This proceedings volume gives a consistent overview of various theoretical and experimental programs which study the dynamics of nucleus-nucleus collisions from low to ultra-relativistic energies. The contributions concentrate on the following topics: cold fragmentation of nuclear matter, pre-equilibrium and thermalization, thermal and chemical equilibration, fragmentation and correlations in intermediate energy collisions, dynamical properties of hot and dense nuclear matter in medium effects, resonance and strange nuclear matter, and signals of the deconfined state.High quality data obtained using experimental devices close to 4π geometries and recent theoretical developments are presented. They illustrate the significant progress made during the last few years in understanding the properties of nuclear matter in extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.This book serves as a graduate textbook and as a reference work on recent developments in this area.

In published papers H A Bethe and G E Brown worked out the collapse of large stars and supernova explosions. They went on to evolve binaries of compact stars, finding that in the standard scenario the first formed neutron star always went into a black hole in common envelope evolution. C-H Lee joined them in the study of black hole binaries and gamma ray bursts. They found the black holes to be the fossils of the gamma ray bursts. From their properties they could reconstruct features of the burst and of the accompanying hypernova explosions.This invaluable book contains 23 papers on astrophysics, chiefly on compact objects, written over 23 years. The papers are accompanied by illuminating commentary. In addition there is an appendix on kaon condensation which the editors believe to be relevant to the equation of state in neutron stars, and to explain why black holes are formed at relatively low masses.

th The 13 Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics is the latest installment in a series of workshops that was started in 1978. This series has grown into a tradition, bringing together experimental and theoretical expertise from all areas of the study of nuclear dynamics. As always, the organizers had placed emphasis on the important aspect of cross fertilization between the different energy regimes and wa.ys of viewing a collision of energetic nuclei. This emphasis is reflected in the broad range of topics covered in these proceedings. Phase transitions in nuclear collisions received most of the attention during this workshop, as indicated by the number of contributions on this subject. Many of the questions in connection with these topics remain not settled and will have a huge impact on the physics that can be extracted from experiments at the future Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. While the experimental program at the AGS is winding down, the NSCL upgrade and RHIC promise a bright future for our field in the USA. In Europe and Asia, major new facilities are under construction as well. The excitement and anticipation in connection with these new opportunities are reflected in these proceedings as well. Wolfgang Bauer Michigan State University Alice Mignerey University of Maryland v PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS The following table contains a list of the dates and locations of the previous Winter Workshops on Nuclear Dynamics as well as the members of the organizing committees. The chairpersons of the conferences are underlined.

This volume reviews recent advances in both theoretical and experimental studies in the field of medium energy physics. The following topics are covered: hadronic structures; hadron-hadron interactions; QCD and its model theory; meson physics; medium and high energy lepton-nucleus interactions; weak interaction and double-βdecay in nuclei; p-p and p-nucleus interactions; systems with strangeness and hypernuclei; and high energy p-A and A-A collisions and QGP.

This conference brought together the people working on 4π detectors to discuss what had been achieved, whether the results agreed, and to think about possible collaborations to measure the excitation function of several observables. It discussed the similarities and differences in the results obtained at low (100 MeV-1 GeV) and high (10 GeV-200 GeV) energies and outlined what the different fields could learn from each other, especially concerning correlations and particle production. It surveyed the success and also the insufficiency of the present theoretical approaches and discussed the direction in which they have to improve. Finally it gave an account of new developments in data analysis (wavelets, neural networks etc.).

This is a collection of review articles and more specialized papers on the main issues of early universe physics. Both theoretical and experimental fields of research are dealt with.

The International Nuclear Physics Conference, held every three years, is the most pretigeous meeting of nuclear physics. Its programme covers the whole range of nuclear physics and some application, such as relativistic nuclear collisions, mesons and baryons in nuclei, hadron structure and quarks in nuclei, formation and properties of hot nuclei, nuclear reactions at low and intermediate energy, nuclear structure, radioactive nuclear beams, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interaction and symmetries, experimental technique and new facilities, and applied nuclear physics.The proceedings is a collection of all invited talks on the plenary and parallel sessions. Presented by the leading scientists in their fields, these talks summarized the most recent progress and future prospects in all the aspects of nuclear physics.