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The aim of this publication is to give an account of recent advances and new perspectives in the study of nuclei far from stability both from the experimental and the theoretical points of view. Experimental studies of exotic nuclei are currently being performed in several laboratories and new facilities with high-intensity beams are either just completed, or approved and under construction or in their planning stages. The bulk of the contributions in this book is devoted to nuclear structure models and their derivation from the basic nucleon-nucleon interaction. Three models are extensively discussed: the shell model, the interacting boson model and the cluster model.In recent years, considerable advance has been made in ab initio theories of nuclei, especially of light nuclei. These are included as well, thus providing a comprehensive view of the present status of nuclear structure theory. Also discussed is the occurrence of dynamic symmetries and super-symmetries in nuclei - including the newly suggested 'critica' symmetries which occur in transitional nuclei when the shape changes from spherical to deformed. Nuclei far from stability are of particular importance for astrophysics, especially for the r-process. Nuclear astrophysics was reviewed in detail, including a discussion of energy generation in stars and nucleo-synthesis of elements.
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"Strangeness and Spin in Fundamental Physics" is dedicated to the discussion of the role played by two subtle and somehow puzzling quantum numbers, the strangeness and the spin, in fundamental physics. They both relate to basic properties of the fundamental quantum field theories describing strong and electro-weak interactions and to their phenomenological applications. In some instances, like the partonic spin structure of the proton, they are deeply correlated.The many puzzling results recently obtained by measuring several spin asymmetries have stimulated gigantic progresses in the study of the spin structure of protons and neutrons. Intense theoretical activity has discovered new features of non-perturbative QCD, like strong correlations between the spin and the intrinsic motions of quarks inside the nucleons. The purpose of this publication is that of providing a complete, updated and critical account of the most recent and relevant discoveries in the above fields, both from the experimental and theoretical sides.
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This volume can be justified by the following three facts, the need to provide, from time to time, a coordinated set of lectures which present the relevant progress in Metrology, the increasing intertwining between Fundamental Physics and the practice of Metrological Measurements, and, third, the flurry of new and unexpected discoveries in this field, with a correlated series of Nobel Prizes bestowed to individuals working in Fundamental Constants research and novel experimental methods.One of the most fascinating and exciting characteristics of metrology is its intimate relationship between fundamental physics and the leading edge of technology which is needed to perform advanced and challenging experiments and measurements, as well as the determination of the values and interrelations between the Fundamental Constants. In some cases, such as the caesium fountains clocks or the optical frequency standards, the definition of the value of a quantity is, in the laboratory, in the region of 10-16 and experiments are under way to reach 10-18. Many of these results and the avenues leading to further advances are discussed in this volume, along a major step in metrology, expected in the near future, which could change the 'old' definition of the kilogram, still based on a mechanical artifact, toward a new definition resting on a fixed value of a fundamental constant.
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One of the great unsolved problems of science and also of physics is the prediction of the three dimensional structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence: the folding problem. It may be stated that the deep connection existing between physics and protein folding is not so much, or in any case not only, through physical methods (experimental: X - rays, NMR, etc, or theoretical: statistical mechanics, spin glasses, etc.), but through physical concepts.In fact, protein folding can be viewed as an emergent property contained neither in the atoms forming the protein nor in the forces acting among them, in a similar way as superconductivity emerges as an unexpected coherent phenomenon taking place on a sea of electrons at low temperature. Already much is known about the protein folding problem, thanks to, among other things, protein engineering experiments as well as from a variety of theoretical inputs: inverse folding problem, funnel - like energy landscapes (Peter Wolynes), helix - coil transitions, etc.Although quite different in appearance, the fact that the variety of models can account for much of the experimental findings is likely due to the fact that they contain much of the same (right) physics. A physics which is related to the important role played by selected highly conserved, 'hot', amino acids which participate to the stability of independent folding units which, upon docking, give rise to a (post - critical) folding nucleus lying beyond the highest maximum of the free energy associated to the process.
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The field of cold atomic gases faced a revolution in 1995 when Bose-Einstein condensation was achieved. Since then, there has been an impressive progress, both experimental and theoretical. The quest for ultra-cold Fermi gases started shortly after the 1995 discovery, and quantum degeneracy in a gas of fermionic atoms was obtained in 1999. The Pauli exclusion principle plays a crucial role in many aspects of ultra-cold Fermi gases, including inhibited interactions with applications to precision measurements, and strong correlations. The path towards strong interactions and pairing of fermions opened up with the discovery in 2003 that molecules formed by fermions near a Feshbach resonance were surprisingly stable against inelastic decay, but featured strong elastic interactions.This remarkable combination was explained by the Pauli exclusion principle and the fact that only inelastic collisions require three fermions to come close to each other. The unexpected stability of strongly interacting fermions and fermion pairs triggered most of the research which was presented at this summer school. It is remarkable foresight (or good luck) that the first steps to organize this summer school were already taken before this discovery. It speaks for the dynamics of the field how dramatically it can change course when new insight is obtained. The contributions in this volume provide a detailed coverage of the experimental techniques for the creation and study of Fermi quantum gases, as well as the theoretical foundation for understanding the properties of these novel systems.
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An enormous theoretical effort has been made to treat electron-phonon coupled systems, with particular emphasis on Many Body aspects for dense electron systems, taking into account continuum as well as lattice polaron effects. Treating such aspects of polaron theory has been made possible because of powerful Many Body techniques which include: Exact Diagonalization techniques, Quantum Monte Carlo approaches, Density Matrix renormalization group and Dynamical Mean Field Theory. All these advances in polaron theory needed to be accompanied by: an equally important advance in material research which produced many new materials such as the high Tc cuprates, the manganites and nickelates and the fullerines; as well as significant advances in the refinement of experimental analysis and, in particular, the spectroscopic means such as Angel Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy, X Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (EXAFS, XANES), Pulsed Neutron Diffraction measurements allowing to study the local dynamical lattice de-formations and optical spectroscopy including time resolved measurements. The scope and purpose of this publication is to review both these theoretical and experimental advances which occurred over the last few decades and to introduce the study of such systems, where both strong electron-electron correlations and large electron-phonon coupling strengths play important roles.
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This study is devoted to the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (S-Z) effect, and important related topics in cluster and CMB research. S-Z science is about to be significantly enhanced by unique, multifaceted cluster and cosmological yield, at a level of precision in accord with the high standards of the current era that was heralded by spectacular achievements in cosmological CMB research. The pedagogical reviews and technical seminars included in this volume represent most of the important current topics in S-Z work and in the astrophysics of clusters. The publication touches upon all relevant aspects of the S-Z effect and its use as a precise cluster and cosmological probe. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the detection of the CMB by Penzias and Wilson (in 1964), there is a chapter devoted to the history of this discovery. In his fascinating account of their work, he outlines also some lessons pertinent to current scientific issues. Other chapters discuss very interesting related observational work in Europe and the US.
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This volume of the "International School of Physics Enrico Fermi" is dedicated to Valerio Filippini. He devoted his life to physics. Valerio Filippini was born in Somma Lombardo (Milano) on December 8, 1958. He obtained the Master Degree in Physics at the University of Pavia in 1982, cum laude. After a working parenthesis at an industrial firm, he became Research Physicist of INFN, Sezione di Pavia, in 1988 and was promoted Senior Research Physicist in 1993. He participated to the experiments PS 179 (TOFRADUPP) and PS 201 (Obelix) at LEAR (CERN), FINUDA at LNF and ATHENA at AD (CERN). His outstanding scientific contributions were provided in the OBELIX and FINUDA experiments. Nobody could compete with Filippini in exploiting at best the daily-evoluting performances of the computing tools for the needs of the experiments, both for on-line and off-line purposes. The FINUDA experiment collected physics data immediately after the roll-in thanks to the reliability and simplicity of the on-line system designed and assembled by the physicist. However, he was not only a "Clavier Physicist" but a complete Scientist: he also leaded the Pavia Group in designing and providing advanced detectors, and in developing mathematical methods for the analysis of the data. His scientific contributions are documented by about 90 publications on refereed international journals, about 100 contributions to International Conferences and Workshops, and 3 invited talks.
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• Medical Informatics, Telematics 1
• NATO: Life and Behavioural Sciences 3
• Cancer 4
• Artificial Intelligence 5
• Computer Science, Applications 6
• NATO: Science and Technology Policy 7
• Electronics, Mechanics 8
• Physics 9
• Cognitive Science 9.
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The role of exact sciences in connection with cultural heritage now is well established and a new scientific branch has been generated: Archaeometry. Literally, Archaeometry means measurement on ancient objects. It is a multidisciplinary field of Investigations where the rigorous methods of exact sciences give a fundamental contribution to solving the problems associated with conservation and restoration, as well as to the study itself of the cultural heritage. Archaeometry, as a scientific research field, involves interdisciplinary groups formed by scholars of the humanistic area together with scientists: physicists, chemists, mathematicians, biologists, engineers, etc. The primary justification for the need of involving exact sciences in the field which, in the past, traditionally has been exclusive of Art Historians must no doubt be found in the conservation and restoration activities. The second argument which, in the public opinion, justifies the involvement of science with the world of Art is the confidence that scientific methods are Infallible in unmasking forgeries. But in our opinion the awareness of the central role of scientific methods as a support for philological and historical investigations is still very little diffuse or, at least, finds it hard to become widespread. Perhaps also because of our mentality, Physics, compared to chemistry, is more apt to find applications in a context free from authentication or conservation implications.
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It is widely known that complex systems and complex materials comprise a major interdisciplinary scientific field that draws on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine as well as such social sciences as economics. The role of statistical physics in this new field has been expanding. Statistical physics has shown how phenomena and processes in different research areas that have long been assumed to be unrelated can have a common description. Through the application of statistical physics, methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems and processes have been generalized to more complex systems. The two conceptual pillars in this approach are scaling and universality. This volume focuses on recent advances and perspectives in the physics of complex systems and provides both an overview of the field and a more detailed examination of the new ideas and unsolved problems that are currently attracting the attention of researchers. This book should be a useful reference work for anyone interested in this area, whether beginning graduate student or advanced research professional. It provides up-to-date reviews on cutting-edge topics compiled by leading authorities and is designed to both broaden the reader's competence within their own field and encourage the exploration of new problems in related fields.
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The purpose of this course was to give an overview of the physics of artificial semiconductor structures confining electrons and photons. It furnishes the background for several applications in particular in the domain of optical devices, lasers, light emitting diodes or photonic crystals. The effects related to the microactivity polaritons, which are mixed electromagnetic radiation-exciton states inside a semiconconductor microactivity are covered. The study of the characteristics of such states shows strong relations with the domain of cavity quantum electrodynamics and thus with the investigation of some fundamental theoretical concepts.
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Neutrino physics contributed in an fundamental way to the progress of science, opening important windows of knowledge in elementary particle physics, as well in astrophysics and cosmology. Substantial experimental efforts are presently dedicated to improve our knowledge on neutrino properties as, in fact, we don't know yet some of the basic ones. Although very significant steps forward have been done, neutrino masses and mixings still remain largely unknown and constitute an important field for future research. Are neutrinos Majorana or Dirac particles? Have they a magnetic moment? Historically, studies on weak processes and, therefore, on neutrino physics, provided first the Fermi theory of weak interactions and then the V-A theory. Finally, the observation of weak neutral currents provided the first experimental evidence for unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions by the so called "Standard Model" of elementary particles. In addition to the results obtained from the measurement of the solar neutrino flux, the study of atmospheric neutrinos strongly supports the hypothesis of neutrino oscillation among different flavours.
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