This book is a self-contained presentation of the quantum field theory of topological defects created during spontaneous symmetry breakdown phase transitions, with a particular emphasis on phenomenological issues of current interest.

Market: Students and researchers in high energy, nuclear, and condensed matter physics, quantum optics, and cosmology. This book describes how modern quantum field theory is capable of treating not only quantum field particles, but also objects with classical and quantum mechanical degrees of freedom, including thermal degrees of freedom. It thus provides a unified overview of many areas of physics on the basis of the concept of macroscopic quantum vacuum.

Theoretical particle physicists discuss the present status and, in particular, the latest developments in quantum field theory, in their broadest aspects. This volume contains the main lectures presented at the symposium and reflects the contemporary status of a line of development, one of whose initiators was Niels Bohr.

Written for intelligent readers not familiar with higher mathematics, it is the only thorough explanation in non-technical language of modern mathematical-physical theory. Combining both history and exposition, it ranges from classical Newtonian concepts up through the electronic theories of Dirac and Heisenberg, the statistical mechanics of Fermi, and Einstein's relativity theories.