The Sixth Moscow Quantum Gravity Seminar was a continuation of the series of seminars which has played an important role in the consolidation of the international quantum gravity community and which has greatly affected the development of the field. As well as papers presented at the conference, this proceedings volume includes the papers of invited speakers who were unable to attend the seminar itself.
The contemporary trends in the quantum unification of all interactions including gravity motivate this Course. The main goal and impact of modern string theory is to provide a consistent quantum theory of gravity. This, Course is intended to provide an updated understanding of the last developments and current problems of string theory in connection with gravity and the physics at the Planck energy scale. It is also the aim of this Course to discuss fundamental problems of quantum gravity in the present-day context irrespective of strings or any other models. Emphasis is given to the mutual impact of string theory, gravity and cosmology, within a deep a well defined programme, which provides, in addition, a careful interdisciplinarity. Since the most relevant new physics provided by strings concerns the quantization of gravity, we must, at least, understand string quantization in curved space-times to start. Curved space-times, besides their evident relevance m classical gravitation, are also important at energies of the order of the Planck scale. At the Planck energy, gravitational interactions are at least as important as the rest and can not be neglected anymore. Special care is taken here to provide the grounds of the different lines of research in competition (not just only one approach); this provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the real state of the discipline, and to learn it in a critical way.
Since 1975, the Marcel Grossmann Meetings have been organized to provide opportunities for discussing recent advances in gravitation, general relativity and relativistic field theories, emphasizing mathematical foundations, physical predictions and experimental tests. The objective of these meetings is to facilitate exchange among scientists that may deepen our understanding of space-time structures and to review the status of ongoing experiments aimed at testing Einstein's theory of gravitation from either the ground or space.The Eighth Marcel Grossmann Meeting took place on 22-27 June, 1997, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. The scientific program included 25 plenary talks and 40 parallel sessions during which 400 papers were presented. The papers that appear in this book cover all aspects of gravitation, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments.
The Marcel Grossmann Meetings have been conceived with the aim of reviewing recent advances in gravitation and general relativity, with particular emphasis on mathematical foundations and physical predictions. The overall programme includes the broad categories of mathematical techniques, cosmology, quantum gravity, astrophysics, gravitational radiation and experimental developments.The proceedings contain invited and contributed papers.
The proceedings of the First Iberian Meeting on Gravity give a broad view of the most recent research on gravity. Black hole thermodynamics, wormhole solutions and covariant path integral quantization are some of the topics discussed. The mainstream approaches to quantum gravity, such as loop space quantization and string theories, are presented. Also included are the trendy subjects of two-dimensional quantum gravity and unitary matrix models.
We are often told that quantum phenomena demand radical revisions of our scientific world view and that no physical theory describing well defined objects, such as particles described by their positions, evolving in a well defined way, let alone deterministically, can account for such phenomena. The great majority of physicists continue to subscribe to this view, despite the fact that just such a deterministic theory, accounting for all of the phe nomena of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, was proposed by David Bohm more than four decades ago and has arguably been around almost since the inception of quantum mechanics itself. Our purpose in asking colleagues to write the essays for this volume has not been to produce a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm (worthy an undertaking as that would have been) or to gather together a collection of papers simply stating uncritically Bohm's views on quantum mechanics. The central theme around which the essays in this volume are arranged is David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics. It has by now become fairly standard practice to refer to his theory as Bohmian mechanics and to the larger conceptual framework within which this is located as the causal quantum theory program. While it is true that one can have reservations about the appropriateness of these specific labels, both do elicit distinc tive images characteristic of the key concepts of these approaches and such terminology does serve effectively to contrast this class of theories with more standard formulations of quantum theory.
Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts is devoted to the recording, summarizing and indexing of astronomical publications throughout the world. Two volumes are scheduled to appear per year. Volume 67 records 10,903 papers covering besides the classical fields of astronomy and astrophysics such matters as space flights related to astronomy, lunar and planetary probes and satellites, meteorites and interplanetary matter, X rays and cosmic rays, quasars and pulsars. The abstracts are classified under more than one hundred subject categories thus permitting quick surveying of the bulk of material published on the same topic within six months. For instance, this volume records 119 papers on minor planets, 155 papers on supernovae, and 554 papers on cosmology.
Seemingly shy, Andrei Sakharov was in fact a man of three great passions. His passion for physics ultimately lead him to create the Soviet H-Bomb, making the USSR a super power. But he rejected all the position and prestige his inventions had brought him in the name of a greater passion — for justice. And yielding nothing to these two passions was his passion for human rights activist Elena Bonner, their love story one of the great romances of our time. This book tells the story of the man, his passions, and the time and place where they all played out. “As Richard Lourie’s new, subtle and revealing biography of Sakharov demonstrates... [Sakharov] ranks with Nelson Mandela as a person who helped guide his country to democracy, changing himself in the process. One of the strengths of Lourie’s biography is his description and analysis of how this transition occurred... a fascinating account of Sakharov... [Lourie’s] analysis of [Sakharov’s] complicated political journey seems authentic and immensely revealing.” — Loren Graham, The New York Times “A vivid portrait of [Sakharov,] this moral and intellectual giant... Lourie has written a highly intelligent and exceptionally readable book. He not only captures his protagonist admirably but exhibits a fine feel for the social and political backdrop as well as for the peculiar mixture of fearful servility and courageous generosity of the Russian people. Among other things, he vividly brings to life how the Communist regime constrained scientists, sometimes even arresting and murdering them, while those who survived persevered in their work to achieve remarkable results.” — Aleksa Djilas,Commentary Magazine “Lourie does full justice to a life that could not be more engrossing. The socially introverted son of Moscow intelligentsia, Andrei Sakharov became a star physics pupil, then chief architect of the Soviet Union’s first thermonuclear device, and later on a dissident and target of KGB ire — and finally the moral conscience of a democratically awakening Russia... The evolution from a politically passive scientist to a lonely figure holding sidewalk vigils outside kangaroo courtrooms is almost unfathomable for a non-Russian. Lourie, however, makes it comprehensible, not least by painting with an artist’s spare, deft strokes this transcendent figure into the history of his day.” — Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs “Richard Lourie is ideally placed to write the first full biography of this remarkable man. He was able to interview Sakharov and many of his colleagues. He has translated Sakharov’s memoirs, and often uses direct speech drawn from them to take us behind the scenes without giving rise to the usual suspicion of novelistic invention. This makes for an engagingly readable book... Lourie’s appraisal of Sakharov as a man is scrupulously balanced, with as much emphasis on his obstinacy as on his compassion... The book conveys both the elation of scientific work, the intense love between Sakharov and his second wife, and the bewildering nature of human courage.” — Elaine Feinstein, The Telegraph “The inventor of the Soviet H-bomb, [Sakharov] was in the forefront of the post-war breakthrough in thermonuclear physics that led to the creation of atomic energy. Yet he also stood, heroically at times, in the vanguard of the movement for human rights in the Soviet Union. Richard Lourie tells both these stories in this first full-length biography of the physicist and dissident. Lourie has benefited from the recent publication of the KGB files on Sakharov. He also knew the man himself, whose Memoirs he helped to smuggle out of Russia to the West (where they were published in Lourie’s translation a year after Sakharov’s death in 1989). Sakharov’s widow, Elena Bonner, has helped Lourie’s research, which adds a welcome new perspective on the last 20 years of his eventful life, when husband and wife were subjected to a bullying campaign of threats and slander by the KGB in a vain attempt to silence them.” — Orlando Figes, The Telegraph “A solid factual and interpretive study... Sakharov is an important account of one scientist’s courage and his quest for a humane world at peace.” — Herbert Mitgang, Chicago Tribune “This first biography of the renowned physicist, Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner weaves the details of Sakharov’s life together with the history of the Soviet Union, which barely outlasted him. Lourie... describes Sakharov’s upbringing in a liberal family and his rise through the Soviet science program during the 1930s and ‘40s. Lourie’s vivid accounts of Sakharov’s meetings with Stalin and KGB chief Beria, his role in the intelligentsia, his marriages and his cramped apartments offer a textured picture of Soviet life during the Cold War... Lourie’s intelligent, engaging biography will be appreciated by those interested in Russian and Cold War history.” — Publishers Weekly
