Bücher der Reihe Lecture Notes in Physics

A survey of recent research in the fields of condensed matter physics and chemistry based on novel NMR and ESR techniques. Applications include quantum computing, metal nanoparticles, low dimensional magnets, fullerenes as atomic cages, superconductors, porous media, and laser assisted studies. The book is dedicated to Professor Robert Blinc, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, in appreciation of his remarkable scientific accomplishments in the NMR of condensed matter.

QMath9 is a meeting for young scientists to learn about the state of the art in the Mathematical Physics of Quantum Systems. This selection of outstanding articles written in pedagocical style has six sections that cover new techniques and recent results on spectral theory, statistical mechanics, Bose-Einstein condensation, random operators, magnetic Schrodinger operators and much more. For postgraduate students this book can be used as a useful introduction to the research literature. For more expert researcher this book will be a concise and modern source of reference.

The aim of this book is twofold: to provide an introduction for newcomers to state of the art computer simulation techniques in space plasma physics and an overview of current developments. Computer simulation has reached a stage where it can be a highly useful tool for guiding theory and for making predictions of space plasma phenomena, ranging from microscopic to global scales. The various articles are arranged, as much as possible, according to the - derlying simulation technique, starting with the technique that makes the least number of assumptions: a fully kinetic approach which solves the coupled set of Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic ?eld and the equations of motion for a very large number of charged particles (electrons and ions) in this ?eld. Clearly, this is also the computationally most demanding model. Therefore, even with present day high performance computers, it is the most restrictive in terms of the space and time domain and the range of particle parameters that can be covered by the simulation experiments. It still makes sense, therefore, to also use models, which due to their simp- fying assumptions, seem less realistic, although the e?ect of these assumptions on the outcome of the simulation experiments needs to be carefully assessed.

More than half of all stars in the universe formed and evolved as binary systems and their study is essential for understanding stellar and galactic evolution. The six lectures in this book give both a readable introduction and an up-to-date review of nearly all aspects of  research into binary stars, including the range from common binaries to more exotic systems composed of white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

Neutron stars are the densest observable bodies in our universe. Born during the gravitational collapse of luminous stars - a birth heralded by spectacular supernova explosions - they open a window on a world where the state of the matter and the strengths of the fields are anything but ordinary. This book is a collection of pedagogical lectures on the theory of neutron stars, and especially their interiors, at the forefront of current research. It addresses graduate students and researchers alike, and should be particularly suitable as a text bridging the gap between standard textbook material and the research literature.

The idea of editing the present volume in the Lecture Notes in Physics series arosewhileorganizingthe"e;ConferenceonIrreversibleQuantumDynamics"e;that took place at The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, from July 29 to August 2, 2002. The aim of the Conference was to bring together di?erent groups of - searcherswhoseinterestsandpursuitsinvolveirreversibilityandtimeasymmetry in quantum mechanics. The Conference promoted open and in-depth exchanges of di?erent points of view, concerning both the content and character of qu- tum irreversibility and the methodologies used to study it. The following main themes were addressed: * Theoretical Aspects of Quantum Irreversible Dynamics * Open Quantum Systems and Applications * Foundational Aspects of Irreversible Quantum Dynamics * Asymmetric Time Evolution and Resonances Eachthemewasreviewedbyanexpertinthe?eld,accompaniedbymorespeci?c, research-like shorter talks. The whole topic of quantum irreversibility in all its manifold aspects has always raised a lot of interest, starting with the description of unstable systems in quantum mechanics and the issue of quantum measurement. Further, in - cent years a boost of activity concerning noise, dissipation and open systems has been prompted by the fast developing ?eld of quantum communication and information theory. These considerations motivated the editors to put together a volume that tries to summarize the present day status of the research in the ?eld, with the aim of providing the reader with an accessible and exhaustive introduction to it.

The aim of this book is to provide both an introduction and a state-of-the-art report on research into magnetism and magnetic materials. Particular emphasis has been put on the contribution of synchrotron radiation in relevant experimental investigations. Graduate students and nonspecialists will benefit from the tutorial approach while specialists will find the latest results that round off the material presented in the lectures.

The theory of stochastic processes originally grew out of efforts to describe Brownian motion quantitatively. Today it provides a huge arsenal of methods suitable for analyzing the influence of noise on a wide range of systems. The credit for acquiring all the deep insights and powerful methods is due ma- ly to a handful of physicists and mathematicians: Einstein, Smoluchowski, Langevin, Wiener, Stratonovich, etc. Hence it is no surprise that until - cently the bulk of basic and applied stochastic research was devoted to purely mathematical and physical questions. However, in the last decade we have witnessed an enormous growth of results achieved in other sciences - especially chemistry and biology - based on applying methods of stochastic processes. One reason for this stochastics boom may be that the realization that noise plays a constructive rather than the expected deteriorating role has spread to communities beyond physics. Besides their aesthetic appeal these noise-induced, noise-supported or noise-enhanced effects sometimes offer an explanation for so far open pr- lems (information transmission in the nervous system and information p- cessing in the brain, processes at the cell level, enzymatic reactions, etc.). They may also pave the way to novel technological applications (noise-- hanced reaction rates, noise-induced transport and separation on the na- scale, etc.). Key words to be mentioned in this context are stochastic r- onance, Brownian motors or ratchets, and noise-supported phenomena in excitable systems.

Initially a subfield of solid state physics, the study of mesoscopic systems has evolved over the years into a vast field of research in its own right. Keeping track its rapid progress, this book provides a broad survey of the latest developments in the field. The focus is on statistics and dynamics of mesoscopic systems with special emphasis on topics like quantum chaos, localization, noise and fluctuations, mesoscopic optics and quantum transport in nanostructures. Written with nonspecialists in mind, this book will also be useful to graduate students wishing to familiarize themselves with this field of research.

Ruthenate materials have come into focus recently because of their very interesting magnetic and superconducting properties. From the first international conference on this topic, the present volume has emerged as a first coherent account of the considerable body of work, both theoretical and experimental, gathered in this field within a short time span. The book has been written in the form of a set of lectures and tutorial reviews with the aim of providing the research community with both a comprehensive and modern source of reference and a tutorial introduction for postgraduate students and nonspecialists working in related areas.

Neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy is the highest energy resolution neutron scattering technique available for examining a large area (in time and space) in condensed matter physics. This broad dynamic and spatial range is extensively exploited in the study of a wide range of scientific problems ranging from the dynamics of glasses, polymer melts, complex fluids and microemulsions to the elementary excitations in superfluid 4He and to ferromagnets and spin glasses. This book reviews the current status and future prospects in NSE spectroscopy describing the method, latest instrumentation and also the use of NSE in fundamental, hard- and soft-matter science. It provides first-hand information for researchers working in the fields touched by NSE. In addition, young researchers, PhD students and graduates interested in the method will obtain a comprehensive overview and guidelines to implementing the NSE technique.

In the last two decades extraordinary progress in the experimental handling of single quantum objects has spurred theoretical research into investigating the coupling between quantum systems and their environment. Decoherence, the gradual deterioration of entanglement due to dissipation and noise fed to the system by the environment, has emerged as a central concept. The present set of lectures is intended as a high-level, but self-contained, introduction into the fields of quantum noise and dissipation.In particular their influence on decoherence and applications pertaining to quantum information and quantum communication are studied, leading the nonspecialist researchers and the advanced students gradually to the forefront of research.

Quantum information science is a rapidly developing field that not only promises a revolution in computer sciences but also touches deeply the very foundations of quantum physics. This book consists of a set of lectures by leading experts in the field that bridges the gap between standard textbook material and the research literature, thus providing the ne- cessary background for postgraduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to familiarize themselves with the subject thoroughly and at a high level. This volume is ideally suited as a course book for postgraduate students, and lecturers will find in it a large choice of material for bringing their courses up to date.

This volume contains the proceedings of The Second Polish-US Conf- ence on High Temperature Superconductivity which was held August 18-21, 1998 in Karpacz, Poland. The conference followed The First Polish-US C- ference on High Temperature Superconductivity organized in 1995, proce- ings of which were published by Springer-Verlag in 1996 (Recent Devel- ments in High Temperature Superconductivity, Lecture Notes in Physics 475). High Temperature Superconductivity (HTSC) in complex copper oxides has become a household name after twelve years of intense research following its discovery in 1986 by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Miiller. Because of the rapid growth of the HTSC field, there is a need for periodic summary and conden- tion both for scientists working in the field and, especially, for young resear- ers entering the field of oxide materials. Following the First Conference, it was recognized that an extended format of lectures perfectly satisfied that need, providing adequate time for experts from the international community to fully introduce and develop complex ideas. Thus, the format of the Second Conference brought together by cooperating scientists from the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Science at Wroctaw, Northern Illinois University, and Argonne National Laboratory remained mostly unchanged. Again, we were delighted to receive enthusiastic responses from distinguished US and Polish scientists who were invited to p- ticipate.

In this book the process of decoherence is reviewed from both the theoretical and the experimental physicist's point of view. Implications of this important concept for fundamental problems of quantum theory and for chemistry and biology are also given. This broad review of decoherence addresses researchers and graduate students. It could also be used in seminar work.

In these proceedings basic questions regarding n-bodySchr|dinger operators are dealt with, such as asymptoticcompleteness of systems with long-range potentials(including Coulomb), a new proof of completeness forshort-range potentials, energy asymptotics of large Coulombsystems,asymptotic neutrality of polyatomic molecules. Other contributions deal withdifferent types of problems,such as quantum stability, Schr|dinger operators on a torusand KAM theory, semiclassical theory, time delay, radiationconditions, magnetic Stark resonances, random Schr|dingeroperators and stochastic spectral analysis. The volume presents the results in such detail that it couldwell serve as basic literature for seminar work.

The exciting experiments of the BABAR and BELLE collaborations have now proven violation of CP symmetry in the neutral B system. This has renewed strong interest in the physics of CP violation. Novel experimental techniques and new highly intense neutron sources are now becoming available to further test the related time reversal symmetry. They will substantially lower the current limit on the neutron electric dipole moment and hence open up new tests of theoretical concepts beyond the Standard Model. These are strongly required to explain the decisive excess of matter versus antimatter in our Universe. There is a de?nite need to communicate these exciting developments to younger scientists, and therefore we organized a summer school in October 2000 on "e;CP Violation and Related Topics"e;, which was held in Prerow, a small Baltic Sea resort. These Lecture Notes were inspired by the vivid - terest of the participants, and I am grateful to the authors, who faced the unexpected and delivered all the material for an up-to-date introduction to this broad ?eld. It is a great pleasure for me to warmly thank the Co-organizers of the summer school, Henning Schr*oder, Thomas Mannel, Klaus R. Schubert and my colleague Roland Waldi. Also I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Volkswagen-Stiftung for their ?nancial support of this inspiring summer school.

Jets are ubiquitous in the Universe, but ill-understood. Conservative books base their interpretations on focused stellar winds, ejected "e;bullets"e;, black-hole central engines, and in-situ upgrading of electron energies via shocks. This volume, however, attempts a uniform interpretation of the bipolar-flow family, involving extremely relativistic pair plasma as the jet substance, and rotating magnets (possibly burning disks) as the central engines. Among the discussed sources are SS 433, YSO jets, planetary nebulae, our galactic center, and the class of extragalactic QSOs, both radio-loud and radio-quiet.

Understanding cooperative phenomena far from equilibrium is one of the fascinating challenges of present-day many-body physics. Glassy behaviour and the physical ageing process of such materials are paradigmatic examples. The present volume, primarily intended as introduction and reference, collects six extensive lectures addressing selected experimental and theoretical issues in the field of glassy systems.

This volume presents the foundations of carbon nanotube science, reviewing recent developments and prospects for practical application. Each chapter summarizes relevant concepts from physics, chemistry or materials science, followed by detailed reports on topics including polymorphism and mircostructure of carbon; synthesis and growth; structural analysis by electron microscopy; spectroscopic methods; electronic structure; transport; mechanical and surface properties of nanotubes and composites.

Nonextensive statistical mechanics is now a rapidly growing field and a new stream in the research of the foundations of statistical mechanics. This generalization of the well-known Boltzmann--Gibbs theory enables the study of systems with long-range interactions, long-term memories or multi-fractal structures. This book consists of a set of self-contained lectures and includes additional contributions where some of the latest developments -- ranging from astro- to biophysics -- are covered. Addressing primarily graduate students and lecturers, this book will also be a useful reference for all researchers working in the field.

The fascinating phenomenon ferromagnetism is far from being fully understood, although it surely belongs to the oldest problems of solid state physics. For any investigation it appears recommendable to distinguish between materials whose spontaneous magnetization stems from localized electrons of a partially ?lled atomic shell and those in which it is due to itinerant electrons of a partially ?lled conduction band. In the latter case one speaks of band-ferromagnetism, prototypes of which are the classical ferromagnets Fe, Co, and Ni. The present book is a status report on the remarkable progress that has recently been made towards a microscopic understanding of band-ferromagnetism as an electron c- relation e?ect. The authors of the various chapters of this book "e;Band-Ferromagnetism: Ground-State and Finite-Temperature Phenomena"e; participated as selected - perts in the 242nd WE-Heraeus-Seminar (4-6 October 2000) held under almost the same title in Wandlitz near Berlin (Germany). It was the second seminar of this type in Wandlitz. (The ?rst in 1998 dealt with the complementary topic of the physics of local-moment ferromagnets such as Gd). Twenty-six invited spe- ers from ten di?erent countries together with ?fty-?ve further participants, who presented contributions in form of posters, spent three days together discussing in an enthusiastic and fertile manner the hot topics of band-ferromagnetism.

Properties of systems with long range interactions are still poorly understood despite being of importance in most areas of physics. The present volume introduces and reviews the effort of constructing a coherent thermodynamic treatment of such systems by combining tools from statistical mechanics with concepts and methods from dynamical systems. Analogies and differences between various systems are examined by considering a large range of applications, with emphasis on Bose--Einstein condensates. Written as a set of tutorial reviews, the book will be useful for both the experienced researcher as well as the nonexpert scientist or postgraduate student.

Quantum annealing employs quantum fluctuations in frustrated systems or networks to anneal the system down to its ground state, or more generally to its so-called minimum cost state. Often this procedure turns out to be more effective, in multivariable optimization problems, than its classical counterpart utilizing tunable thermal fluctuations. This volume is divided into three parts. Part I is an extensive tutorial introduction familiarizing the reader with the background material necessary to follow the core of the book. Part II gives a comprehensive account of the fundamentals and applications of the quantum annealing method, and Part III compares quantum annealing with other related optimization methods. This is the first book entirely devoted to quantum annealing and will be both an invaluable primer and guidebook for all advanced students and researchers in this important field.