Introduction to Radiological Physics and Radiation Dosimetry

Book Description

A straightforward presentation of the broad concepts underlying radiological physics and radiation dosimetry for the graduate-level student. Covers photon and neutron attenuation, radiation and charged particle equilibrium, interactions of photons and charged particles with matter, radiotherapy dosimetry, as well as photographic, calorimetric, chemical, and thermoluminescence dosimetry. Includes many new derivations, such as Kramers X-ray spectrum, as well as topics that have not been thoroughly analyzed in other texts, such as broad-beam attenuation and geometrics, and the reciprocity theorem. Subjects are layed out in a logical sequence, making the topics easier for students to follow. Supplemented with numerous diagrams and tables.

Customer Reviews:

An essential part of dosimetry.......2006-11-10

Most of dosimetry in actual practice is looking up constants from tables. This book has every table you need for dosimetry calculations. My professor says this is a must have for a career in radiation therapy.

V Good Text.......2006-04-10

There is a dearth of modern texts that treat this realm with due respect anymore-or possibly it is that other texts are aimed at larger -and so less rogorous-markets. Thank heavens someone is still publishing books like this. Attix has done a commendable job here. He pays attention to detail and accuracy. His inclusions are commendable-especially when he covers the Kramer spectrum-you don't get much of that anywhere except references to Kramers original papers! (or a 'result' quoted) here he actually gives an analysis cum derivation. The whole book is commendable and would sit as possibly 'the' contemporary classic on radiological physics.

If this had extensive 'practice problems' (a la Hasegawas text some may know of) then it would surely be also 'the' book to assign for a decent course on radiological physics/radiation measurement. Unfortunately not so. Still the overall rigour and treatment is worth 5 stars from any constellation.

Thoroughly recommend-a breath of fresh air with real physics.

An Introduction to the Physics of High Energy Accelerators (Wiley Series in Beam Physics and Accelerator Technology)

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An excellent introduction

An Introduction to the Physics of High Energy Accelerators (Wiley Series in Beam Physics and Accelerator Technology)
D. A. Edwards , and M. J. Syphers
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Accelerator Physics
Particle Accelerator Physics: Volume I and II (study edition) (Advanced Texts in Physics)
Theory and Design of Charged Particle Beams

ASIN: 0471551635

Book Description

The first half deals with the motion of a single particle under the influence of electronic and magnetic fields. The basic language of linear and circular accelerators is developed. The principle of phase stability is introduced along with phase oscillations in linear accelerators and synchrotrons. Presents a treatment of betatron oscillations followed by an excursion into nonlinear dynamics and its application to accelerators. The second half discusses intensity dependent effects, particularly space charge and coherent instabilities. Includes tables of parameters for a selection of accelerators which are used in the numerous problems provided at the end of each chapter.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent introduction.......2000-05-18

This book is a superb introduction to the field of acclereator physics. Starting with a basic knowledge of relativity and E&M is all that is necessary. Edwards and Syphers do a great job of "building" an accelerator in their book and using operating parameters of real world accelerators (mostly the Tevatron) for their numerical examples.

Book Description

Particle physics is the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and their interactions. Nuclear physics is the scientific study of the forces, reactions, and internal structures of atomic nuclei. Increasingly both nuclear and particle physics are taught together at undergraduate level and it is usually a compulsory course for physics and astronomy undergraduates in their third year.
This text is an accessible, balanced introduction to nuclear and particle physics and is suitable for those taking short courses in the subject. It provides a readable and up-to-date overview of both the theoretical and experimental aspects of nuclear and particle physics. It also includes a comprehensive set of problems at the end of each chapter, plus solutions.

Customer Reviews:

A very good beginners text with problems and answers.......2007-02-28

This kind of text is very good for beginning students and as reference.
There are nice diagrams of new machines, mentions of breaks in the standard model
and neutrino mass. The Klein-Gordon equation is given in it's native
dimensional units of 1/ length^2 which is
better than in many texts that I have that use more artificial units in Messiah, Weinberg and Gordon Kane.
The text lacks a necessary approach to quantum groups or I would have given it 5 stars.

An Introduction to the Physics of Nuclei and Particles

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An Introduction to the Physics of Nuclei and Particles
Richard Dunlap
Manufacturer: Brooks Cole
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Nuclear and Particle Physics: An Introduction
Schaum's Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables

ASIN: 0534392946

Book Description

Timely and engaging, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHYSICS OF NUCLEI AND PARTICLES focuses on one of the most exciting areas of physics. Author Richard Dunlap has taught this course for the last ten years-during the last two of which he used this text successfully in his own classroom. The author designed this text to provide flexibility and freedom for instructors teaching a one-semester course by including a wealth of problems as well as approximately 20% more material than is necessary for the average 14-week course. In order to ensure that the book is up-to-date and interesting for the students, the author has included recent research results whenever possible and has presented data from ongoing experiments. This is particularly relevant for fields in which there is considerable current research activity, such as neutrino masses and oscillations, quark masses and controlled fusion.

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An absolutely HORRIBLE book to use to learn high energy physics
Be prepared before reading this.
Not horrible for what it is, but you can do better
Introduction to Experimental Methods
A absolutely horrible introduction to High Energy Physics

Introduction to High Energy Physics
Donald H. Perkins
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics
Introduction to Elementary Particles
An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Frontiers in Physics)
Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, 2 Volume Set
Classical Electrodynamics Third Edition

ASIN: 0521621968

Book Description

This highly regarded textbook for advanced undergraduates provides a comprehensive introduction to modern particle physics. Coverage emphasizes the balance between experiment and theory. It places stress on the phenomenological approach and basic theoretical concepts rather than rigorous mathematical detail. Donald Perkins also details recent developments in elementary particle physics, as well as its connections with cosmology and astrophysics. A number of key experiments are also identified along with a description of how they have influenced the field. Perkins presents most of the material in the context of the Standard Model of quarks and leptons. He also fully explores the shortcomings of this model and new physics beyond its compass (such as supersymmetry, neutrino mass and oscillations, GUTs and superstrings). The text includes many problems and a detailed and annotated further reading list. The volume will also provide a solid foundation for graduate study.

Customer Reviews:

An absolutely HORRIBLE book to use to learn high energy physics.......2007-07-21

It has been two full years since I received my doctorate in nuclear physics, and still I can't get over just how truly horrible this book is as an introductory text. The word "introduction" in the title is an absolute lie. Unless, perhaps, it is preceded by the word "incomprehensible". This book is truly a collection of random facts that will leave the reader totally mystified as to where they came from. It will not be until much later in the reader's academic career that he/she understands their origin. Perkins has but one practical use: it is slightly useful to skim the day before your doctoral oral qualifier as (it seems) many professors similarly skim it in order to come up with qualifier oral questions to ask.

But I don't hold Perkins to blame. After all, I'm sure he did his best to write what he considered to be an "introductory" high energy physics book. Whom I hold to blame are the professors who use this book as a classroom text. Here is a simple rule to use when determining whether you should take your college's high energy physics class now or else wait until it is offered next year: if the professor is using this text, then he/she truly 1) has not read the text, 2) is totally out of touch with what an "introductory" course in high energy physics is, and 3) doesn't care one bit about his/her students and is probably, instead, focusing purely on his/her research successes for tenure.

You have been warned.

Be prepared before reading this........2006-07-16

This is a book whose content is close to that of most 'traditional' undergraduate courses on particle physics. Yet, you will probably be tempted to throw it in the dustbin after a few pages unless you have trained yourself into thinking that it's better reading it than failing your exam and have already read a book like Giffiths' before, where you will find some good theoretical basis for all this stuff.

Not horrible for what it is, but you can do better.......2005-04-15

Basically, If you want theoretical approach stop reading this and buy griffiths' book, it's a lot better.
I'm using Perkins for a course mainly made up of senior undergraduates. First of all, a lot of the other reviewers have ripped the book to shreds, and most of their complaints are valid. I'd like to point out that this book actually attempts a fairly difficult task of introducing relatively advanced concepts which require qft, to students without any background in field theory.
The long and the short of it is... Perkins' book is geared for learning with a phenomonological, experimental approach. This results in a lot of hand waving, and not many mathematical or theoretical insights. If you're expecting these things, the book will be dissapointing.
All of this aside, there are some major flaws in the book. First of all, it kind of lacks on organization. There are a lot of charts, tables and graphs thrown about at random, and with little reasoning or thought. This makes Perkins' fairly useless as a reference, since you might have to look at four or more different charts to find out the relevant properties of a given particle.
My other major complaint, is that Perkins uses a lot of jargon without sufficiently introducing the terminology. While, this is fine for people who already know particle physics, I'm guessing that if you're reading this book, you don't already know particle physics.
Finally, despite being a fourth addition, there are still a bunch of misprints/omissions. For example, there's a question (which i conveniently had for a homework assignment) totally based on a concept not mentioned anywhere within the book. Google searches on the topic led only to obscure and inaccessible papers.
Basically, if you have to use this book for a course be prepared to read and re-read each section of it, and to suppliment with other books. I'd suggest buying griffiths along with it, event if you're not into the whole theory thing.

Introduction to Experimental Methods.......2005-04-12

As many previous reviewers have already pointed out, this book is not nearly as good an introduction to theoretical high energy physics as Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary Particles". The primary reason for this is that Perkins' book was never meant to be read as a theoretical course in the first place. This is why Griffiths introduces Feynman rules and gamma matrices near the middle of the book and uses them extensively throughout the rest; Perkins mentions them in passing in the first chapter and then completely forgets them. In Perkins you will find little rigorous math, but a lot of experimental physics. If you want to understand the theory behind T violation, use Griffiths. If you want to know how physicists measured the electric dipole momentum of the neutron ( thus putting an upper limit on the magnitude of T violation ), Perkins will explain it in detail, together with the schematics of the apparatus they used.
Overall, this book does not fit its title well - it is not a good introduction to high energy physics ( unless you are so totally averse to math that you can't manage Griffiths or Peskin/Shroeder ). However, it has its own purpose - that is, to teach experimental methods in high energy physics. It probably should be studied after Griffiths by those who are interested in experimental side of particle physics.

A absolutely horrible introduction to High Energy Physics.......2003-10-25

I used Perkin's book for a one sememester 500 level graduate course. I honestly believe that of the 20+ books that I have used in undergrad and grad school, that this is the absolute worst text I have encountered. The equations in the text are mearly thrown in without the slightest justification or hint of the possible method of derivation. If you would truly understand the significance of the equations, then you would need a background knowledge that I can hardly believe anybody looking for an introduction to high energy physics could have. However, this is far from its biggest pitfall. The book is choppy to read. There are almost no quantitative examples and yet the questions are mostly quantitative. I am sure that I could think of more specifics dislikes, but I think that the reader has seen my opion. To anybody considering buying this text I suggest instead purchasing griffiths "introduction to elementary particles." My class was so displeased with perkins text that our professor has promised to switch to griffiths next year. To reiterate.... Perkins book is the epitome of bad writing. I give my apologies to the author, but I don't want others to waste their time and money on this text. Buy Griffiths Book, it is good!

An Introduction to Inertial Confinement Fusion (Plasma Physics)

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An Introduction to Inertial Confinement Fusion (Plasma Physics)
Susanne Pfalzner
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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High-Energy-Density Physics: Fundamentals, Inertial Fusion, and Experimental Astrophysics (Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena)

ASIN: 0750307013

Book Description

Newcomers to the field of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) often have difficulty establishing a clear picture of the overall field. The reason for this is because, while there are many books devoted to special topics within the field, there is none that provides an overview of the field as a whole. An Introduction to Inertial Confinement Fusion fills this gap with an overview of the processes involved in ICF presented at an accessible level. After a broad overview, the book follows the processes from the driver technology to burn physics in chronological order. As each topic appears, the author details the physical concepts and obstacles. The book concludes with a look to the future prospects of the field.

An Introduction To Black Holes, Information And The String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe

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Wonderful exposé!
Not for people with just a curiosity for string theory!
Exploring the Holographic Multiverse
Easy to understand - very simple, no-nonsense style.
Define "Introduction"

An Introduction To Black Holes, Information And The String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe
Leonard Susskind , and James Lindesay
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback

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The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law

ASIN: 9812561315

Book Description

Over the last decade the physics of black holes has been revolutionized by developments that grew out of Jacob Bekenstein's realization that black holes have entropy. Steven Hawking raised profound issues concerning the loss of information in black hole evaporation and the consistency of quantum mechanics in a world with gravity. For two decades these questions puzzled theoretical physicists and eventually led to a revolution in the way we think about space, time, matter and information. This revolution has culminated in a remarkable principle called "The Holographic Principle", which is now a major focus of attention in gravitational research, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics. Leonard Susskind, one of the co-inventors of the Holographic Principle as well as one of the founders of String theory, develops and explains these concepts.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful exposé!.......2007-03-05

Indeed, I agree with the previous reviewer: this book is certainly not for laymen, however it is a wonderful exposé of the "holographic universe", i.e. information contained not in volumina of objects but in their surfaces, such as black holes, which are maximum-entropy objects. In order to understand the book, you'll need a BSc in physics or mathematics with a keen interest in physics. Knowledge of Einstein's theory of general relativity might be of use, but not strictly neccesary. It's written nicely, it is up to date, and a pleasure to study.

Not for people with just a curiosity for string theory!.......2006-04-07

You will probably need a BA or BS degree in physics for this book to be understandable to you. If you are just curious about string theory then you will be LOST in this book. I have never seen so many physic/math proofs and formulas in my life! It only made me realize how much other people are smarter than myself. Buy Steven Hawking's A Briefer History in Time for a lay person's guide to string theory and other interesting theories if you don't want to spend a gigantic amount of brain power.

Exploring the Holographic Multiverse.......2005-09-01

"Black Holes, Information and the String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe"

Lenny and I worked together with Johnny Glogower on quantum phase and time operators at Cornell in 1964 .Lenny's densely mathematical book is not a popular book. It is incomprehensible to the general reader and it is not easy going for the professional theoretical physicist not in the sub-field. However, it has moments of great clarity and if it is wrong, as George Chapline thinks, it is brilliantly wrong. Certainly pieces of Lenny's thesis will survive. So, to really see what the book is about, it's best to read the end of the book first and then go back to the beginning. Lenny emphasizes the key role on nonlocality (e.g. nonlocality of gravity energy?) in black hole complementarity.

"In order to reconcile the equivalence principle with the rules of quantum mechanics the rules of locality must be massively modified."

I like the idea of the blackhole as a string since I already published in 1974 the explanation of the Regge slope alpha' (for strings)

J ~ alpha'E^2

alpha' ~ (1Gev)^-2

as rotating Kerr black hole Wheeler "micro with effective strong gravity G* ~ 10^40G in Herbert Frohlich's "Collective Phenomena". Indeed, that's why Abdus Salam invited me to ICTP Trieste, Italy 1973-74 (e.g. contact Jagdish Mehra).

What will survive is the IR/UV duality. What about LIF/LNIF complementarity? Intriguing. What is completely missing in Lenny's theory is Vacuum ODLRO. For example, Lenny never considers a Bose-Einstein condensate in the vacuum in which there is a macroscopic eigenvalue of the first reduced density matrix. All eigenvalues must be less than 1 in Lenny's theory. Second, Lenny used a positive energy density to derive some of his key results when in fact negative zero point energy density would describe dark matter. Third, Lenny's ADS model has the wrong sign of the actually observed small post-inflation cosmological constant. How fatal this is I do not know yet. Perhaps he analytically continues to the DS model? That is ADS is "dark matter" with negative zero point energy density and positive pressure. DS is "dark energy" with positive zero point energy density and negative pressure. Furthermore, Lenny's equation for p the power of t in the FRW scale factor a(t) ~ t^p breaks down in the most important case, i.e. p -> infinity when w -> -1, which is the case for zero point energy. One nice idea is that the D3 brane of M-theory is the kind of 3+1 space-time we live in with the 6 extra space-time dimensions as "scalar fields". This fits well with Gennady Shipov's torsion field theory extension of 1915 GR. Indeed, if we interpret these scalar fields as vacuum ODLRO Higgs-Goldstone fields associated with the local gauging of the Lorentz group O(1,3) then the vacuum order parameter space is SU(2)xSU(2) consistent with the Hedgehog anomaly centered at Sun seen in the TWO NASA Pioneer Space Probes where a_g = - cH(t). All stars may have this property, i.e. part of stellar formation? Maybe even galaxies have it? That is vacuum ODLRO topological defects as seeds for early galaxy formation explaining galactic halos as well?

He opens up with the math of black holes in different coordinate representations. But you need to remember (or look up) your high school logarithms and the trigonometry formula for the tangent of the half-angle to show from eqs (1.1.2) to (1.1.4) that a signal from the black hole surface horizon never reaches the distant observers. The Penrose diagram makes that instantly obvious of course.

Comment 1

Lenny: "The paradox was discovered by Jacob Bekenstein and turned into a serious crisis by Stephen Hawking. ... Bekenstein realized that if the second law of thermodynamics was not to be violated in the presence of a black hole, the black hole must possess an intrinsic entropy. ... How and why a classical solution of field equations should be endowed with thermodynamical attributes has remained obscure."

Jack: The black hole is a property of Einstein's vacuum equation

Ruv = 0

However, this equation is a c-number emergent field theory from vacuum ODLRO. George Chapline, Jr and I have both arrived at this general idea quite independently. Let the vacuum ODLRO order parameter be

psi = |psi|e^iargpsi

suppress internal symmetry indices, but think of SU(2)hypercharge that has a neutral VEV in the standard model (evidence from NASA Pioneer anomaly a_g = -cH(t) as a hedgehog topological defect centered at Sun).

Let the Einstein-Cartan 1-form be

e = 1 + B

My ansatz is

B = (hG/c^3)^1/2d(argtheta)

with "string" branch cuts in argtheta

Therefore, there is no gravity and inertia when h -> 0 and c -> infinity even when G =/= 0. There is still some residual "normal fluid" fluctuations around the stiff vacuum order parameter psi that obeys the rules of micro-quantum theory as given by Lenny. The ratio of normal to superfluid obviously has a temperature parameter T. Therefore, Lenny's question is answered.

Comment 2

Lenny: "Eventually the black hole must completely evaporate. Hawking then raised the question of what becomes of the quantum correlations between matter outside the black hole and matter that disappears behind the horizon. ... Hawking then made arguments that there is no way, consistent with causality, for the correlations to be carried by the outgoing evaporation products."

Jack: So much the worse for causality, which here means no space-like influences outside the local light cones. Bell's theorem shows that such space-like influences are needed and they are locally random in micro-quantum theory consistent with the blackbody radiation.

Lenny: "Thus, according to Hawking, the existence of black holes inevitably causes a loss of quantum coherence and breakdown of one of the basic principles of quantum mechanics - the evolution of pure states into pure states."

Jack: So much the worse for micro-quantum mechanics. It's time to slaughter that Sacred Cow. Global special relativity of 1905 is violated by the necessity of gravity and inertia in local general relativity of 1915 where it is relegated to a purely local tangent space by the equivalence principle. In the same way micro-quantum mechanics is not complete, but merely corresponds to nonlocally entangled small fluctuations about the stiff macro-quantum vacuum ODLRO coherent order parameter that provides the local fabric of space-time via

B = (hG/c^3)^1/2d(argVacuum ODLRO).

Lenny: "Hawking further argued that once the loss of quantum coherence is permitted in black hole evaporation, it becomes compulsory in all processes involving the Planck scale. The world would behave as if it were in a noisy environment which continuously leads to a loss of coherence. The trouble with this is that there is no known way to destroy coherence without at the same time violating energy conservation by heating the world."

Jack: I need to see the math of the above argument. Why does not the expansion of the universe cool down this alleged heating effect? Also total energy is not necessarily conserved in curved space-time because of the breakdown of time translation symmetry. Presumably the book will explain this argument in more detail. Lenny wants to hold on to micro-quantum unitarity at all costs and I think this is the basic error in his thesis, but I could be wrong. The macro-quantum vacuum ODLRO order parameter does not obey a unitary time evolution. You cannot think of |psi|^2 as a Born quantum probability density like you can for micro-quantum wave functions.

Indeed the space integral of |psi(x)|^2 need not be a constant of the motion at all. For example, you have a pot of superfluid helium at almost T = 0 at t = 0 and then you slowly heat it. As you heat the superfluid it turns to normal fluid completely disappearing at the lambda point. In the case of vacuum ODLRO the "normal fluid" is the dark energy!

Comment 3
Lenny's Chapter 1 implicitly clearly shows why Hal Puthoff's PV alternative to the black hole is not a useful theory for metric engineering the fabric of space-time to reach the stars and other galaxies in a short time through wormholes held open by dark energy. Hal uses isotropic coordinates inside the event horizon where they are not appropriate. He says he can do that because his exponential metric does not have an event horizon. But in that case his solution does not obey Einstein's vacuum GR equation Ruv = 0. Therefore, PV theory conflicts with GR. Indeed, PV theory is not consistent with Diff(4) tensors and therefore, it violates the equivalence principle. In spite of that Hal Puthoff claims he is not offering a theory different from GR but only an "engineer's" way to do it. This, of course, is self-contradictory. Note that in George Chapline's "dark star" theory there is dark energy behind the event horizon, i.e. not Ruv = 0, but the same equation I use

Guv + /\zpfguv = 0

We do seem to need Gennady Shipov's torsion field beyond 1915 GR to allow

/\zpf^,v =/= 0 at the event horizon boundary because the Bianchi identities without torsion demand /\zpf^,v = 0.

Jack Sarfatti

Easy to understand - very simple, no-nonsense style........2005-07-06

The title of the book reminds me of the classic physics question: yes, this equation can be expanded for small values of the parameter. But before you whip out that expansion, first tell me what "small" means in this context?

I would venture to say that the title of the book is a misnomer on some level. This is a technical book, there's no question about that. If you are not a physicist, you will not understand a single page. When I say "technical", what I specifically mean is you should have:

* A course on general relativity. The first page dumps the Schwarzschild metric on you. You should be familiar with, say, the Faraday tensor (which any decent GR or even SR course should cover).

* A course on quantum field theory. The book very quickly goes into the massless free Klein-Gordon equation in a Schwarzschild background. You should know the basics of string theory. After all, that's what the book is partially about!

* A course on thermo/statistical mechanics. The book delves into black hole entropy. Be prepared to blow the dust off your partition functions.

In that sense, this book is not an introduction, and is CERTAINLY not for the layperson. Now that I've disparaged this book enough, I'll tell you why this is a phenomenal book that deserves a place on your bookshelf (again, for certain values of "you").

This book is a gentle introduction to the classical and quantum mechanical principles of blackholes. It was beautifully written. It may very well be one of my favorite books. When I say "beautiful", I don't mean beautiful like Wald's classic but impenetrable book on GR. Imagine David Griffiths or Matt Visser writing a book for mid-level grad students going into high energy physics. They go deeply into the different coordinates used for blackhole spacetimes and Penrose diagrams, but in a hand-holding way that emphasizes knowing-by-visualization rather than knowing-by-calculation. Yes, the calculations are all there, but the authors are not content with that. They go into the nitty-gritty type of understanding that seems to be absent in most books on this subject.

Which brings me to the next point: diagrams. This book may contain more diagrams than any other comprable book I've seen (except for the behemoth called "Gravitation", but with the case of the telephone book, half the diagrams are wasteful; do we REALLY need to see a picture of firecracker's world line or yet another picture of Newton?). The diagrams are numerous and effective. Kudos. I wish more authors paid as much attention to visualization.

The authors took a very difficult subject and wrote an extremely accessible and well written book on it. If you are a student of high energy physics, or simply want to see someone masterfully write on the subject, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf. Again, for certain values of "you".

I'm still in the process of reading this book, but one fault I can find is that I wish the index was a bit more extensive. However, that's small-fry compared to what makes this book great.

Define "Introduction".......2005-05-06

If you're into reading about physics but don't have the maths to back it up, this isn't the book for you. This "introduction" is probably aimed at university physics students. I am without a university physics education and am finding the book almost as hard as reading a Japanese newspaper. As with reading a Japanese newspaper, the pictures help a lot. I don't feel I'm getting enough to "rate" the book, but I can warn others as innumerate as myself.

Update: I've made it ~halfway through. There's a great deal of uncertainty as to what I'm actually understanding as opposed to what I'm just filling-in with intuitive fictions. But I can live with that (as we all must at some point).

An Introduction to Atomic and Molecular Physics

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An Introduction to Atomic and Molecular Physics
Wolfgang Demtröder , and Wolfgang Demtr÷der
Manufacturer: Springer
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Molecular Physics: Theoretical Principles and Experimental Methods (Physics Textbook)
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Non-Neutral Plasmas VI: Workshop on Non-Neutral Plasmas 2006 (AIP Conference Proceedings / Plasma Physics)
Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

ASIN: 3540206310

Book Description

This introduction to Atomic and Molecular Physics explains how our present model of atoms and molecules has been developed over the last two centuries, both by many experimental discoveries and, from the theoretical side, by the introduction of quantum physics to the adequate description of micro-particles. It illustrates the wave model of particles by many examples and shows the limits of classical description. The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with atoms and molecules and its potential for spectroscopy is outlined in great detail and, in particular, lasers as modern spectroscopic tools are discussed thoroughly. Many examples and problems with solutions are offered to encourage readers to actively participate in applying and adapting the theory to specific situations.

Foundation of Quantum Chromodynamics: an Introduction to Perturbative Methods in Gauge Theories

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Foundation of Quantum Chromodynamics: an Introduction to Perturbative Methods in Gauge Theories
Taizo Muta
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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Quantum Field Theory

ASIN: 9810226748

Book Description

This volume develops the techniques of perturbative QCD in great pedagogical detail starting with field theory. Aside from extensive treatments of the renormalization group technique, the operator product expansion formalism and their applications to short-distance reactions, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to gauge theories. Examples and exercises are provided to amplify the discussions on important topics. This is an ideal textbook on the subject of quantum chromodynamics and is essential for researchers and graduate students in high energy physics, nuclear physics and mathematical physics.

An Introduction to Analytical Atomic Spectrometry

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An Introduction to Analytical Atomic Spectrometry
L. Ebdon , E. H. Evans , Andy S. Fisher , and S. J. Hill
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471974188

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An Introduction to Analytical Atomic Spectrometry is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the highly successful book by Les Ebdon, An Introduction to Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. The change in title reflects the number of significant developments in the field of atomic spectrometry since publication of the earlier book. New topics include plasma atomic emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Key features:
* Self assessment questions throughout book to test understanding
* Keywords highlighted to facilitate revision
* Practical exercises using modern techniques
* Comprehensive bibliography for further reading
The accessibility of An Introduction to Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, makes it an ideal revision text for postgraduates, or for those studying the subject by distance learning.

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