Colm T. Whelan – författare

The last few years have seen some remarkable advances in the understanding of atomic phenomena. It is now possible to isolate atomic systems in traps, measure in coincidence the fragments of collision processes, routinely produce, and study multicharged ions. One can look at bulk matter in such a way that the fundamental atomic character is clearly evident and work has begun to tease out the properties of anti­ matter. The papers in this book reflect many aspects of modem Atomic Physics. They correspond to the invited talks at a conference dedicated to the study of "New Directions in Atomic Physics," which took place in Magdalene College, Cambridge in July of 1998. The meeting was designed as a way of taking stock of what has been achieved and, it was hoped, as a means of stimulating new research in new areas, along new lines. Consequently, an effort was made to touch on as many directions as we could in the four days of the meeting. We included some talks which overviewed whole subfields, as well as quite a large number of research contributions. There is a unity to Physics and we tried to avoid any artificial division between theory and experiment. We had roughly the same number of talks from those who are primarily concerned with making measurements, and from those who spend their lives trying to develop the theory to describe the experiments.

There is a unity to physics; it is a discipline which provides the most fundamental understanding of the dynamics of matter and energy. To understand anything about a physical system you have to interact with it and one of the best ways to learn something is to use electrons as probes. This book is the result of a meeting, which took place in Magdalene College Cambridge in December 2001. Atomic, nuclear, cluster, soHd state, chemical and even bio- physicists got together to consider scattering electrons to explore matter in all its forms. Theory and experiment were represented in about equal measure. It was meeting marked by the most lively of discussions and the free exchange of ideas. We all learnt a lot. The Editors are grateful to EPSRC through its Collaborative Computational Project program (CCP2), lOPP, the Division of Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics (DAMOPP) and the Atomic Molecular Interactions group (AMIG) of the Institute of Physics for financial support. The smooth running of the meeting was enormously facilitated by the efficiency and helpfulness of the staff of Magdalene College, for which we are extremely grateful. This meeting marked the end for one of us (CTW) of a ten-year period as a fellow of the College and he would like to take this opportunity to thank the fellows and staff for the privilege of working with them.

There is a unity to physics; it is a discipline which provides the most fundamental understanding of the dynamics of matter and energy. To understand anything about a physical system you have to interact with it and one of the best ways to learn something is to use electrons as probes. This book is the result of a meeting, which took place in Magdalene College Cambridge in December 2001. Atomic, nuclear, cluster, soHd state, chemical and even bio- physicists got together to consider scattering electrons to explore matter in all its forms. Theory and experiment were represented in about equal measure. It was meeting marked by the most lively of discussions and the free exchange of ideas. We all learnt a lot. The Editors are grateful to EPSRC through its Collaborative Computational Project program (CCP2), lOPP, the Division of Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics (DAMOPP) and the Atomic Molecular Interactions group (AMIG) of the Institute of Physics for financial support. The smooth running of the meeting was enormously facilitated by the efficiency and helpfulness of the staff of Magdalene College, for which we are extremely grateful. This meeting marked the end for one of us (CTW) of a ten-year period as a fellow of the College and he would like to take this opportunity to thank the fellows and staff for the privilege of working with them.

Revolutionary advances in experimental techniques and spectacular increases in computer power over recent years have enabled researchers to develop a much more profound understanding of the atomic few-body problem. One area of intense focus has been the study of fragmentation processes. Covering the latest research in the field, this edited text is the first to provide a focussed and systematic treatment of fragmentation processes, bringing together contributions from a range of leading experts. As well as tackling the more established electron-impact ionization processes, (e,2e), this book also guides the reader through topics such as molecular fragmentation, ion-atom collisions and multi-photon processes. Combining a broad range of topics with an equal mix of theoretical and experimental discussion, this is an invaluable text for graduate students and researchers in atomic collisions, laser physics and chemistry.

There is a unity to physics; it is a discipline which provides the most fundamental understanding of the dynamics of matter and energy. To understand anything about a physical system you have to interact with it and one of the best ways to learn something is to use electrons as probes. This book is the result of a meeting, which took place in Magdalene College Cambridge in December 2001. Atomic, nuclear, cluster, soHd state, chemical and even bio- physicists got together to consider scattering electrons to explore matter in all its forms. Theory and experiment were represented in about equal measure. It was meeting marked by the most lively of discussions and the free exchange of ideas. We all learnt a lot. The Editors are grateful to EPSRC through its Collaborative Computational Project program (CCP2), lOPP, the Division of Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics (DAMOPP) and the Atomic Molecular Interactions group (AMIG) of the Institute of Physics for financial support. The smooth running of the meeting was enormously facilitated by the efficiency and helpfulness of the staff of Magdalene College, for which we are extremely grateful. This meeting marked the end for one of us (CTW) of a ten-year period as a fellow of the College and he would like to take this opportunity to thank the fellows and staff for the privilege of working with them.

There is only a very limited number of physical systems that can be exactly described in terms of simple analytic functions. There are, however, a vast range of problems which are amenable to a computational approach. This book provides a concise, self-contained introduction to the basic numerical and analytic techniques, which form the foundations of the algorithms commonly employed to give a quantitative description of systems of genuine physical interest. The methods developed are applied to representative problems from classical and quantum physics.

There is only a very limited number of physical systems that can be exactly described in terms of simple analytic functions. There are, however, a vast range of problems which are amenable to a computational approach. This book provides a concise, self-contained introduction to the basic numerical and analytic techniques, which form the foundations of the algorithms commonly employed to give a quantitative description of systems of genuine physical interest. The methods developed are applied to representative problems from classical and quantum physics.

The book assumes next to no prior knowledge of the topic. The first part introduces the core mathematics, always in conjunction with the physical context. In the second part of the book, a series of examples showcases some of the more conceptually advanced areas of physics, the presentation of which draws on the developments in the first part. A large number of problems helps students to hone their skills in using the presented mathematical methods. Solutions to the problems are available to instructors on an associated password-protected website for lecturers.

The book assumes next to no prior knowledge of the topic. The first part introduces the core mathematics, always in conjunction with the physical context. In the second part of the book, a series of examples showcases some of the more conceptually advanced areas of physics, the presentation of which draws on the developments in the first part. A large number of problems helps students to hone their skills in using the presented mathematical methods. Solutions to the problems are available to instructors on an associated password-protected website for lecturers.