String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction

Book Description

String theory is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of modern theoretical physics. This book guides the reader from the basics of string theory to recent developments. It introduces the basics of perturbative string theory, world-sheet supersymmetry, space-time supersymmetry, conformal field theory and the heterotic string, before describing modern developments, including D-branes, string dualities and M-theory. It then covers string geometry and flux compactifications, applications to cosmology and particle physics, black holes in string theory and M-theory, and the microscopic origin of black-hole entropy. It concludes with Matrix theory, the AdS/CFT duality and its generalizations. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in modern string theory, and will make an excellent textbook for a one-year course on string theory. It contains over 120 exercises with solutions, and over 200 homework problems with solutions available on a password protected website for lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521860697.

Customer Reviews:

A good general introduction.......2007-04-22

String theory has been criticized since it was first invented but not to the degree that it has now, this criticism mostly focusing on its failure to connect with observation. The criticism has increased dramatically in recent years however, and some of this has been too vituperative to be useful to those curious about string theory as a viable physical theory. But criticism, however harsh, can be healthy, since it motivates the proponents of a theory to more carefully elucidate its foundations and content. This is usually not the case when a theory is popular, as researchers are in a competitive spirit and are hesitant to share the knowledge to possible competitors. At this stage in the game however, string theorists it seems are now on the defensive, and have thus taken the time to discuss in-depth what this reviewer still believes is the most complex and beautiful theory ever constructed in mathematical physics. String theory still has a long way to go before it gains status as being a physical theory, but hopefully by the end of the next few decades one will see the appearance of charts, graphs, and numerical calculations in books on string theory, much like one finds in the most successful of all physical theories to date: relativistic quantum field theory.
Some highlights in the book that are particularly insightful include:
1. The observation that Dirichlet boundary conditions (for the open string) break Poincare invariance, but that this leads to the introduction of Dp-branes as positions of the endpoints of the open string. Poincare invariance is recovered as long as Dp-brane is space filling, i.e. has a dimension one less than the background spacetime.
2. The view that the BRST quantization of the path integral is really a conformal field theory. This is interesting in that BRST analysis is typically thought of as a procedure for quantizing constrained systems (gauge theories being predominant examples).
3. The `Myers effect'. Sometimes referred to as the `D-brane dielectric effect', it is part of an attempt to understand the physics of non-Abelian D-branes for strong fields. One of the challenges in this understanding involves the validity of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action in these kinds of circumstances, which as the authors remark is designed for situations where the background fields and world-volume gauge fields do not vary appreciably over the distances on the order of the string scale.
4. The origin of the (classical) Virasoro algebra as the freedom of choice of gauge in the reparametrization symmetry. And along these same lines, the quantization of the Virasoro algebra is defined to the normal ordering of the Virasoro generators, and their commutators give an expression consisting of the ordinary classical term plus a "quantum" correction, the famous central extension. Thus the quantum Virasoro algebra can be viewed as a "quantum deformation" of the classical Virasoro algebra, with the central parameter as being the deformation parameter. This philosophy of deformation has found generalization in what are now called `quantum groups' (even though strictly speaking they are much more complicated objects than ordinary groups).
5. The connection of the dilaton to the Euler characteristic.
6. The role of the GSO projection in insuring consistency in the state spectrum.
7. The use of (vector bundle) K-theory to classify D-brane charges. This use arises when it is realized that the conserved R-R charges cannot be identified with cohomology classes of gauge field configurations. Instead, the D-branes are classified by K-theory classes.
8. The discussion on `primitive cohomology' and its relation to de Rham cohomology and Hodge theory.
9. The role of the Born-Infeld structure in ensuring Lorentz invariance of the T-dual description. The Born-Infeld action was once viewed as a mere historical curiosity, namely as a nonlinear generalization of the Maxwell theory, with no experimental backing. That it finds such a natural place in string theory is very interesting (but still of course lacking in experimental support).
10. The derivation of a lower bound for Newton's constant from heterotic M-theory, which is close to the observed value.
11. The argument, beautifully elucidated in this book, that type IIA supergravity may be obtained from 11-dimensional supergravity by dimensional reduction.
12. The discussion on warped space-times and the gauge hierarchy. The authors cleverly motivate this subject by asking why Newtonian gravity follows an inverse-square law rather than an inverse-cube law.
13. An entire chapter is devoted to "stringy" geometry, which is a fascinating subject given that it touches so many areas of modern mathematics.
14. The discussion of the `hidden sector' and its conjectured relation to dark matter and supersymmetry breaking.
15. The author's treatment of the AdS/CFT conjecture is superb and is by far the most interesting part of the book. The dualities shown to exists between gauge theory and string theory are a possible route to a full understanding of nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics, which to this date has defied resolution.

Some major omissions or discussions that need more elaboration include:
1. The difficulties that are actually involved in quantizing the Nambu-Goto action. The authors remark that this is due to the presence of the square root, but it would have been interesting if they would have indicated just where the trouble rises explicitly when a quantization procedure is attempted with the Nambu-Goto action. In ordinary quantum field theory, the presence of the square root is interpreted as a "nonlocal" problem, but even there this issue is not usually dealt with in a manner that is very transparent.
2. A more detailed treatment of string field theory for those readers who want to compare it to what is done in second quantization in ordinary quantum field theory.
3. The role of the Beltrami differentials in the attaining of a measure for moduli space that is invariant under reparametrizations of the moduli space.
4. No in-depth discussion of characteristic classes over and above the algebra involved in their manipulation (i.e. the wedge products). An understanding of characteristic classes is crucial to understanding superstring and brane theory, but the pages of this book mislead the unsuspecting reader that there is nothing to characteristic classes except algebraic manipulation of the differential forms. But characteristic classes have a deep geometrical meaning, and obtaining insight into this meaning has been proven to be difficult for students of string theory. This book does not provide any of this insight, nor do any of the other books currently in print on string theory.
5. Is supersymmetry absolutely necessary for the incorporation of fermions into string theory? The authors seem to argue that it is, but an explicit proof is lacking.
6. The proof that `threshold bound states' are stable is omitted, disappointing the more mathematically sophisticated reader. As the authors remark, the proof involves a special type of index theory involving non-Fredholm operators, and where one must deal with a continuous spectrum. The usual index theory breaks down since one is only dealing with elliptic operators, and contributions to the index from bosons and fermions do not necessarily have to be integers.
7. The authors should have included more discussion on mirror symmetry, beautiful subject that it is.
8. Dp-branes are asserted to be useful in incorporating non-Abelian gauge symmetries in string theory, in that they appear "naturally" as confined to world volumes of multiply-coincident Dp-branes. But is this the best way to introduce these symmetries? Is there a method, other than this one and `compactification', that is just as "natural" and does not have the contrived element that the introduction of Dp-branes sometimes has?
9. The authors need to elaborate in more detail on the definition of "stable" and "unstable" D-brane.
10. The omitting of the proof that string theories are ultraviolet finite theories of quantum gravity. This is by far the most serious omission in the book. This reviewer does not know of a reference that proves this assertion, and many in the physics community have pointed to this omission as being a sign that the string theory research community has been misled by false assertions of proof.

Excellent Book.......2007-03-11

I think this is a great book that provides not only a great introduction to string theory (there is no assumed prior knowledge of string theory), but also provides coverage of many more advanced topics as well. I think it's likely that the vast majority of students specializing in string theory will want to read it at some point in their studies.

The coverage of topics in the first few chapters is in some ways fairly standard. The first two chapters consists of a high level overview of string theory, bosonic string, the Nambu-Goto action the Polyakov action, the Virasoro algebra, the critical dimension, light code gauge and the spectra of open/closed strings. After this there is a chapter on conformal field theory, naturally emphasizing the parts relevant to string theory (including a bit of string field theory). This is followed by discussions of worldsheet supersymmetry, spacetime supersymmetry, anomalies, T-duality and heterotic strings. The writing is very clear and considering the nature of the material, fairly straight forward. There are two things that I considered exceptional strengths. One is that the discussions incorporate D-branes, M-theory and the (unexpected) symmetries of string theory early on. The other is that there are numerous worked examples, as there are throughout the book.

At a very high level the rest of the book contains more extensive discussions of M-theory, compactification (including a substantial amount besides the standard approach of the compact dimensions being a Calabi-Yau space), mirror symmetry, S-duality, possible cosmological consequences of string theory, black holes and other solutions with horizons, matrix theory, AdS/CFT correspondence (a proposed equivalence between closed string solutions on the product of a sphere and anti-deSitter space and Yang-Mills theories) and the holographic principle (or as some would say conjecture).

The things I appreciated the most about this material was that is was a very interesting mix of topics. The discussion of black holes and cosmology was fairly extensive (for cosmology it was the most extensive I've seen in a text book). As was the coverage of the AdS/CFT correspondence. There were also some topics that I don't recall seeing in other string theory books, such as warped geometries in compactification and S-branes (these are like D-branes but they satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions in timelike directions).

Needless to say it's a fairly advanced book. There is some coverage of things like complex spaces, topology, general relativity and cosmology. However this material is more along the lines of a review, not something intended to teach from first principles (some of the other string theory books cover this kind material in more detail).

All-in-all I believe this book not only provides a great introduction, it also provides an excellent treatment of some of the more advanced topics in string theory.

Best of All Worlds.......2007-03-09

This new textbook on string theory might be considered a modern pimped up version of Zwiebach's introductory course. The book is - as an introduction - better than the 2-volume set by Schwarz (Green, Schwarz, Witten), which is partly outdated, and on the same footing as Polchinski's version, but certainly not as thorough and elaborate. There is some overlap between all books (e.g. the CFT bits from Polchinski are quite similar to those in this new text, the introduction of the bosonic string via the relativistic point particle looks like the ones by Polchinski and Zwiebach, but Becker & Schwarz immediately generalise the concept to p-branes, SCFTs are discussed in a similar manner as in Polchinski, and so on), but there are additional features that really add to the value of the book: all exercises within the text have solutions directly under them, so one can either try to solve them or read them through, and some parts are explained more clearly. The concepts of "(gauge) symmetries" are discussed slightly better than by Polchsinki or GSW, but for those who want mathematical proofs instead of hand-waving arguments, and more background material on supersymmetry, I can only say that I have found no books on string theory that really do that. Both are subjects of study on their own and would go "beyond the scope" of these books... Nevertheless, a very good introduction and most of all: up to date!

For mid-undergraduates, I think, the perfect sequence for string theory would be (provided one acquires knowledge of QFT and Lie algebras for the more advanced texts):

Zwiebach>Becker/Schwarz>Polchinski (supplemented by GSW's first volume)

But if you want to learn string theory more quickly or if you don't have problems with the very basics, then leave out Zwiebach and go for this one immediately. For graduates, Polchinski should be the start, but one can take Backer/Schwarz always as a references and supplement on some topics (connection to black holes and gauge theories).

A Modern Fairytale.......2007-01-30

This is a fabulous excursion into a world inhabited by all sorts of mythical creatures: Calabi-Yau 3-folds, D-branes, orbifolds, ten and eleven-dimensional backgrounds, supersymmetric partners, covariant fermionic vertex operators and many others that only the wildest imaginations can conceive of. The wizards and magicians who have conjured these beasts have also cast a powerful spell on their easily-beguiled followers who see streets of gold and emerald trees as they walk through the morass of E8*E8 gauge fields, compactifications and dualities. This tome will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf right between Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland. I gladly recommend each of you to take a brief stroll into this enchanted land to be followed by the volumes of Landau and Lifchitz, so that you will be able to find your way back to reality again. Some have called strings "a theory of anything". Indeed, it is a wonderful place where you can make all your wishes come true. But do not stay too long in the kingdom of string theory lest you end up like so many others who are lost, searching endlessly for the legendary realms of M-theory or wandering aimlessly in the infinite labyrinth of the Landscape, wasting the remaining years of their life on naught but a fable.

Most up-to-date string theory tome published this year........2007-01-24

This volume was authored by one of the most respected researchers in the field, as well as the Becker sisters. It is beautifully illustrated, and is well timed for upcomming experimental tests of superstring theory at the Large Hadron collider. I did not give if five starts because it only devoted four pages to the Landscape, which professor Susskind, the father of string theory, has declared the most significant advance in physics in the past century.

Average customer rating:

This is NOT 'Satellites for Dummies'...
Not a bad book but needs significant improvement
Great for a beginner

Satellite Communications
Timothy Pratt , Charles W. Bostian , and Jeremy E. Allnutt
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 047137007X

Book Description

Includes chapters on orbital mechanics, spacecraft construction, satellite-path radio wave propagation, modulation techniques, multiple access, and a detailed analysis of the communications link.

Customer Reviews:

This is NOT 'Satellites for Dummies'..........2004-01-18

I recently took a Satellite Communications course at the university I attend and this was the textbook. I must say this book is really expensive for what you're likely to get out of it; as the book doesn't really seem to have much of a point. It isn't very well written/edited for a book you would want to learn the subject matter from if you didn't know anything about satellite communications; and it doesn't include enough usable, pertinent data for keeping as a reference book for experienced users. Mostly the book explains concepts in a convoluted and confusing manner, doesn't fully explain them, or adds all sorts of extraneous material not explained in the book into the review sections (which we used as some of our assignments). If you like taking Microsoft computer certification tests, enjoy brain-teasers and riddles, you're already an electrical engineer/astrophysics major with a few years experience, or your last name is "Hawking" you may find this to be a good book. But, if you know little to nothing about satellite communications (orbital mechanics, transmission encoding methods, frequency spectrums, theory of radio transmissions, etc.) my suggestion is look for another book on the subject and get this one from your local library. If you MUST buy this book like I did, do yourself a favor by getting it 'Used' and save yourself some money. By the way, I was told this book is no longer used for this course for some of these same reasons.

Not a bad book but needs significant improvement.......2003-09-19

I am a lecturer and used this book for my class.

I like the material presented in this book. It contains many examples and discussion on real applications. However the organization of this book is not good. It is just like putting several people's work together without appropriate coordination of the material.

As a second edition of the book, it contains too much errors. You can find many errors in almost each chapter. I have to check carefully before I use their examples, equations and solutions. Otherwise I will get embarassed by letting the students pointing it out in my lecture. It is absolutely a shame.

If you are an engineer who are already familiar with data communications and can tell those errors, this book is a good choice. But if you are a student, I sugget you stay away from it unless it is the textbook chosen by your lecturer.

Great for a beginner.......2000-05-16

I read this book as a reference rather than a formal class textbook. As a self-studying student, the first book I bought to study satellite communications was the famouns 'Digital Satellite Communications' ritten by Dr. Tri t. Ha. It is actually a quite good book. However it was just too much for a eginner. Too much mathmatical fomulars and too less literatual explanation for a new concept. It took 8 months to read just one third of the book during my militarry service. Since I have been assigned to a digital satellite earthstation construction project recently, I needed a new book that explains more practically and easilly. This 'Satellite Communications' by Dr. Timothy Pratt and Dr. Charles W. Bostian.

To cover allmost all area of the satellite communications, the overall composition is simillar to other books. At charper 3, 'SPACECRAFT', I could find fine explanation on the satellite beam and coverage. Especially, this helps me with understanding and analyzing the SRS-CDROM data. This is really great for me. Some basic and important concepts like Noise, C/N and G/T are very well descibed in chapter 4, 'SATELLITE LINK DESIGN'. Freankly, most books tend to jump to mathmatical method to explain concepts. The author spared more pages to explain the concept and the physical meaning of the terminology. I know this is a very eficient and simple way to show the existing and potential meaning of terminology. But there are hundreds of good reasons to have this kind of kind book for a slowly understanding engineer like me. :-) At chapter 5 and 6 to explain the modulation, multiplexing and multiple access, there are less fomulas and more tables and graphs. First, I read over those two chapters and went back to Dr. Ha's book above to learn the mathmatical expression. That's how you can expand the concept to individual field applications. The 'Design of Large Antennas' in chapter 9, 'EARTH STATION TECHNOLOGY' was helpful for me, too. It is pretty hard to find propper information about large antennas ahtough you have to face a bunch of confusing terminologies when you visit antenna company web sites like Vertex, RSI (recently merged to Vertex to make VertexRSI), or Datron.

Customer Reviews:

Perfect........2007-08-10

I received the book as it should be: knew. And it cames before the estimated time.

Wow, does this suck . . . get a different book!.......2007-06-13

Ok--I just need to help lower the overall rating for this book. I think the people who love it are professors and students who already are familiar with QFT--because it glosses over everything, does pertinent examples, etc. But that's just it, it GLOSSES over everything. Note that nearly all the higher reviews say things like: "oh, you wouldn't want to start with this book." or "Everyone knows that you're going to need more books than this one to understand it . . ." I couldn't even figure out how to create a Feynmann diagram from this book, let alone what one MEANT. FYI, my favorite QFT book so far is Weinberg's Quantum Theory of Fields.

This book is a very very very bad book which you never buy........2007-01-20

Absolutely no logic.
Perfectly nonclear.
No subject.
Mathematically poor.(very poor.)
Nonneccessary words.
No depth.
Not for self-study.
Just arrangement.
No physical insight.
No process.
No thinking.

This is indeed not a book.
This is a stuff for a vanity.
I wonder whether Peskin and Schroeder are genuine physicists.

Don't make the same fault I did!.......2006-12-16

Hi there!

The important information first: I'm a graduate student, mainly interested in theoretical physics. At the moment, I'm trying to get a deeper understanding of QFT.

Peskin's QFT book is NOT the one you should buy if you want to UNDERSTAND renormalization.

I learned the basics of QFT (\phi^4 and QED up to a first contact with renormalization - "trivial" subtraction of infinities) in a lecture and I finally felt like: "What does renormalization mean? What is it good for? Is there a deeper truth in it?" Well, the answer to the last question is definitely yes. It's about the Beta function. This function tells you how the coupling constants of a QFT behave at different momenta. E.g., we can learn from it why perturbation theory works for QED at low energies and for QCD at high energies (I think, this is amazing).

What I just said I learned from Huang's book. Peskin "deals" with it in chapters 10 to 12. In the middle of chapter 12 I finally said to myself: "Hey, don't feel stupid. This book is just completely incomprehensible here."

In my opinion, if you want to see behind renormalization (and therefore behind any QFT(!!)), don't buy Peskin's book. Any other book is better regarding this issue.

It is sad that we don't have a better book out there..........2006-05-28

The main problem of this book: what exactly is it supposed to be?

If it is an introduction, then the opening chapters are written at a level too sophisticated that an average first-time student can't handle.

If it aims to be a "bible" of the subject, then the later chapters are far too technical, loaded with only Feynman diagram calculations for standard model. Not being a phenomenologist, I personally have very little interest in all the technical detail, and apparently several other reviewers share my view here.

Now let me gives some examples to support my claim.

First, C, P and T symmetries are introduced very early on (right after Dirac spinor), and in a very formal way. Yes, they logically belong there, but in an "introduction" of the subject you don't throw out an isolated topic like this which you don't make use of in the following few hundred pages.

The part on cannonical quantization is written at a very fast pace. A complex scalar field is probably the first model you can construct with charged particles. And guess what kind of treatment it receives in this book? Not a single word in the main text. The problem 2 of that chapter essentially asks you to work out the content of this model with few hints given. If you have troble working it out, which is not uncommon for a first-timer, then you won't see the logic behind the decomposition of a complex Dirac field either. This is done in the following chapter, with no explaination.

Like the charged scalar field example, some important pieces of knowledge are hidden only in the exercises. So if you treat these high-power opening chapters as your bible-type reference, you will often end up in the frustrating situation that the book tells you to work out by yourself what you are seeking in the first place.

Now get to the later parts of the book. As I mentioned above, the second half of the book is almost conceptually too simple, overloaded with technical details.

This downfall begins around the renormalization group. On the back of this book, this Prof. Micheal Dine is qouted: "it is the only field theory text with a thoroughly modern, Wilsonian treatment of renormalization". The connection between the Wilsonian idea and dimensional regularization/renormalization scale is shaky at best. You read the text, and are left puzzled at the magic: how does a cut-off scale become some (much lower) arbitrary momentum scale? No explaination. The Wilsonian theory is completely isolated and have little connection with the rest of the renormalization section.

Furthermore, the book does not do a very good job on Lie algebra and non-abilien Lie groups. I mean, come on, if this is an "introduction" type of book, make it more readable. If this is a "bible" type of book, make it more comprehensive.

Having voiced all my bad opinions, I have to admit that the book has its merit. Bottom line is, this is a book written by phenomenologists for phenomenologists. If you view it from such an angle, it is not too badly written after all, and does cover most of the important topics a phnomenologist would want to know. But you may want to start from a more accessible text such as Ryder.

If you are a theorist, but not a phenomenologist, then, well, let's say the ability of getting through the first part perfectly is the minimum requirement for your research.

If you are an experimentalist, don't bother.

Field and Wave Electromagnetics (2nd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Second will be better
Seeing God (not the author, the creator of the world)
Ugh...
Excellent Text
publisher info is wrong

Field and Wave Electromagnetics (2nd Edition)
David K. Cheng
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0201128195

Customer Reviews:

Second will be better.......2007-04-29

This is the textbook for my sophomore electromagnetics in the electrical engineering. I have to admit I really hated this class then. One is that there are equations here and there and it usually clouds the issue. Another reason is that the author uses the deduction method to describe this topic. It is quite different from the traditional way which goes following the historical developments.

For some reasons, I need to refresh electromagnetics in later years. I re-studied this book and then found it written pretty well this time. It is well-organized and systematic. One weak spot is the explanation for physics. I think it should be made better so that it is easier for readers to absorb the knowledge instead of confused by those mathematical equations.

This book is rather classic, which means it stays at the balance of electromagnetic statics and dynamics. Many recent electromagnetic textbooks are more focused on electromagnetic waves at the expense of the electromagnetic statics. I don't think this is a wise decision since electromagnetic statics is still very important in the real world applications, for example RF IC design.

This book is published almost 20 years ago. But don't regard it as out of date. Based on my acamedic and industrial experience, it is still the best engineering electromagnetic textbook for undergraduates.

Seeing God (not the author, the creator of the world).......2006-12-29

You will finally understand what light is - 10 years after you take the course.

Yes, 2 years after you take the course, you get to arrange waves that can go easily back and forth from wave equations(insane vector calculus) to circuit equations(simple V=IR).

Yes, combined with clever Fourier math, you get to calculate impedance as vector reflection waves, so that you see (through Smith-Chart night vision like mental glasses) the waves invisible to human eyes (but visible to some animals) and make them oscillate/up-down-mix as an EE engineer making a living.

But James Maxwell's math is the only thing interesting in the world, which the book says that well. God made the waves and nothing more. If you want to make stories out of the context or take words out of the context (many books try and do), you give yourself trouble. Yes, we give ourselves troubles all our life. And you will see that in this book. This is life.

Everyone in this world needs to understand how a wave of light is made.

Ugh..........2006-05-11

This book was horrid. I was bombing the class all year with this text, until I bought REA's electromagnetics problem solver. Going into the final, I had maybe a B. By studying the REA book and working my [...] off before the final, I got that up to a final mark of A-. The physics students at my school used Griffith's electrmagnetics book, and they seemed to enjoy that book a lot more.

This book was slightly better when I took a waveguides course... imagine my disgust when I found out we were using this book, again! Even the waveguides sections were still quite weak, though, but they do keep me from rating this book a 1.

Excellent Text.......2006-04-11

While I took Electromagnetic Fields I & II courses using the first and last half of this text, I also purchased other solutions manuals and texts to survive. This was, to me, by far the most clearly written and well-presented text.
16 years after having taken the course, I'm doing a cover-to-cover review of this book and given my industry experience I appreciate the excellence of this book even more. The downside to using it is that I've found a real difficulty in locating the Solutions Manual, leaving me to use others where there's always changes in variables, ordering, and approaches which build in inefficiencies/overhead.

publisher info is wrong.......2006-03-08

The publisher should be "Addison-Wesley," not "Prentice Hall" as shown in amazon.com page.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book
Excellent
Just what I needed
A True Masterpiece
A good book.

Fundamentals of Adaptive Filtering
Ali H. Sayed
Manufacturer: Wiley-IEEE Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471461261

Book Description

This book is based on a graduate level course offered by the author at UCLA and has been classed tested there and at other universities over a number of years. This will be the most comprehensive book on the market today providing instructors a wide choice in designing their courses.
* Offers computer problems to illustrate real life applications for students and professionals alike
* An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial department.

An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial department.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book .......2005-04-09

In this book, the ideas and formulas are well presented to the readers. Notations are very consistent throughout the entire book. I have enjoyed reading this book.

Excellent.......2004-03-25

This is the best textbook I've ever read. The mix of theory and practice, examples and math, and the ordered introduction of concepts flows so well it reads like a treasure quest. Everything has its place, and the place is known - you just have to follow the signs and keep an eye out for those which are subtler than others, just to keep things alive and interesting. It's indicative of the clarity of thinking and broad sweep of this work that you would refer to it (I do and other students I know as well), for other subject matter such as communications, linear algebra, digital filters, probability and control theory. The homework problems are not just a series of one-liners as in most graduate level text books, but well-marked road maps addressing points discussed in the text and opening up new possibilities. The computer projects are very well commented and the results analysed. The language is concise yet fluid, and there are extremely few typos of any kind. This is a very, very high quality work.

Just what I needed.......2004-02-05

I work on 802.11b and 802.11a/OFDM modems and was looking for some kind of coherent text on decision feedback equalization and other tracking schemes when I stumbled upon this book. I'm deep into chapter three and I can already draw the following conclusions.

There are two things that make this book really great.
1) The teaching style. Besides having a wonderful way with words, the author uses plenty of subtle teaching principles that help in the understanding of the material like frequent repetition of the main concepts and slowly building up examples over different sections inside each chapter.

2) Content !!!! Its hard to assimilate abstract material like estimation theory without at the end having some type of useful application or algorithm to show for. The author's examples and computer projects on channel estimation, channel equalization, maximum ratio combining and Rake receivers are very popular building blocks for a variety of modems. It is very motivating to know that after labouring through the chapter the authors feels that you are now ready to understand decision feedback equalizers and so he presents you with a nice DFE computer project.

Difficult topics require competent teaching approaches and that is exactly what you will find in this book.

The only thing that would make this book even better would be a very brief introductory chapter on statistics and linear algebra. So if you are going through the book and you want to quickly revisit the definition of covariance or hermetian transpose there is one centralized section that has all the useful mathematical tools nicely listed.

As a practising engineer, I highly recommend this book.
Andreas S.

A True Masterpiece.......2003-10-07

This book is a true masterpiece. It contains the most complete treatment, theoretical and practical, of adaptive filtering that I've ever seen and I've seen just about every book on this topic on the market. In addition to the detialed theoretical derivations, this book is rich with numerous design examples and computer projects with provided matlab code. This equips the reader with proper tools to quickly understand the concepts and put them to practice with relative ease. I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about understanding adaptive filters.

A good book........2003-10-01

For all those of us, working in beamforming or OFDM or equalization or noise control, who find Haykin's writing uninspiring, Sayed's work has all the elegance of Prof Kailath's pedagogical style. This is one scrumptious intellectual meal. Every extant variation of the LMS and RLS algorithms is detailed, and some histroical context provided. The mathematical background needed or assumed is rudimentary. The Matlab projects are extensive in scope - yet, like most Matlab sources, they will take work in understanding their nuances.

Quantum Field Theory: From Operators to Path Integrals

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Extremely solid for self-teaching
A good introduction to the physics behind renormalization

Quantum Field Theory: From Operators to Path Integrals
Kerson Huang
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471141208

Book Description

A unique approach to quantum field theory, with emphasis on the principles of renormalization Quantum field theory is frequently approached from the perspective of particle physics. This book adopts a more general point of view and includes applications of condensed matter physics. Written by a highly respected writer and researcher, it first develops traditional concepts, including Feynman graphs, before moving on to key topics such as functional integrals, statistical mechanics, and Wilson's renormalization group. The connection between the latter and conventional perturbative renormalization is explained.

Quantum Field Theory is an exceptional textbook for graduate students familiar with advanced quantum mechanics as well as physicists with an interest in theoretical physics. It features:
* Coverage of quantum electrodynamics with practical calculations and a discussion of perturbative renormalization
* A discussion of the Feynman path integrals and a host of current subjects, including the physical approach to renormalization, spontaneous symmetry breaking and superfluidity, and topological excitations
* Nineteen self-contained chapters with exercises, supplemented with graphs and charts

Customer Reviews:

Extremely solid for self-teaching.......2006-04-06

This book is an ideal introduction to quantum field theory for a graduate student. Assuming a strong background in basic quantum mechanics and classical mechanics, Huang develops quantum field in a methodical fashion. In contrast to other popular quantum field theory books (such as Peskin) Huang doesn't leave out important details, especially with regard to the mathematics behind spinor fields. Plus the book is very readable.

A good introduction to the physics behind renormalization.......1999-05-16

A very good introduction to QFT. It starts with a rather classical account of QED, then develops renormalization and applies it mainly to statistical physics. So the text does not cover non-abelian gauge theories, and is not sufficient for readers who learn QFT for particle physics applications. But the exposition of renormalization is really excellent and complete. I liked the exceptional clarity and lucidity of most calculations, and the excellent set of problems. Solving them all extends the book's scope far beyond the table of contents.

Mirror Symmetry (Clay Mathematics Monographs, V. 1)

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Detailed overview of the subject

Mirror Symmetry (Clay Mathematics Monographs, V. 1)

Manufacturer: American Mathematical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0821829556

Book Description

This thorough and detailed exposition is the result of an intensive month-long course sponsored by the Clay Mathematics Institute. It develops mirror symmetry from both mathematical and physical perspectives. The material will be particularly useful for those wishing to advance their understanding by exploring mirror symmetry at the interface of mathematics and physics.

This one-of-a-kind volume offers the first comprehensive exposition on this increasingly active area of study. It is carefully written by leading experts who explain the main concepts without assuming too much prerequisite knowledge. The book is an excellent resource for graduate students and research mathematicians interested in mathematical and theoretical physics.

Customer Reviews:

Detailed overview of the subject.......2005-05-16

Mirror symmetry has become an established branch of mathematics and mathematical physics, and research in the subject has resulted in brilliant developments. This sizable book contains essentially some (polished) lecture notes of a seminar series in mirror symmetry that was given in the spring of 2000. This reviewer only studied Part 5 of the book, entitled "Advanced Topics" and so only that part will be reviewed here. In addition, space constraints then dictate only a small portion of this part can be reviewed. Needless to say, any reader who intends to tackle this book will need a substantial background in modern mathematics and advanced physics, and a sizable commitment in time. The time spent is well worth it though, as both the mathematics and physics behind mirror symmetry has to rank as one of the most fascinating research topics in the last two decades.

In the chapter entitled "Topological Strings" the authors consider the functional integration of worldsheet geometries. This project involves essentially the integration over the complex structures of Riemann surfaces. Referring to this procedure as "quantum gravity", they do not address it in-depth, but instead focus on the coupling of topological sigma models to worldsheet gravity, which is called `topological string theory' in the literature. The authors first consider the case where the target is a Kahler manifold whose first Chern class is zero, since for this case the quantum cohomology ring is less easy to obtain, i.e. it can obtain contributions from holomorphic maps of any degree. Even for the case where there is no coupling to gravity, the degree 0 contribution is related to the classical intersection number. The contributions from higher degree result in the deformation of the classical cohomology ring into the quantum cohomology ring. The authors then ask whether there are any other correlators that will give nontrivial (non-zero) invariants in genus 0. Posing this question leads to the WDVV equation and the genus 0 topological string partition function. The n-point correlation functions of topological strings can then be defined as the nth partial derivatives of this function. For higher genus cases, the correlators are all zero, but the authors show the connection between the higher genus partition function and holomorphic anomalies. The case of three-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds is special, if one concentrates on the integration over the complex structures of the worldsheet. When the complex dimension of this moduli space is 3(g-1) then there are isolated points where holomorphic maps exist. Defining a topological string theory for Calabi-Yau threefolds is straightforward, as the author shows, and proceeds analogously to the case of topological field theory. A measure is defined on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces of genus g that cancels the axial charge anomaly. A genus g (>1) topological string amplitude, which is a section of a bundle over the moduli space of Calabi-Yau manifolds, is then obtained from this procedure. Modulo the presence of holomorphic anomalies, the authors show that the definition of topological string amplitudes is consistent with the topological symmetry. The origin of these holomorphic anomalies is discussed in fair detail by the authors, having their origin in the boundaries of the moduli space.

The rigorous mathematical formulation of mirror symmetry is of course of great interest to mathematicians. Because of its origin in string theory and quantum field theory, mirror symmetry has not yet received this kind of rigor. Chapters 37 and 38 of this book discuss some of the approaches that attempt to put mirror symmetry on a more rigorous foundation. One of these involves the use of `derived categories,' an approach that was recommended by the mathematician Maxim Kontsevich. The discussion in these chapters takes place in the context of D-branes, and Kontsevich conjectures that mirror symmetry is the equivalence of two categories: the derived category of coherent sheaves, and the category of Lagrangian submanifolds with flat U(1) connections. Specifically the equivalence entails the equivalence between the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves or `B-cycles' and the category of A-cycles with compositions defined in terms of holomorphic maps from disks. This latter category is derived from the Fukaya A-infinity category, as is shown by the authors. They discuss in detail this category, being essentially a generalization of a differential, graded algebra, especially how to obtain the compositions. In chapter 37, the authors give an explicit example of the equivalence of these categories for the case of the elliptic curve. The elliptic curve is interesting in this regard in that it is its own mirror, i.e. the complex parameter is mapped to the complexified Kahler parameter by the mirror map.

The derived category has sometimes been a stumbling block to those who want to understand the Kontsevich conjecture. The authors do not attempt to give the reader the needed insight into this kind of category, but merely take it to be a collection of all holomorphic bundles and coherent sheaves. Sheaves in this category can be subtracted from each other using a map between them. Physically, this subtraction corresponds to the annihilation of branes and anti-branes via a tachyon. Derived categories though are straightforward to think about if one views them from the standpoint of algebraic topology. Derived categories are rich enough to include notions of localization and triangulated objects (i.e. "complexes") and maps (i.e. morphisms) between these objects. This is a kind of "homology" but what is of main interest are homotopies between the morphisms. The class of homotopic morphisms between two complexes forms an abelian group and one can then obtain a category consisting of complexes as objects and classes of homotopic morphisms as morphisms. A cohomology functor can then be defined on this category, along with graded objects and differentials between them. The homotopic category can be given a "triangulation" and morphisms in this category that give rise to isomorphisms in cohomology are given special status, called `quasimorphisms.' The localization of this category with respect to quasimorphisms is called a derived category.

Average customer rating:

A readable summary of a complex subject

VSAT Networks
Gérard Maral
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470866845

Book Description

VSAT Networks: Second Edition covers all the important issues involved with the installation of VSAT systems.
Since the first edition was published, the VSAT market has continued to expand steadily. VSAT technologies have advanced, prompting an increase in the take-up of VSAT services.
Offering a comprehensive introduction to the topic followed by a detailed exploration of multiple access protocols, delay analysis and system dimensioning, this edition is a highly relevant update of VSAT Networks. Written by a well respected and established member of the satellite community, it will be welcomed be academics and engineers alike.

Covers important issues of services, economics and regulatory aspects
Provides a detailed technical insight on networking and radio frequency link aspects, therefore addressing the specific features of VSAT networks at the three lower layers of the OSI Reference Layer Model for data communications
This timely second edition is fully updated with new figures, improvements and revised chapter on future developments

This book will appeal to students of telecommunications, electronics and computer science. Practising telecommunications engineers and technical managers involved in the planning, design and operation of VSAT networks and systems will also find this book a valuable reference source.

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"VSAT Networks: Second Edition covers all the important issues involved with the installation of VSAT systems.
Since the first edition was published, the VSAT market has continued to expand steadily. VSAT technologies have advanced, prompting an increase in the take-up of VSAT services.
Offering a comprehensive introduction to the topic followed by a detailed exploration of multiple access protocols, delay analysis and system dimensioning, this edition is a highly relevant update of VSAT Networks. Written by a well respected and established member of the satellite community, it will be welcomed be academics and engineers alike.

Covers important issues of services, economics and regulatory aspects
Provides a detailed technical insight on networking and radio frequency link aspects, therefore addressing the specific features of VSAT networks at the three lower layers of the OSI Reference Layer Model for data communications
This timely second edition is fully updated with new figures, improvements and revised chapter on future developments

Customer Reviews:

A readable summary of a complex subject.......1997-10-28

Maral has summarised the most important points in a very readable and useful text. For both students and engineers who want to learn more this offers a very good reference. His treatment of link budget elements and system performance analysis is uncluttered and direct. It is not uncommon for engineers to write in a style that just demonstrates their depth of knowledge. Maral demonstrates and shares his knowledge then allows you to learn from it. Thats the real winning point of this book as in other texts he has written.

H.264 and MPEG-4 Video Compression: Video Coding for Next Generation Multimedia

Average customer rating:

Totally solid, and still the only book out there
Pretty useless
A book which is better than many overview papers
One Chapter on H.264 Only - Don't Bother
First on the subject, rough around the edges

H.264 and MPEG-4 Video Compression: Video Coding for Next Generation Multimedia
Iain E. G. Richardson
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470848375

Book Description

Following on from the successful MPEG-2 standard, MPEG-4 Visual is enabling a new wave of multimedia applications from Internet video streaming to mobile video conferencing. The new H.264 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ standard promises impressive compression performance and is gaining support from developers and manufacturers. The first book to cover H.264 in technical detail, this unique resource takes an application-based approach to the two standards and the coding concepts that underpin them.

Presents a practical, step-by-step, guide to the MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 standards for video compression.
Introduces the basic concepts of digital video and covers essential background material required for an understanding of both standards.
Provides side-by-side performance comparisons of MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 and advice on how to approach and interpret them to ensure conformance.
Examines the way that the standards have been shaped and developed, discussing the composition and procedures of the VCEG and MPEG standardisation groups.

Focussing on compression tools and profiles for practical multimedia applications, this book ‘decodes’ the standards, enabling developers, researchers, engineers and students to rapidly get to grips with both H.264 and MPEG-4 Visual.

Dr Iain Richardson leads the Image Communication Technology research group at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland and is the author of over 40 research papers and two previous books on video compression technology.

Download Description

"Following on from the successful MPEG-2 standard, MPEG-4 Visual is enabling a new wave of multimedia applications from Internet video streaming to mobile video conferencing. The new H.264 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ standard promises impressive compression performance and is gaining support from developers and manufacturers. The first book to cover H.264 in technical detail, this unique resource takes an application-based approach to the two standards and the coding concepts that underpin them.

Presents a practical, step-by-step, guide to the MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 standards for video compression.
Introduces the basic concepts of digital video and covers essential background material required for an understanding of both standards.
Provides side-by-side performance comparisons of MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 and advice on how to approach and interpret them to ensure conformance.
Examines the way that the standards have been shaped and developed, discussing the composition and procedures of the VCEG and MPEG standardisation groups.

Customer Reviews:

Totally solid, and still the only book out there.......2007-06-14

I almost didn't get this book because some of the other reviews are pretty bad. I'm glad I got it!

This isn't a standard. So you won't find every table that's part of h.264, but you'll find enough that the standard will be accessible after you read this book. And given that the goal is conversational instead of documentary, Richardson has done a terrific job of simultaneously describing a host of relatively difficult concepts, explaining how they fit together, and explaining their places in the MPEG4 and H.264 standards.

This is probably not a first book on video compression; for that, you might try Digital Video Compression (with CD-ROM). If you get that other book, though, only read the first half. (The second half is absurdly dated and not very helpful.) I think it's reasonable to read the first half of that book, then this one, and then jump right into the standard itself (for whatever purposes you want to do that).

Pretty useless.......2006-11-11

The book does not go deep into the H.264 standard.
It seems that it was supposed to be a review of MPEG-4, with H.264 added as an afterthought.
I expected the level of the Mitchell / Pennebaker classic book on MPEG, but was disappointed.

A book which is better than many overview papers.......2005-10-14

I like the book on overview of H.264 (because it is no worse than most of overview papers, even those in IEEE by H.264 chairs).

One Chapter on H.264 Only - Don't Bother.......2005-09-17

I got this book since it is the only book on H.264 I know of.
There is a single chapter on H.264, chapter 6. The free
on-line papers from Richardson are mostly what is in that chapter.

There are plenty of H.264 overviews on the net for free
which cover the subject in greater depth which are more current.

First on the subject, rough around the edges.......2003-12-25

This is the first text book published on H.264. It has a nice overview of digital video compression techniques followed by chapters focusing on the specifics of each of the MPEG-4 and H.264 standards. Buying this book relays much of the same information but is more cost effective than buying each of the papers and articles on the subject from IEEE and others.

Book Description

Highly readable paperback reprint of one of the great time-tested classics in the field of signal processing
Together with the reprint of Part III and the new Part IV, this will be the most complete treatment of the subject available
As imperative today as it was when it originally published
Has important applications in radar, sonar, communications, seismology, biomedical engineering, and astronomy
Includes section summaries, examples, and a large number of problems

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* Well-known authority, Dr. Van Trees updates array signal processing for today's technology
* This is the most up-to-date and thorough treatment of the subject available
* Written in the same accessible style as Van Tree's earlier classics, this completely new work covers all modern applications of array signal processing, from biomedicine to wireless communications

Customer Reviews:

A must-have.......2007-05-19

If you are looking for a well-organized, comprehensive, detailed book in the subject of detection and estimation, this is the book you must have. The author explains every subject very clearly, elaborates on important points, and, most importantly, supports the theoretical basis with many useful examples. It seems that Prof. Van Trees used his experience as a professor teaching this subject very effectively. In the book, there is nothing unclear, nothing too complicated to understand.

Old is GOLD! Remarkable collection of topics and problems..........2006-04-05

Van Trees, Part I (together with Wozencraft/Jacobs' Principles of Communication Engineering, and Gallager's Information Theory) is a must read to establish a solid background in detection/estimation theory and form connections to applications such as communications engineering and information theory.

Although most recent graduate education uses Kay's book (which is also a remarkable book), there are still a lot of details in which Van Trees, Part I excels. Especially, the exercise problems are actually lectures by themselves, and first time reader is encouraged at least to look at selected problems listed at the end of the book. Note that there is a solution manual floating around for these selected problems.

A good comparison between Kay and Van Trees, and their complementary nature, can be established how they treat the description of the Cramer-Rao bound, Kay emphasizes the recent developments and derivations (mostly of arithmetic and bookkeeping nature, results from post 1968 papers), whereas Van Trees goes leaps and bounds and discusses other bounds which apply when Cramer-Rao does not. I appreciate having both books as a result.

It is interesting to note that after almost 20 years using Van Trees in a couple of courses, I can still navigate my way through the book with ease since it well organized and methodical.

RECOMMENDATION: BEST BUY.
But dont stop here, and buy Wozencraft/Jacobs and Gallager as well.

A Classic Text.......2002-05-23

I have just taken this course from Dr. Van Trees at GMU. Est&Det organized many concepts taught in other graduate engineering courses into a coherent philosophy. The result is not only a rich understanding of estimation and detection, but also random processes, Wiener filtering, Kalman filtering, radar and communications theory etc.

The course was taught directly from the text with little outside material. Very little has become obsolete in the 30+ years since it was written.

The strong positives of this book are the philosophical organization, clear concise writing, and incredibly well conceived homework problems.

The only negative of the book is that there are many proofs done in great detail. This provides the necessary foundation for the material, but also makes it easy for the student to lose track of the bigger picture.

Dr. Van Trees tends to try to drive home the higher level concepts while glossing over many of the details when he is lecturing. The exercise problems then force the student to give the necessary attention to pertinent details. In my opinion, this is an excellent approach to teaching the material.

Overall, this course was as good as any I've every taken. The text is as important and useful as any other I have.

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