Gaining a theoretical understanding of the properties of ultra-relativistic dense matter has been one of the most important and challenging goals in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this thesis, the author analyzes dense quark matter in QCD with gauge group SU(2) using low-energy effective theoretical techniques and elucidates a novel connection between statistical properties of the Dirac operator spectrum at high baryon chemical potential and a special class of random matrix theories. This work can be viewed as an extension of a similar correspondence between QCD and matrix models which was previously known only for infinitesimal chemical potentials. In future numerical simulations of dense matter the analytical results reported here are expected to serve as a useful tool to extract physical observables such as the BCS gap from numerical data on the Dirac spectrum.

This book consists of reviews covering all aspects of quantum chromodynamics as we know it today. The articles have been written by recognized experts in this field, in honor of the 75th birthday of Professor Boris Ioffe. Combining features of a handbook and a textbook, this is the most comprehensive source of information on the present status of QCD. It is intended for students as well as physicists — both theorists and experimentalists.Each review is self-contained and pedagogically structured, providing the general formulation of the problem, telling where it stands with respect to other issues and why it is interesting and important, presenting the history of the subject, qualitative insights, and so on. The first part of the book is historical in nature. It includes, among other articles, Boris Ioffe's and Yuri Orlov's memoirs on high energy physics in the 1950's, a note by B V Geshkenbein on Ioffe's career in particle physics, and an essay on the discovery of asymptotic freedom written by David Gross.

Proceedings of a NATO ASI and Isaac Newton Institute Workshop held in Cambridge, UK, June 23-July 4, 1997

These proceedings contain the contributions of the world's leading experts in Quantum Chromodynamics. The most pressing problems of QCD today are discussed.

The book contains reports about the most significant projects from science and industry that are using the supercomputers of the Federal High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS). These projects are from different scientific disciplines, with a focus on engineering, physics and chemistry. They were carefully selected in a peer-review process and are showcases for an innovative combination of state-of-the-art physical modeling, novel algorithms and the use of leading-edge parallel computer technology. As HLRS is in close cooperation with industrial companies, special emphasis has been put on the industrial relevance of results and methods.

Random matrices are widely and successfully used in physics for almost 60-70 years, beginning with the works of Dyson and Wigner. Although it is an old subject, it is constantly developing into new areas of physics and mathematics. It constitutes now a part of the general culture of a theoretical physicist. Mathematical methods inspired by random matrix theory become more powerful, sophisticated and enjoy rapidly growing applications in physics. Recent examples include the calculation of universal correlations in the mesoscopic system, new applications in disordered and quantum chaotic systems, in combinatorial and growth models, as well as the recent breakthrough, due to the matrix models, in two dimensional gravity and string theory and the non-abelian gauge theories. The book consists of the lectures of the leading specialists and covers rather systematically many of these topics. It can be useful to the specialists in various subjects using random matrices, from PhD students to confirmed scientists.

Quantum field theory is one of most central constructions in 20th century th- retical physics, and it continues to develop rapidly in many different directions. The aim of the workshop “New Developments in Quantum Field Theory”, which was held in Zakopane, Poland, June 14-20, 1997, was to capture a broad selection of the most recent advances in this field. The conference was sponsored by the Scientific and - vironmental Affairs Division of NATO, as part of the Advanced Research Workshop series. This book contains the proceedings of that meeting. Major topics covered at the workshop include quantized theories of gravity, string theory, conformal field theory, cosmology, field theory approaches to critical phenomena and the renormalization group, matrix models, and field theory techniques applied to the theory of turbulence. One common theme at the conference was the use of large-Nmatrix models to obtain exact results in a variety of different disciplines. For example, it has been known for several years that by taking a suitable double-scaling limit, certain string theories (or two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to matter) can be re-obtained from the large-Nexpansion of matrix models. There continues to be a large activity in this area of research, which was well reflected by talks given at our workshop. Remarkably, large- Nmatrix models have very recently – just a few months before our meeting – been shown to have yet another deep relation to string theory.