ADVANCED SERIES IN ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY – serie

Notes prepared in Collaboration with Ranjeet S Tate It is now generally recognized that perturbative field theoretical methods that have been highly successful in the quantum description of non-gravitational interactions cannot be used as a means of constructing a quantum theory of gravity. The primary aim of the book is to present an up- to-date account of a non-perturbative, canonical quantization program for gravity. Many of the technical results obtained in the process are of interest also to differential geometry, classical general relativity and QCD. The program as a whole was highlighted in virtually every major conference in gravitational physics over the past three years.

Notes prepared in Collaboration with Ranjeet S Tate It is now generally recognized that perturbative field theoretical methods that have been highly successful in the quantum description of non-gravitational interactions cannot be used as a means of constructing a quantum theory of gravity. The primary aim of the book is to present an up- to-date account of a non-perturbative, canonical quantization program for gravity. Many of the technical results obtained in the process are of interest also to differential geometry, classical general relativity and QCD. The program as a whole was highlighted in virtually every major conference in gravitational physics over the past three years.

Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, has made important theoretical contributions to gravitational theory and has played a major role in the development of cosmology and black hole physics.Hawking's early work, partly in collaboration with Roger Penrose, showed the significance of spacetime singularities for the big bang and black holes. His later work has been concerned with a deeper understanding of these two issues. The work required extensive use of the two great intellectual achievements of the first half of the Twentieth Century: general relativity and quantum mechanics; and these are reflected in the reprinted articles. Hawking's key contributions on black hole radiation and the no-boundary condition on the origin of the universe are included.The present compilation of Stephen Hawking's most important work also includes an introduction by him, which guides the reader though the major highlights of the volume. This volume is thus an essential item in any library and will be an important reference source for those interested in theoretical physics and applied mathematics.

Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, has made important theoretical contributions to gravitational theory and has played a major role in the development of cosmology and black hole physics.Hawking's early work, partly in collaboration with Roger Penrose, showed the significance of spacetime singularities for the big bang and black holes. His later work has been concerned with a deeper understanding of these two issues. The work required extensive use of the two great intellectual achievements of the first half of the Twentieth Century: general relativity and quantum mechanics; and these are reflected in the reprinted articles. Hawking's key contributions on black hole radiation and the no-boundary condition on the origin of the universe are included.The present compilation of Stephen Hawking's most important work also includes an introduction by him, which guides the reader though the major highlights of the volume. This volume is thus an essential item in any library and will be an important reference source for those interested in theoretical physics and applied mathematics.

The concepts of dark matter and the cosmic web are some of the most significant developments in cosmology in the past century. They have decisively changed the classical cosmological paradigm, which was first elaborated upon during the first half of the 20th century but ran into serious problems in the second half. Today, they are integral parts of modern cosmology, which explains everything from the Big Bang to inflation to the large-scale structure of the Universe.Dark Matter and Cosmic Web Story describes the contributions that led to a paradigm shift from the Eastern point of view. It describes the problems with the classical view, the attempts to solve them, the difficulties encountered by those solutions, and the conferences where the merits of the new concepts were debated. Amidst the science, the story of scientific work in a small country occupied by the Soviet Union and the tumultuous events that led to its breakup are detailed as well.The development of cosmology has often treated as a West-East conflict between the American school led by Jim Peebles in Princeton and the Soviet team led by Yakov Zeldovich in Moscow. Actually, the development of ideas was broader, and a certain role played the Tartu team. The Tartu cosmology school was founded by Ernst Öpik and has its own traditions and attitude to science. In the new edition of the book the interplay between three cosmology schools is written in more detail. The recent development of dark matter and cosmic web studies is described, as well as the evolution of global properties of the cosmic web.This book is accompanied by a website which contains additional material: copies of the originals of some crucial papers, astronomical movies, and movies which showcase the private life of the author. In this second edition, two chapters on the statistical description of the cosmic web and its development were added, as well as chapter on the sociology of science. To keep the length of this book reasonable, a lot of reorganisation of the text has been done as well.

The concepts of dark matter and the cosmic web are some of the most significant developments in cosmology in the past century. They have decisively changed the classical cosmological paradigm, which was first elaborated upon during the first half of the 20th century but ran into serious problems in the second half. Today, they are integral parts of modern cosmology, which explains everything from the Big Bang to inflation to the large scale structure of the Universe.Dark Matter and Cosmic Web Story describes the contributions that led to a paradigm shift from the Eastern point of view. It describes the problems with the classical view, the attempts to solve them, the difficulties encountered by those solutions, and the conferences where the merits of the new concepts were debated. Amidst the science, the story of scientific work in a small country occupied by the Soviet Union and the tumultuous events that led to its breakup are detailed as well.This book is accompanied by a website which contains additional material: copies of the originals of some crucial papers, astronomical movies, and movies which showcase the private life of the author.

Quantum Gravitational Imprints on Cosmology surveys the remarkable advancements in our understanding of the interface between quantum gravity theories and cosmology that have been achieved over the past four decades. The current cosmological model relies on inflationary theories, which incorporate baryosynthesis, dark matter, and dark energy. Supported by precise cosmological data, it necessitates physics beyond the standard models of fundamental forces, including gravity. This connection between macroscopic gravity on large scales and quantum gravity on the smallest scales is where quantum gravity's nature becomes evident. Quantum gravity effects alter our classical understanding of gravitational phenomena as described by general relativity, leading to observable deviations from the conventional cosmological model. The field of cosmoparticle physics explores the interplay between the micro and macro worlds, offering insights into the development of quantum gravity and its cosmological implications.These fascinating developments are explained at a level accessible to advanced PhD students, making the book a valuable resource for early-career researchers approaching these fields for the first time or interested in exploring them in greater depth.

The book collects 29 papers which have been particularly influential in the development of accretion theory. As an introductory paper a recent review on the subject is reported. An extensive list of references closes the volume.

Presenting the proceedings of the First William Fairbank Meeting, this book covers areas including: tests of underlying principles in gravitational physics and their theoretical rationale; and rotational effects in general relativity, frame-dragging and the geodetic effect.

Accretion disks in compact stellar systems containing white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes are the principal laboratory for understanding the role of accretion disks in a wide variety of environments from proto-stars to quasars. Recent work on disk instabilities and dynamics has given a new theoretical framework with which to study accretion disks. Modeling of time-dependent phenomena provides new insight into the causes and interpretation of photometric and spectroscopic variability and new constraints on the fundamental physical problem — the origin of viscosity in accretion disks. This book contains expert reviews on the nature of limit cycle thermal instabilities and a variety of closely related topics from the theory of angular momentum transport to eclipse mapping of the disk structure. The result is a comprehensive contemporary survey of the structure and evolution of accretion disks in compact binary systems.

This unique volume is a collection of papers on various problems in astrophysics and cosmology — from planetary motion to the arrow of time — that are closely linked by the common spirit, technique and methodology of chaos.

This volume is dedicated to Riccardo Giacconi for his sixty-fifth birthday, on the occasion of his being awarded a “Laurea Honoris Causa” in physics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. A meeting was held in his honor, and presentations were given that reflected the state-of-the-art of research on subjects related to Giacconi's scientific interests and achievements through the decades. This volume is based upon the papers presented at that meeting. It provides a tribute to Riccardo Giacconi for his outstanding contributions towards opening up the entire field of high energy astrophysics.

Many events were organized all over the world in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Enrico Fermi, covering his activities in particle physics, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics and quantum statistics. A workshop was held at the University of Rome and the ICRA Center in Pescara, Italy, in October 2001. The focus was on the influence of Fermi on astrophysics and general relativity, which have acquired special scientific meaning owing to the fast developments in the field of relativistic astrophysics. Paradoxically, the major activities of Fermi in those areas were clustered at the beginning and at the end of his scientific career. The meeting had a novel format. In each session a selected paper of Fermi was discussed in terms of both its historical context and later developments related to it; these papers and their commentaries are included in the proceedings. The presentation was followed by an in-depth analysis of developments by active scientists working in each field; this analysis also appears in the proceedings. In some cases, contributions from young researchers about more recent PhD theses relevant to the topic at hand concluded the session.