This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on `Quantum Chaos – Theory and Experiment', held at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, from 28 May to 1 June 1991.

This volume is an outgrowth of the Second International Workshop on Macroscopic Quantum Coherence and Computing held in Napoli, Italy, in June 2000. This workshop gathered a number of experts from the major Universities and Research Institutions of several countries. The choice of the location, which recognizes the role and the traditions of Naples in this field, guaranteed the participants a stimulating atmosphere. The aim of the workshop has been to report on the recent theoretical and experimental results on the macroscopic quantum coherence of macroscopic systems. Particular attention was devoted to Josephson devices. The correlation with other atomic and molecular systems, exhibiting a macroscopic quantum behaviour, was also discussed. The seminars provided both historical overview and recent theoretical ground on the topic, as well as information on new experimental results relative to the quantum computing area. The first workshop on this topic, held in Napoli in 1998, has been ennobled by important reports on observations of Macroscopic Quantum Coherence in mesoscopic systems. The current workshop proposed, among many stimulating results, the first observations of Macroscopic Quantum Coherence between macroscopically distinct fluxoid states in rf SQUIDs, 20 years after the Leggett's proposal to experimentally test the quantum behavior of macroscopic systems. Reports on observations of quantum behaviour in molecular and magnetic systems, small Josephson devices, quantum dots have also been particularly stimulating in view of the realization of several possible q-bits.

The Encyclopedia of Public Health presents the most important definitions, principles and general perspectives of public health, written by experts of the different fields. The work includes more than 2,500 entries in alphabetical order. Entries comprise review-style articles (synopses), detailed essays and short definitions. Extensive cross referencing and hyperlinking offers an easy to use web of knowledge in Public Health.

Every process in physics is governed by selection rules that are the consequence of symmetry requirements. The beauty and strength of group theory resides in the transformation of many complex symmetry operations into a very simple linear algebra. This concise and class-tested book has been pedagogically tailored over 30 years MIT and 2 years at the University Federal of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. The approach centers on the conviction that teaching group theory in close connection with applications helps students to learn, understand and use it for their own needs. For this reason, the theoretical background is confined to the first 4 introductory chapters (6-8 classroom hours). From there, each chapter develops new theory while introducing applications so that the students can best retain new concepts, build on concepts learned the previous week, and see interrelations between topics as presented. Essential problem sets between the chapters also aid the retention of the new material and for the consolidation of material learned in previous chapters. The text and problem sets have proved a useful springboard for the application of the basic material presented here to topics in semiconductor physics, and the physics of carbon-based nanostructures.

This book collects the contributions presented at the conference Isolated Neutron Stars: From the Surface to the Interior, held in London in April 2006. Forty years after the discovery of radio pulsars it presents an up-to-date description of the new vision of isolated neutron stars that has emerged in recent years with the advance of multi-wavelength observations. The great variety of isolated neutron stars, from pulsars to magnetars, some of them discovered very recently and many of them not detectable in radio wavelengths, is amply covered by descriptions of recent observational results and presentations of the latest theoretical interpretation of these data.

This monograph focusses on the influence of a strong magnetic field on the interactions between charged particles in a many-body system. Two complementary approaches, the binary collision model and the dielectric theory are investigated in both analytical and numerical frameworks. In the binary collision model, the Coulomb interaction between the test and the target particles is screened because of the polarization of the target. In the continuum dielectric theory one considers the interactions between the test particle and its polarization cloud. In the presence of a strong magnetic field, there exists no suitable parameter of smallness. Linearized and perturbative treatments are not more valid and must be replaced by numerical grid or particle methods. Applications include the electron cooling of ion beams in storage rings and the final deceleration of antiprotons and heavy ion beams in traps.

During the past decade, research teams around the world have developed astrophysics-relevant research utilizing high energy-density facilities such as intense lasers and z-pinches. Every two years, at the International conference on High Energy Density Laboratory Astrophysics, scientists interested in this emerging field discuss the progress in topics covering: