Emphasising computational modeling, this introduction to the physics on matter at extreme conditions is invaluable for researchers and graduate students.
With its many beautiful colour pictures, this book gives fascinating insights into the unusual forms and behaviour of matter under extremely high pressures and temperatures. These extreme states are generated, among other things, by strong shock, detonation and electric explosion waves, dense laser beams, electron and ion beams, hypersonic entry of spacecraft into dense atmospheres of planets and in many other situations characterized by extremely high pressures and temperatures. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on the topic, this book will inform and fascinate all scientists dealing with materials properties and physics and also serve as an excellent introduction to plasma-, shock-wave and high-energy-density physics for students and newcomers seeking an overview. This second edition is thoroughly revised and expanded, in particular with new material on high energy-density physics, nuclear explosions and other nuclear transformation processes.
The thermodynamics of strongly interacting matter has become a profound and challenging area of modern physics, both in theory and in experiment. Statistical quantum chromodynamics, through analytical as well as numerical studies, provides the main theoretical tool, while in experiment, high-energy nuclear collisions are the key for extensive laboratory investigations. The field therefore straddles statistical, particle and nuclear physics, both conceptually and in the methods of investigation used. This course-tested primer addresses above all the many young scientists starting their scientific research in this field, providing them with a general, self-contained introduction that emphasizes in particular the basic concepts and ideas, with the aim of explaining why we do what we do. To achieve this goal, the present text concentrates mainly on equilibrium thermodynamics: first, the fundamental ideas of strong interaction thermodynamics are introduced and then the main concepts and methods used in the study of the physics of complex systems are summarized. Subsequently, simplified phenomenological pictures, leading to critical behavior in hadronic matter and to hadron-quark phase transitions are introduced, followed by elements of finite-temperature lattice QCD leading to the important results obtained in computer simulation studies of the lattice approach. Next, the relation of the resulting critical behavior to symmetry breaking/restoration in QCD is clarified before the text turns to the study of the QCD phase diagram. The presentation of bulk equilibrium thermodynamics is completed by studying the properties of the quark-gluon plasma as new state of strongly interacting matter. The final chapters of the book are devoted to more specific topics which arise when nuclear collisions are considered as a tool for the experimental study of QCD thermodynamics.
Written by a team of international experts, Extremes and Recurrence in Dynamical Systems presents a unique point of view on the mathematical theory of extremes and on its applications in the natural and social sciences. Featuring an interdisciplinary approach to new concepts in pure and applied mathematical research, the book skillfully combines the areas of statistical mechanics, probability theory, measure theory, dynamical systems, statistical inference, geophysics, and software application. Emphasizing the statistical mechanical point of view, the book introduces robust theoretical embedding for the application of extreme value theory in dynamical systems. Extremes and Recurrence in Dynamical Systems also features: • A careful examination of how a dynamical system can serve as a generator of stochastic processes • Discussions on the applications of statistical inference in the theoretical and heuristic use of extremes • Several examples of analysis of extremes in a physical and geophysical context • A final summary of the main results presented along with a guide to future research projects • An appendix with software in Matlab® programming language to help readers to develop further understanding of the presented concepts Extremes and Recurrence in Dynamical Systems is ideal for academics and practitioners in pure and applied mathematics, probability theory, statistics, chaos, theoretical and applied dynamical systems, statistical mechanics, geophysical fluid dynamics, geosciences and complexity science. VALERIO LUCARINI, PhD, is Professor of Theoretical Meteorology at the University of Hamburg, Germany and Professor of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Reading, UK. DAVIDE FARANDA, PhD, is Researcher at the Laboratoire des science du climat et de l’environnement, IPSL, CEA Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France. ANA CRISTINA GOMES MONTEIRO MOREIRA DE FREITAS, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto, Portugal. JORGE MIGUEL MILHAZES DE FREITAS, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Porto, Portugal. MARK HOLLAND, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the University of Exeter, UK. TOBIAS KUNA, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Reading, UK. MATTHEW NICOL, PhD, is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Houston, USA. MIKE TODD, PhD, is Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. SANDRO VAIENTI, PhD, is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Toulon and Researcher at the Centre de Physique Théorique, France.
A radical reimagining of the minotaur myth, from an essential voice in world literature. Winner of the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature • Finalist for the PEN Literary Award for Translation and the Strega Europeo Published a decade before his International Booker Prize–winning Time Shelter, Georgi Gospodinov’s The Physics of Sorrow has become an underground cult classic. Finding strange solace in the myth of the Minotaur, a man named Georgi reconstructs the story of his life like a labyrinth, meandering through the past to find the melancholy child at the center of it all. With profound wit and empathy, he catalogues curious instances of abandonment, spanning from antiquity to the Anthropocene; recounts scenes of a turbulent boyhood in 1970s Bulgaria, spent mostly in a basement; and charts a bizarre run-in with an eccentric flaneur named Gaustine. Exquisitely translated by Angela Rodel, and exhibiting his signature audacious style, this expansive work affirms Gospodinov as “one of Europe’s most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists” (Dave Eggers).
"Containing a summary of the latest experimental and theoretical results on matter at high pressure and temperature, this book provides critical analysis of data and models ranging from matter in extreme states in the laboratory to the influence of laser radiation, relativistic heavy ion collisions, strongly coupled electromagnetic plasma, and extreme matter in astrophysics. The purpose of the book is to give students and young scientists an introduction to the physics of extreme states of matter, to acquaint them with the experimental techniques, new experimental facilities and the main results allowing them to unravel fascinating problems of modern physics of extreme states of matter and acquainting them with the theoretical methods, experimental techniques and results in this exciting new area of research." -- Prové de l'editor.
Why is there eight times more ice in Antarctica than in the Arctic? Why can you warm your hands by blowing gently, and cool your hands by blowing hard? Why would a pitcher scuff a baseball?Which weighs more-a pound of feathers or a pound of iron? Let science experts Christopher Jargodzki and Franklin Potter guide you through the curiosities of physics and you'll find the answers to these and hundreds of other quirky conundrums. You'll discover why sounds carry well over water (especially in the summer), how a mouse can be levitated in a magnetic field, why backspin is so important when shooting a basketball, and whether women are indeed as strong as men. With nearly 400 questions and answers on everything from race cars to jumping fleas to vanishing elephants, Mad about Physics presents a comprehensive collection of braintwisters and paradoxes that will challenge and entertain even the brainiest of science lovers. Whether you're a physicist by trade or just want to give your brain a power workout, this collection of intriguing and unusual physics challenges will send you on a highly entertaining ride that reveals the relevance of physics in our everyday lives.
"Electronic devices and circuits are employed by a range of industries in testing conditions from extremes of high- or low-temperature, in chemically corrosive environments, subject to shock and vibration or exposure to radiation. This book describes the diverse measures necessary to make electronics capable of coping with such situations as well as to gainfully exploit any new phenomena that take place only under these conditions."--Prové de l'editor.