This Festschrift volume in honour of Prof. E R Caianiello contains invited papers of eminent scientists who have worked in the several areas to which Prof. Caianiello has given seminal contributions: quantum field theory, foundations of quantum mechanics and maximal acceleration (Vol. 1); neural nets, general systems theory and various topics of cybernetics (Vol. 2). The wide range of topics covered shows the fruitfulness of a higher unifying perspective on seemingly diverse subjects.
This Festschrift volume in honour of Prof. E R Caianiello contains invited papers of eminent scientists who have worked in the several areas to which Prof. Caianiello has given seminal contributions: quantum field theory, foundations of quantum mechanics and maximal acceleration (Vol. 1); neural nets, general systems theory and various topics of cybernetics (Vol. 2). The wide range of topics covered shows the fruitfulness of a higher unifying perspective on seemingly diverse subjects.
This volume is about "Structure". The search for "structure", always the pursuit of sciences within their specific areas and perspectives, is witnessing these days a dra matic revolution. The coexistence and interaction of so many structures (atoms, hu mans, cosmos and all that there is in between) would be unconceivable according to many experts, if there were not, behind it all, some gen eral organizational principle. s that (at least in some asymptotic way) make possible so many equilibria among species and natural objects, fan tastically tuned to an extremely high degree of precision. The evidence accumulates to an increasingly impressive degree; a concrete example comes from physics, whose constant aim always was and is that of searching for "ultimate laws", out of which everything should follow, from quarks to the cosmos. Our notions and philosophy have un dergone major revolutions, whenever the "unthinkable" has been changed by its wonderful endeavours into "fact". Well, it is just from physics that evidence comes: even if the "ultimate" could be reached, it would not in any way be a terminal point. When "complexity" comes into the game, entirely new notions have to be invented; they all have to do with "structure", though this time in a much wider sense than would have been understood a decade or so ago.
Wolfgang Pauli referred to him as 'my discovery,' Robert Oppenheimer described him as 'one of the most gifted theorists' and Niels Bohr found him enormously stimulating. Who was the man in question, Gunnar Källén (1926-1968)? His appearance in the physics sky was like a shooting star. His contributions to the scientific debate caused excitement among young and old. Similar to his friend and mentor, Wolfgang Pauli, he demanded honesty and rigor in physics - a distinct dividing line between fact and speculation. In his obituary, Arthur S. Wightman would write: 'Gunnar Källén was a proud continuer of the tradition in quantum field theory established by Wolfgang Pauli. His papers on quantum electrodynamics in the period 1950-1954 carried the non-perturbative approach to quantum electrodynamics forward to a point beyond which very little essential progress has been made up to the present day. At the time I was trying to puzzle out the grammar of the language of quantum field theory, and here was Källén already writing poetry in the language!'. In addition to being a remarkable scientist, Källén had a very interesting personality, well worth exploring. In her book, physicist Cecilia Jarlskog traces both the personal and scientific trajectory of this unsung hero of the early days of high-energy physics and quantum field theory. A number of invited contributions by members of the Källén family and distinguished researchers from the field, all of them personally acquainted with Källén, combine to form an authentic portrait of the researcher and the man. Last but not least, the reader will become acquainted with some aspects of the history of particle physics in those days, as related by Källén and those who corresponded with him. A commented selection of his most important and not easily accessible papers is included as an added bonus for specialists.
Almost all theories of fundamental interactions are nowadays based on the gauge concept. Starting with the historical example of quantum electrodynamics, we have been led to the successful unified gauge theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions, and finally to a non abelian gauge theory of strong interactions with the notion of permanently confined quarks. The. early theoretical work on gauge theories was devoted to proofs of renormalizability, investigation of short distance behaviour, the discovery of asymptotic freedom, etc . . , aspects which were accessible to tools extrapolated from renormalised perturbation theory. The second phase of the subject is concerned with the problem of quark confinement which necessitates a non-perturbative understanding of gauge theories. This phase has so far been marked by the introduc tion of ideas from geometry, topology and statistical mechanics in particular the theory of phase transitions. The 1979 Cargese Institute on "Recent Developments on Gauge Theories" was devoted to a thorough discussion of these non-perturbative, global aspects of non-abelian gauge theories. In the lectures and seminars reproduced in this volume the reader wilf find detailed reports on most of the important developments of recent times on non perturbative gauge fields by some of the leading experts and innovators in this field. Aside from lectures on gauge fields proper, there were lectures on gauge field concepts in condensed matter physics and lectures by mathematicians on global aspects of the calculus of variations, its relation to geometry and topology, and related topics.
This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity. Einstein’s 1912 Zurich notebook is published for the first time in facsimile and transcript and commented on by today’s major historians of science. Additional sources from Einstein and others, who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development, are presented here in translation for the first time. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity.
Over the past three decades R.E. Kalman has been one of the most influential personalities in system and control theory. His ideas have been instrumental in a variety of areas. This is a Festschrift honoring his 60th birthday. It contains contributions from leading researchers in the field giving an account of the profound influence of his ideas in a number of areas of active research in system and control theory. For example, since their introduction by Kalman in the early 60's, the concepts of controllability and observability of dynamical systems with inputs, have been the corner stone of the great majority of investigations in the field.
