to practical calculations. Along with an understanding of the physics and mathematics, the reader will gain some idea of how to use these programs to predict energy levels, ionization energies, electron affinities, transition probabilities, hyperfine effects and other properties of atoms and molecules. It is intended for Physicists and Chemists who need to understand the theory of atomic and molecular structure and processes.

This monograph presents a self contained mathematical treatment of the initial value problem for shock wave solutions of the Einstein equations in General Relativity. It has a clearly outlined goal: proving a certain local existence theorem. Concluding remarks are added and commentary is provided throughout. The author is a well regarded expert in this area.

Dark Energy and Dark Matter are among the greatest mysteries in modern cosmology. The present work explores in depth how large cosmic structures can help us unveil the nature of these components of the Universe. One the one hand, it focuses on a signature that Dark Energy imprints on the Cosmic Microwave Background through its impact on the time-evolution of gravitational potentials: the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (iSW) effect. Another cosmological background, the Cosmic Infrared Background, is considered for the first time in the study of the iSW effect and demonstrated to be a highly efficient and promising tracer. Changing the perspective on the problem, the use of superstructures for iSW detection is then extensively reviewed: using precise solutions to Einstein's general relativity equations, the full iSW effect is computed, especially due to the cosmic voids predicted by the theory. Using measurements from the most recent data, it is subsequently shown how the iSW probes the solidity of the cosmological standard model. On the topic of Dark Matter, an original study is presented, showing that temperature measurements of the intergalactic medium shed light on the nature of Dark Matter particles, providing the tightest constraints on their decay properties.

Many large-scale projects for detecting gravitational radiation are currently being developed, all with the aim of opening a new window onto the observable Universe. As a result, numerical relativity has recently become a major field of research, and Elements of Numerical Relativity and Relativistic Hydrodynamics is a valuable primer for both graduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter the field.

A revised and significantly enlarged edition of LNP 673 Elements of Numerical Relativity, this book starts with the most basic insights and aspects of numerical relativity before it develops coherent guidelines for the reliable and convenient selection of each of the following key aspects: evolution formalism; gauge, initial, and boundary conditions; and various numerical algorithms. And in addition to many revisions, it includes new, convenient damping terms for numerical implementations, a presentation of the recently-developed harmonic formalism, and an extensive, new chapter on matter space-times, containing a thorough introduction to relativistic hydrodynamics.

While proper reference is given to advanced applications requiring large computational resources, most tests and applications in this book can be performed on a standard PC.

This thesis represents a unique mix of theoretical work discussing the Lorentz theory of gravity and experimental work searching for supersymmetry with the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. It begins by reviewing a set of widely-discussed theoretical solutions to the cosmological constant problem, including a natural solution provided by the recently developed Lorentz gauge theory of gravity. The Schwartzschild metric, de Sitter space, and quantum versions of the theory are also discussed. The thesis then looks to supersymmetry for an alternative solution. The idea behind supersymmetry is reviewed and an experimental search for supersymmetry is presented. A major contribution was to estimate one of the most significant backgrounds in this search, which arises from top-antitop quark pair production or W boson production in association with multiple jets where the W boson decays into the hadronically-decaying tau leptons and neutrinos. This background was estimated through a novel method involving kinematically analogous events but including a well-measured muon. This search significantly extends limits on supersymmetric partners of gluons from previous searches.

Held December 16-919, 1999, this proceedings is derived from the Global Foundation Inc.'s Orbis Scientiae 1999. Topics include: cosmological parameters, unifying elementary particle physics, cosmology, superstrings, and black holes.

This textbook on the nature of space and time explains the new theory of Space Dynamics, which describes the dynamics of gravity as the evolution of conformal 3-dimensional geometry. Shape Dynamics is equivalent to Einstein's General Relativity in those situations in which the latter has been tested experimentally, but the theory is based on different first principles. It differs from General Relativity in certain extreme conditions. Shape Dynamics allows us to describe situations in which the spacetime picture is no longer adequate, such as in the presence of singularities, when the idealization of infinitesimal rods measuring scales and infinitesimal clocks measuring proper time fails. This tutorial book contains both a quick introduction for readers curious about Shape Dynamics, and a detailed walk-through of the historical and conceptual motivations for the theory, its logical development from first principles and a description of its present status. It includes an explanation of the origin of the theory, starting from problems posed first by Newton more than 300 years ago. The book will interest scientists from a large community including all foundational fields of physics, from quantum gravity to cosmology and quantum foundations, as well as researchers interested in foundations. The tutorial is sufficiently self-contained for students with some basic background in Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics and General Relativity.

Causal relations, and with them the underlying null cone or conformal structure, form a basic ingredient in all general analytical studies of asymptotically flat space-time. The present book reviews these aspects from the analytical, geometrical and numerical points of view. Care has been taken to present the material in a way that will also be accessible to postgraduate students and nonspecialist reseachers from related fields.

This unique book is the proceedings of The Future of Life and the Future of our Civilization symposium, which was held in May of 2005 in Germany. It is unique since it contains articles of the Future in all aspects of our life. Besides, until now such publications are absent. In this book we can find articles about the spread of life trough out the cosmos and about solar evolution, about origin of life and about cardiology in XXIst century, about structural regularities of encoding in DNA chromosomes, about preservation of biodiversity in marine systems and about defeat of aging, about life-time of technological civilization and about the future of the poor, marginalized populations, about the early cancer diagnositcs of skin, about human clonius and about transition to the next level civilization."

Modernist writers were well aware of the new physics and its underlying concepts. Einstein's Wake shows how the most innovative scientific thinking was understood by non-specialists such as Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, and T. S. Eliot, and how it entered into their literary works.

This course-tested textbook conveys the fundamentals of magnetic fields and relativistic plasma in diffuse cosmic media, with a primary focus on phenomena that have been observed at different wavelengths. Theoretical concepts are addressed wherever necessary, with derivations presented in sufficient detail to be generally accessible. In the first few chapters the authors present an introduction to various astrophysical phenomena related to cosmic magnetism, with scales ranging from molecular clouds in star-forming regions and supernova remnants in the Milky Way, to clusters of galaxies. Later chapters address the role of magnetic fields in the evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxies and galaxy clusters. The book is intended for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in astronomy and physics and will serve as an entry point for those starting their first research projects in the field.