Bøger i Lecture Notes in Physics serien

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.