This book is devoted to researchers who would like to investigate interactions among gravitational waves and matter fields beyond linear order, including the phenomena of memory effects, gravitational Faraday rotation, soft theorems, and formations of spacetime singularities due to the mutual focus of gravitational waves. Readers only require a basic understanding of general relativity to understand the materials.The book starts with an overview on the fundamentals of the Newman-Penrose formalism and a brief introduction to distribution theory, with which the author systematically develops a mathematical description of spacetimes of colliding plane waves. Then, the author presents a frame-independent definition of polarization of a plane gravitational wave in a curved spacetime, studies in detail the gravitational Faraday rotation of two plane gravitational waves, and shows that each of them can serve as a medium to the other precisely due to their nonlinear interactions. Exact solutions are also presented, which represent a variety of models including the collisions of two plane gravitational waves and the collisions of a plane gravitational wave with a dust shell, a massless scalar wave, an electromagnetic wave, or a neutrino wave. The formation of spacetime singularities due to nonlinear interactions and the effects of gravitational wave polarization on the nature of singularities are also explored.

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).

Self-organization of matter is observed in every context and on all scales, from the nanoscale of quantum fields and subatomic particles to the macroscale of galaxy superclusters. This book analyzes the wide range of patterns of organization present in nature, highlighting their similarities rather than their differences. This unconventional approach results in an illuminating read which should be part of any Physics student's background.

First published in 1973, this influential work discusses Einstein's General Theory of Relativity to show how two of its predictions arise: first, that the ultimate fate of many massive stars is to undergo gravitational collapse to form 'black holes'; and second, that there was a singularity in the past at the beginning of the universe. Starting with a precise formulation of the theory, including the necessary differential geometry, the authors discuss the significance of space-time curvature and examine the properties of a number of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations. They develop the theory of the causal structure of a general space-time, and use it to prove a number of theorems establishing the inevitability of singularities under certain conditions. A Foreword contributed by Abhay Ashtekar and a new Preface from George Ellis help put the volume into context of the developments in the field over the past fifty years.

This book gives an intermediate level treatment of quantum field theory, appropriate to a reader with a first degree in physics and a working knowledge of special relativity and quantum mechanics. It aims to give the reader some understanding of what QFT is all about, without delving deep into actual calculations of Feynman diagrams or similar. The author serves up a seven-course menu, which begins with a brief introductory Aperitif. This is followed by the Hors d'oeuvres, which set the scene with a broad survey of the Universe, its theoretical description, and how the ideas of QFT developed during the last century. In the next course, the Art of Cooking, the author recaps on some basic facts of analytical mechanics, relativity, quantum mechanics and also presents some nutritious "extras" in mathematics (group theory at the elementary level) and in physics (theory of scattering). After these preparations, the reader should have a good appetite for the Entrees - the central par t of the book where the Standard Model is described and explained. After Trou Normand, the restive pause including human stories about physicists and no formulas, the author serves the Dessert, devoted to supersymmetry (a very beautiful theory that is still awaiting a direct experimental confirmation), to general relativity and to the mystery of quantum gravity.

This book takes the reader for a short journey over the structures of matter showing that their main properties can be obtained even at a quantitative level with a minimum background knowledge including, besides first year calculus and physics, the extensive use of dimensional analysis and the three cornerstones of science, namely the atomic idea, the wave-particle duality and the minimization of energy as the condition for equilibrium. Dimensional analysis employing the universal physical constants and combined with "a little imagination and thinking", to quote Feynman, allow an amazing short-cut derivation of several quantitative results concerning the structures of matter. In the current 2nd edition, new material and more explanations with more detailed derivations were added to make the book more student-friendly. Many multiple-choice questions with the correct answers at the end of the book, solved and unsolved problems make the book also suitable as a textbook. This book is of interest to students of physics, engineering and other science and to researchers in physics, material science, chemistry and engineering who may find stimulating the alternative derivation of several real world results which sometimes seem to pop out the magician's hat.

This book presents an overview of the current understanding of gravitation, with a focus on the current efforts to test its theory, especially general relativity. It shows how the quest for a deeper theory, which would possibly incorporate gravity in the quantum realm, is more than ever an open field. The majority of the contributions deals with the manifold facets of "experimental gravitation", but the book goes beyond this and covers a broad range of subjects from the foundations of gravitational theories to astrophysics and cosmology. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with foundations and Solar System tests. An introductory pedagogical chapter reviews first Newtonian gravitational theory, special relativity, the equivalence principle and the basics of general relativity. Then it focuses on approximation methods, mainly the post-Newtonian formalism and the relaxed Einstein equations, with a discussion on how they are used in treating experimental tests and in the problem of generation and detection of gravitational waves. Following this is a set of chapters describing the most recent experiments, techniques and observations on the testing of gravity theories in the laboratory, around the Earth and in the Solar System. The second part is dedicated to astrophysical topics deeply linked with the study of gravitation, namely binary pulsars and the perspective of direct detection of gravitational waves. These cases are paradigmatic in that the gravitational signals act at the same time as messengers helping us to understand the properties of important and wide classes of astrophysical objects. The third part explores the many open issues in current knowledge of gravitation machinery, especially related to astrophysical and cosmological problems and the way possible solutions to them impact the quest for a quantum theory of gravitation and unified theory. Included is a selection of the many possible paths, giving a hint to the subtleties one is called upon. Whenever possible, a close link to observational constraints and possible experimental tests is provided. In selecting the topics of the various contributions, particular care has been devoted to ensure their fit in a coherent representation of our understanding of gravitational phenomena. The book is aimed at graduate level students and will form a valuable reference for those working in the field.

This book provides a chronological introduction to modern atomic theory, which represented an attempt to reconcile the ancient doctrine of atomism with careful experiments-performed during the 19th century-on the flow of heat through substances and across empty space. Included herein are selections from classic texts such as Carnot's Reflection on the Motive Power of Fire, Clausius' Mechanical Theory of Heat, Rutherford's Nuclear Constitution of Atoms, Planck's Atomic Theory of Matter and Heisenberg's Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory. Each chapter begins with a short introduction followed by a reading selection. Carefully crafted study questions draw out key points in the text and focus the reader's attention on the author's methods, analysis and conclusions. Numerical and laboratory exercises at the end of each chapter test the reader's ability to understand and apply key concepts from the text. Heat, Radiation and Quanta is the last of four volumes in A Student's Guide through the Great Physics Texts. The book comes from a four-semester undergraduate physics curriculum designed to encourage a critical and circumspect approach to natural science while at the same time preparing students for advanced coursework in physics. This book is particularly suitable as a college-level textbook for students of the natural sciences, history or philosophy. It might also serve as a textbook for advanced high-school or home-schooled students, or as a thematically-organized source-book for scholars and motivated lay-readers. In studying the classic scientific texts included herein, the reader will be drawn toward a lifetime of contemplation.

This thesis covers a diverse set of topics related to space-based gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The core of the thesis is devoted to the preprocessing of the interferometric link data for a LISA constellation, specifically developing optimal Kalman filters to reduce arm length noise due to clock noise. The approach is to apply Kalman filters of increasing complexity to make optimal estimates of relevant quantities such as constellation arm length, relative clock drift, and Doppler frequencies based on the available measurement data. Depending on the complexity of the filter and the simulated data, these Kalman filter estimates can provide up to a few orders of magnitude improvement over simpler estimators. While the basic concept of the LISA measurement (Time Delay Interferometry) was worked out some time ago, this work brings a level of rigor to the processing of the constellation-level data products. The thesis concludes with some topics related to the eLISA such as a new class of phenomenological waveforms for extreme mass-ratio inspiral sources (EMRIs, one of the main source for eLISA), an octahedral space-based GW detector that does not require drag-free test masses, and some efficient template-search algorithms for the case of relatively high SNR signals.

This extensive thesis work covers several topics, including intensity and polarization, focusing on a new polarization bias reduction method. Vidal studied data from the WMAP satellite, which is low signal-to-noise and as such has to be corrected for polarization bias. He presents a new method for correcting the data, based on knowledge of the underlying angle of polarization. Using this novel method, he sets upper limits for the polarization fraction of regions known to emit significant amounts of spinning dust emissions. He also studies the large-scale loops and filaments that dominate the synchrotron sky. The dominant features are investigated, including identification of several new features. For the North Polar Spur, a model of an expanding shell in the vicinity of the Sun is tested, which appears to fit the data. Implications for CMB polarization surveys are also discussed. In addition, Vidal presents interferometric observations of the dark cloud LDN 1780 at 31 GHz and shows that the spinning dust hypothesis can explain the radio properties observed.

This thesis sheds valuable new light on the second-order cosmological perturbation theory, extensively discussing it in the context of cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations. It explores the observational consequences of the second-order vector mode, and addresses magnetic field generation and the weak lensing signatures, which are key phenomena of the vector mode. The author demonstrates that the second-order vector mode, which never appears at the linear-order level, naturally arises from the non-linear coupling of the first-order scalar modes. This leads to the remarkable statement that the vector-order mode clearly contributes to the generation of cosmological magnetic fields. Moreover, the weak lensing observations are shown to be accessible to the vector mode. On the basis of ongoing and forthcoming observations, the thesis concludes that the second-order vector mode is detectable.

This book presents the author's personal historical perspective and conceptual analysis on symmetry and geometry. The author enlightens with modern views the historical process which led to the contemporary vision of space and symmetry that are used in theoretical physics and in particular in such abstract and advanced descriptions of the physical world as those provided by supergravity. The book is written intertwining storytelling and philosophical argumentation with some essential technical material. The author argues that symmetry and geometry are inextricably entangled and their current meaning is the result of a long process of abstraction which was determined through history and can be understood within the analytic system of thought of western civilization that started with the Ancient Greeks. The evolution of geometry and symmetry theory in the last forty years has been deeply and constructively influenced by supersymmetry/supergravity and the allied constructions of strings and branes. Further advances in theoretical physics cannot be based simply on the Galilean method of interrogating nature and then formulating a testable theory to explain the observed phenomena. One ought to interrogate human thought, meaning frontier-line mathematics concerned with geometry and symmetry in order to find there the threads of so far unobserved correspondences, reinterpretations and renewed conceptions.

This book discusses the upgrade of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector, which consists in the addition of a salt of gadolinium into the detector's water, the goal being to endow it with a very high-efficiency ability to detect neutrons: the SuperK-Gd project. This will substantially improve the scientific value of the SK detector because, among others, neutron production is related to the matter-antimatter character of the interacting neutrino. In this book the authors develop several procedures for maximizing the impact of neutron tagging in various physics analyses involving a broad range of neutrino energy. They thoroughly study the impact of new backgrounds introduced by Gd in key physics analyses, most remarkably including the search for the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background. At GeV energies, the neutron tagging improvements are evaluated by performing a complete neutrino oscillation sensitivity study using atmospheric and long baseline neutrinos, with a focus on the neutrino mass hierarchy and the leptonic CP violation. In order to prove the relevance of neutron tagging with the available data, the authors apply the neutron-tagging tools developed here to the 4th phase of the SK detector, which is already capable of detecting a low fraction of the neutrons produced through hydrogen-neutron captures. A global oscillation analysis of the SK's atmospheric neutrino data is also conducted.

What is spectral action, how to compute it and what are the known examples? This book offers a guided tour through the mathematical habitat of noncommutative geometry a la Connes, deliberately unveiling the answers to these questions. After a brief preface flashing the panorama of the spectral approach, a concise primer on spectral triples is given. Chapter 2 is designed to serve as a toolkit for computations. The third chapter offers an in-depth view into the subtle links between the asymptotic expansions of traces of heat operators and meromorphic extensions of the associated spectral zeta functions. Chapter 4 studies the behaviour of the spectral action under fluctuations by gauge potentials. A subjective list of open problems in the field is spelled out in the fifth Chapter. The book concludes with an appendix including some auxiliary tools from geometry and analysis, along with examples of spectral geometries. The book serves both as a compendium for researchers in the domain of noncommutative geometry and an invitation to mathematical physicists looking for new concepts.

This book discusses searches for Dark Matter at the CERN's LHC, the world's most powerful accelerator. It introduces the relevant theoretical framework and includes an in-depth discussion of the Effective Field Theory approach to Dark Matter production and its validity, as well as an overview of the formalism of Simplified Dark Matter models. Despite overwhelming astrophysical evidence for Dark Matter and numerous experimental efforts to detect it, the nature of Dark Matter still remains a mystery and has become one of the hottest research topics in fundamental physics. Two searches for Dark Matter are presented, performed on data collected with the ATLAS experiment. They analyze missing-energy final states with a jet or with top quarks. The analyses are explained in detail, and the outcomes and their interpretations are discussed, also in view of the precedent analysis of theoretical approaches. Given its depth of coverage, the book represents an excellent reference guide for all physicists interested in understanding the theoretical and experimental considerations relevant to Dark Matter searches at the LHC.

This is the second and final volume of Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz's scientific correspondence with Dutch colleagues, including Pieter Zeeman and Paul Ehrenfest. These 294 letters cover multiple subjects, ranging from pure mathematics to magneto-optics and wave mechanics. They reveal much about their author, including Lorentz's surprisingly active involvement in experimental matters in the first decades of his career. Letters are also devoted to general relativity, Lorentz's 1908 lecture on radiation theory, and his receipt of the Nobel Prize along with Zeeman in 1902. The letters are presented in their original language; Dutch originals are accompanied by English translations. A concise biography of Lorentz is also included.

This book, designed as a tool for young researchers and graduate students, reviews the main open problems and research lines in various fields of astroparticle physics: cosmic rays, gamma rays, neutrinos, cosmology, and gravitational physics. The opening section discusses cosmic rays of both galactic and extragalactic origin, examining experimental results, theoretical models, and possible future developments. The basics of gamma-ray astronomy are then described, including the detection methods and techniques. Galactic and extragalactic aspects of the field are addressed in the light of recent discoveries with space-borne and ground-based detectors. The review of neutrinos outlines the status of the investigations of neutrino radiation and brings together relevant formulae, estimations, and background information. Three complementary issues in cosmology are examined: observable predictions of inflation in the early universe, effects of dark energy/modified gravity in the large-scale structure of the universe, and neutrinos in cosmology and large-scale structures. The closing section on gravitational physics reviews issues relating to quantum gravity, atomic precision tests, space-based experiments, the strong field regime, gravitational waves, multi-messengers, and alternative theories of gravity.

This book employs computer simulations of 'artificial' Universes to investigate the properties of two popular alternatives to the standard candidates for dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE). It confronts the predictions of theoretical models with observations using a sophisticated semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. Understanding the nature of dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE) are two of the most central problems in modern cosmology. While their important role in the evolution of the Universe has been well established-namely, that DM serves as the building blocks of galaxies, and that DE accelerates the expansion of the Universe-their true nature remains elusive. In the first half, the authors consider 'sterile neutrino' DM, motivated by recent claims that these particles may have finally been detected. Using sophisticated models of galaxy formation, the authors find that future observations of the high redshift Universe and faint dwarf galaxies in the Local Group can place strong constraints on the sterile neutrino scenario. In the second half, the authors propose and test novel numerical algorithms for simulating Universes with a 'modified' theory of gravity, as an alternative explanation to accelerated expansion. The authors' techniques improve the efficiency of these simulations by more than a factor of 20 compared to previous methods, inviting the readers into a new era for precision cosmological tests of gravity.

This modern introduction to particle physics equips students with the skills needed to develop a deep and intuitive understanding of the physical theory underpinning contemporary experimental results. The fundamental tools of particle physics are introduced and accompanied by historical profiles charting the development of the field. Theory and experiment are closely linked, with descriptions of experimental techniques used at CERN accompanied by detail on the physics of the Large Hadron Collider and the strong and weak forces that dominate proton collisions. Recent experimental results are featured, including the discovery of the Higgs boson. Equations are supported by physical interpretations, and end-of-chapter problems are based on datasets from a range of particle physics experiments including dark matter, neutrino, and collider experiments. A solutions manual for instructors is available online. Additional features include worked examples throughout, a detailed glossary of key terms, appendices covering essential background material, and extensive references and further reading to aid self-study, making this an invaluable resource for advanced undergraduates in physics.

This book is a small but practical summary of how one can and should learn science. The author argues that science cannot be taught but has to be learnt. Based on historical examples he shows that practicing science means putting one's intellect into the understanding of simple questions like what, why, how and when events around you happen. The reader understands that the search for the cause and effect relationship of so called normal happenings is a very provocative experience and learning science leads one to it. This is underpinned by looking at everyday experiences and how they can help any lay-person learn science. The author also explains the methodology of science and discusses an integrated approach to science communication. Finally he elaborates on the influence and role of science in society. The book addresses interested general readers, teachers and science communicators.

The successes of the standard models of particle physics and cosmology are many, but have proven incapable of explaining all the phenomena that we observe. This book investigates the potentially important role of quantum physics, particularly quantum anomalies, in various aspects of modern cosmology, such as inflation, the dynamical generation of the visible and dark matter in the universe, and gravitational waves. By doing so, the authors demonstrate that exploring the links between cosmology and particle physics is key to helping solve the mysteries of our Universe.

This book explores the use of numerical relativity (NR) methods to solve cosmological problems, and describes one of the first uses of NR to study inflationary physics. NR consists in the solution of Einstein's Equation of general relativity, which governs the evolution of matter and energy on cosmological scales, and in systems where there are strong gravitational effects, such as around black holes. To date, NR has mainly been used for simulating binary black hole and neutron star mergers like those detected recently by LIGO. Its use as a tool in fundamental problems of gravity and cosmology is novel, but rapidly gaining interest. In this thesis, the author investigates the initial condition problem in early universe cosmology - whether an inflationary expansion period could have "got going" from initially inhomogeneous conditions - and identifies criteria for predicting the robustness of particular models. State-of-the-art numerical relativity tools are developed in order to address this question, which are now publicly available.

This book presents the proceedings of the 2nd Karl Schwarzschild Meeting on Gravitational Physics, focused on the general theme of black holes, gravity and information.Specialists in the field of black hole physics and rising young researchers present the latest findings on the broad topic of black holes, gravity, and information, highlighting its applications to astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and strongly correlated systems.

When predictions of Einstein's theory of General Relativity are compared against observations of our Universe, a huge inconsistency is found. The most popular fix for this inconsistency is to "invent" around 94% of the content of the universe: dark matter and dark energy. The dark energy is some exotic substance responsible for the apparent observed acceleration of the Universe. Another fix is to modify the theory of gravity: it is entirely plausible that Einstein's theory of General Relativity breaks down on cosmological scales, just as Newton's theory of gravity breaks down in the extreme gravitational field of the Sun. There are many alternative theories of gravity, each with the aim of describing observations of our Universe where General Relativity fails. Whether it is dark energy or some modified theory of gravity, it is clear that there is some "dark sector" in the Universe. In this thesis the author constructs a unifying framework for understanding the observational impact of general classes of dark sector theories, by formulating equations of state for the dark sector perturbations.