Erasmo Recami - Böcker

The first book on Localized Waves—a subject of phenomenal worldwide research with important applications from secure communications to medicine Localized waves—also known as non-diffractive waves—are beams and pulses capable of resisting diffraction and dispersion over long distances even in non-guiding media. Predicted to exist in the early 1970s and obtained theoretically and experimentally as solutions to the wave equations starting in 1992, localized waves now garner intense worldwide research with applications in all fields where a role is played by a wave equation, from electromagnetism to acoustics and quantum physics. In the electromagnetics areas, they are paving the way, for instance, to ubiquitous secure communications in the range of millimeter waves, terahertz frequencies, and optics. At last, the localized waves with an envelope at rest are expected to have important applications especially in medicine.Localized Waves brings together the world's most productive researchers in the field to offer a well-balanced presentation of theory and experiments in this new and exciting subject. Composed of thirteen chapters, this dynamic volume: Presents a thorough review of the theoretical foundation and historical aspects of localized waves Explores the interconnections of the subject with other technologies and scientific areas Analyzes the effect of arbitrary anisotropies on both continuous-wave and pulsed non-diffracting fields Describes the physical nature and experimental implementation of localized waves Provides a general overview of wave localization, for example in photonic crystals, which have received increasing attention in recent years Localized Waves is the first book to cover this emerging topic, making it an indispensable resource in particular for researchers in electromagnetics, acoustics, fundamental physics, and free-space communications, while also serving as a requisite text for graduate students.

This continuation and extension of the successful book "Localized Waves" by the same editors brings together leading researchers in non-diffractive waves to cover the most important results in their field and as such is the first to present the current state.The well-balanced presentation of theory and experiments guides readers through the background of different types of non-diffractive waves, their generation, propagation, and possible applications. The authors include a historical account of the development of the field, and cover different types of non-diffractive waves, including Airy waves and realistic, finite-energy solutions suitable for experimental realization. Apart from basic research, the concepts explained here have promising applications in a wide range of technologies, from wireless communication to acoustics and bio-medical imaging.

"The Majorana Case is beautifully written, with a pleasant style, and concatenates a great deal of material. A text that could only be written by those who know the life and work of Ettore Majorana very well, as Prof Recami. The book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and several testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes it more fascinating is that the author presented it also as a detective-story, by exploring his mysterious disappearance at young age. The personal testimonies also give to the book a welcome surplus. The Majorana Case, therefore, is both a pleasant biography and a mystery book."Contemporary PhysicsEttore Majorana was born in the Sicilian city of Catania. He joined Enrico Fermi's "Via Panisperna boys" at an early age and was part of the team who first discovered the slow neutrons (the research that would lead to the nuclear reactor and eventually, the atomic bomb). Enrico Fermi considered him one of brightest scientists, comparable to Galileo and Newton.On March 25, 1938, Ettore Majorana mysteriously disappeared at 31. When the author moved to the University of Catania, Sicily, from Milan University back in 1968, he soon discovered important documents pertaining to Majorana's life and works. Together with his own investigative materials and full cooperation from Majorana's family members, he published a book on his disappearance in Italian (after having helped the famous Italian writer, Leonardo Sciascia, to write down his known Essay, by supplying him with copy of some of the discovered documents). Recami's book was entitled Il Caso Majorana — Epistolario, Documenti, Testimonianze and when it first appeared in Italy, it drew interest from all the major newspapers, publications and TVs & broadcast media.Even after his disappearance, Ettore Majorana's name appeared in many areas of frontier physics research, ranging from elementary particle physics to applied condensed matter, to mathematical physics, and more. His long lasting contributions is a testimony of his brilliance and farsightedness and has continued to draw interest from scientists not only in Italy, but from all over world until today.An English version of the original is very appropriate at this juncture, when more and more scholars in the world are getting convinced that he was really a genius "like Galileo and Newton". This book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes this book more fascinating (as a detective-story too) is his mysterious disappearance at young age. This book, therefore, is both a biography and a mystery book.