The primary objective of the book on "Contemporary Topics in Medium Energy Physics" is to help the reader in exploring important frontier research, as of the year of 1992, in the area of medium energy physics. The book is the result of the multi-pronged efforts by the authors who were invited to speak at the Second German Chinese Symposium on "Medium Energy Physics" (September 7-10, 1992, Bochum, Germany). The premise of the meeting is to investigate primarily how quantum chromo dynamics (QCD), the candidate theory of strong interactions, manifests itself in high energy and nuclear physics. This book is divided into four parts: (i) field-theoretic treatments in QCD; (ii) effective chirally symmetric models and QCD; (iii) electroweak physics in general; and (iv) topological solutions. The focus is more on exposition of new ideas, rather than a comprehensive review of the current status, concerning these subjects, as of the year of 1992. As there are many distinctly different research areas in contemporary intermediate energy physics, we could only choose a few topics of current interest, especially those which are related, directly or indirectly, to the structural studies of the nucleon (proton or neutron). Fortunately, there are in recent years merging trends in these studies: There is a call for an alternative, and more efficient, method to handle problems related to strong interactions (as described by QCD). This is the focus of the papers included in Part I.

This book summarizes the considerable progress recently achieved in the understanding of nucleon and nuclear structure by using high energy electrons as a probe. A collection of papers discusses in detail the new frontiers of this field. Experimental and theoretical articles cover topics such as the structure of the nucleon, nucleon distributions, many-body correlations, non-nucleonic degrees of freedom and few-body systems. This book is an up-to-date introduction to the research planned with continuous beam electron accelerators.

The International Conference Mesons and Light Nuclei, organized by the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP), Rez, was held during July 2 - 7, 1995 in small north Bohemian town Straz pod Ralskem. It was the sixth in a series of meetings which took place previously at Liblice 74 and 81, Bechyne 85 and 88, and Prague 91. The conferences gained already their firm position among intermediate energy nuclear physics activities. International nuclear physics community strongly supported our intention to continue the series. This year's venue for the conference was the accommodation and social area of the DIAMO company at Straz. The goal of the meeting was to summarize the present situation and the future perspectives concerning the experimental investigations and theoreti cal descriptions of light nuclei and their interactions with electromagnetic and hadronic probes, mainly at intermediate energies. The scientific program of the conference included the following areas of research: nuclear physics with pions and antiprotons, T)-meson physics, baryonic systems with strangeness, relativis tic few-body dynamics, and electroweak nuclear interaction. Representatives from many international groups working within different experimental facili ties and with different theoretical methods were invited and asked to present their latest results and future research programs. The Straz conference, attended by 102 physicist from institutions in 22 countries, was sponsored by the Austrian Ministry for Science and Research, Czech Ministry for Industry and Trade, and by SKODA PRAHA a.s. Thanks to this sponsorship we could also invite several participants and students at essentially reduced cost.

This book provides an updated understanding of the progress and current problems in the interplay between fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology.

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 textbook, pitched at the advanced-undergraduate to beginning-graduate level, focuses on mathematical topics of relevance in contemporary physics that are not usually covered in texts at the same level. Its main purpose is to help students appreciate and take advantage of the modern trend of very productive symbiosis between physics and mathematics. Three major areas are covered: (1) linear operators; (2) group representations and Lie algebra representations; and (3) topology and differential geometry. The features of this work include: an exposition style which is a fusion of those common in the standard physics and mathematics literatures; a level of exposition that varies from quite elementary to moderately advanced, so that the text should be of interest to a wide audience; a strong degree of thematic unity, despite the diversity of the topics covered; and cross references, so that, from any part of the book, the reader can trace easily where specific concepts or techniques are introduced.