The discovery 25 years ago of the remarkable astronomical objects known as pulsars--and their identification as neutron stars--fulfilled a prediction made more than 30 years earlier. Over 550 pulsars are now known, almost all detected at radio frequencies which capture their distinctive bursts of electromagnetic energy. These pulse periods range from 1.5 milliseconds to several seconds. Most pulsars are single neutron stars but they can also exist in a binary orbit with a companion. Observations have revealed a wealth of detail about the structure and evolution of pulsars and the pulse-emission process, giving new insight into the behavior of matter in the presence of extreme gravitational and electromagnetic fields. In fact, pulsars have unique physical properties which make them nearly ideal as probes for a wide range of physical studies. This volume gathers together up-to-date findings in this area, representing a valuable resource for theoretical and particle physicists as well astrophysicists and astronomers. The contributors are recognized experts in the field, and include such well-known authorities as Joe Taylor who describes his Nobel-Prize winning work (Physics 1993).

Pulsars, generally accepted to be rotating neutron stars, are dense, neutron-packed remnants of massive stars that blew apart in supernova explosions. They are typically about 10 kilometers across and spin rapidly, often making several hundred rotations per second. Depending on star mass, gravity compresses the matter in the cores of pulsars up to more than ten times the density of ordinary atomic nuclei, thus providing a high-pressure environment in which numerous particle processes, from hyperon population to quark deconfinement to the formation of Boson condensates, may compete with each other. There are theoretical suggestions of even more ""exotic"" processes inside pulsars, such as the formation of absolutely stable strange quark matter, a configuration of matter even more stable than the most stable atomic nucleus, ^T56Fe. In the latter event, pulsars would be largely composed of pure quark matter, eventually enveloped in nuclear crust matter. These features combined with the tremendous recent progress in observational radio and x-ray astronomy make pulsars nearly ideal probes for a wide range of physical studies, complementing the quest of the behavior of superdense matter in terrestrial collider experiments. Written by an eminent author, Pulsars as Astrophysical Laboratories for Nuclear and Particle Physics gives a reliable account of the present status of such research, which naturally is to be performed at the interface between nuclear physics, particle physics, and Einstein's theory of relativity.

This 2004 book provides a concise description of pulsar research, presenting key techniques, background information and results.

This book provides in a pedogogical way up-to-date reviews of analytical approaches to QCD, high-energy astrophysics, QGP signatures and high-precision lattice QCD. It also contains presentations about experimental work on heavy-ion physics at RHIC and diffraction at HERA as well as communications on hadron physics.

This book provides in a pedagogical way some up-to-date reviews of properties of strongly interacting matter produced at RHIC, analytical approaches to QCD, and nuclear and high-energy astrophysics. It also contains schematic outlines of topics on high-precision non-perturbative QCD, first results from RHIC, and heavy-ion collisions at LHC with the ATLAS detector.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)

A to Z of Physicists, Updated Edition focuses not only on the lives and personalities of those profiled, but also on their research and contributions to the field. A fascinating and important element of this work is the attention paid to the obstacles that minority physicists had to overcome to reach their personal and professional goals. Through incidents, quotations, and photographs, the entries portray something of the human face, which is often lost in books on science and scientists. A to Z of Physicists, Updated Edition features more than 150 entries and 51 black-and-white photographs. Culturally inclusive and spanning the whole range of physicists from ancient times to the present day, this is an ideal resource for students and general readers interested in the history of physics or the significant aspects of the personal and professional lives of important physicists. People covered include: Archimedes (ca. 285–212 BCE) Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909–1966) Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov (1904–1990) Marie Curie (1867–1934) George Gamow (1904–1968) Tsung Dao Lee (1926–present) Lise Meitner (1878–1968) Yuval Ne'eman (1925–2006) Johannes Stark (1874–1957) Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) Hideki Yukawa (1907–1981)

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.

Our esteemed colleague C. V. Vishveshwara, popularly known as Vishu, turned sixty on 6th March 1998. His colleagues and well wishers felt that it would be appropriate to celebrate the occasion by bringing out a volume in his honour. Those of us who have had the good fortune to know Vishu, know that he is unique, in a class by himself. Having been given the privilege to be the volume's editors, we felt that we should attempt something different in this endeavour. Vishu is one of the well known relativists from India whose pioneer ing contributions to the studies of black holes is universally recognised. He was a student of Charles Misner. His Ph. D. thesis on the stability of the Schwarzschild black hole, coordinate invariant characterisation of the sta tionary limit and event horizon for Kerr black holes and subsequent seminal work on quasi-normal modes of black holes have passed on to become the starting points for detailed mathematical investigations on the nature of black holes. He later worked on other aspects related to black holes and compact objects. Many of these topics have matured over the last thirty years. New facets have also developed and become current areas of vigorous research interest. No longer are black holes, ultracompact objects or event horizons mere idealisations of mathematical physicists but concrete entities that astrophysicists detect, measure and look for. Astrophysical evidence is mounting up steadily for black holes.

Three eminent scientists, each well known for the clarity of their writing, present for students and researchers what is known about the internal structure, origin and evolution of White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes, all objects at the final stage of stellar evolution. They cover fascinating topics such as pulsation of white dwarfs, millisecond pulsars or the dynamics around black holes. The book is written for graduate students in astrophysics, but is also of interest to professional astronomers and physicists.

The most authoritative and up-to-date review of gravitational radiation available including free CD-ROM.