Many new tests of gravity and, in particular, of Einstein's general relativity theory will be carried out in the near future: The Lense--Thirring effect and the equivalence principle will be tested in space; moreover, gravitational waves will be detected, and new atomic interferometers and clocks will be built for measurements in gravitational and inertial fields. New high-precision devices have made these experiments feasible. They will contribute to a better understanding of gravitational physics. Both experimental developments and the theoretical concepts are collected in this volume. Exhaustive reviews give an overall insight into the subject of experimental gravitation.

Many new tests of gravity and, in particular, of Einstein's general relativity theory will be carried out in the near future: The Lense--Thirring effect and the equivalence principle will be tested in space; moreover, gravitational waves will be detected, and new atomic interferometers and clocks will be built for measurements in gravitational and inertial fields. New high-precision devices have made these experiments feasible. They will contribute to a better understanding of gravitational physics. Both experimental developments and the theoretical concepts are collected in this volume. Exhaustive reviews give an overall insight into the subject of experimental gravitation.

Many new tests of gravity and, in particular, of Einstein's general relativity theory will be carried out in the near future: The Lense--Thirring effect and the equivalence principle will be tested in space; moreover, gravitational waves will be detected, and new atomic interferometers and clocks will be built for measurements in gravitational and inertial fields. New high-precision devices have made these experiments feasible. They will contribute to a better understanding of gravitational physics. Both experimental developments and the theoretical concepts are collected in this volume. Exhaustive reviews give an overall insight into the subject of experimental gravitation.

"The goal of this volume is to discuss the rapidly moving field of atom optics and interferometry with all its intricate aspects ranging from fundamental physics to applications and the theory of relativity. The breathtaking success in manipulating atoms using lasers has encouraged these two so far disjunct communities to move closer together and begin collaborations. After an introduction to atom optics and Bose-Einstein condensation, the theoretical foundations of cold atom interferometers, their use to test gravity, and their implementation in laboratory measurements of the earth rotation and of Newton's gravitational constant are discussed. Several papers discuss the characteristics of gyroscopes and interferometers as sensors for inertial forces, starting from gyroscopes based on light waves and comparing their sensitivity to those based on matter waves. The final topic is the variation of fundamental constants, a subject that during the last years has attracted a lot of --

The Marcel Grossmann Meetings are three-yearly forums that meet to discuss recent advances in gravitation, general relativity and relativistic field theories, emphasizing their mathematical foundations, physical predictions and experimental tests. These meetings aim to facilitate the exchange of ideas among scientists, to deepen our understanding of space-time structures, and to review the status of ongoing experiments and observations testing Einstein's theory of gravitation either from ground or space-based experiments. Since the first meeting in 1975 in Trieste, Italy, which was established by Remo Ruffini and Abdus Salam, the range of topics presented at these meetings has gradually widened to accommodate issues of major scientific interest, and attendance has grown to attract more than 900 participants from over 80 countries.This proceedings volume of the eleventh meeting in the series, held in Berlin in 2006, highlights and records the developments and applications of Einstein's theory in diverse areas ranging from fundamental field theories to particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, made possible by unprecedented technological developments in experimental and observational techniques from space, ground and underground observatories. It provides a broad sampling of the current work in the field, especially relativistic astrophysics, including many reviews by leading figures in the research community.

The aim of this two-volume title is to give a comprehensive review of one hundred years of development of general relativity and its scientific influences. This unique title provides a broad introduction and review to the fascinating and profound subject of general relativity, its historical development, its important theoretical consequences, gravitational wave detection and applications to astrophysics and cosmology. The series focuses on five aspects of the theory: The first three topics are covered in Volume 1 and the remaining two are covered in Volume 2. While this is a two-volume title, it is designed so that each volume can be a standalone reference volume for the related topic.

The question of a possible temporal variation of the fundamental constants was raised by Paul Dirac in his "large number hypothesis" in 1937. Today it appears in the context of the search for a unified theory of the fundamental interactions. It touches both fundamental and applied physics, as the postulate of the unalterability of the constants is the foundation for modern metrology. The book presents reviews written by leading experts in the field. Focussing on the question of variations of the fundamental "constants" in time or space, the chapters cover the theoretical framework in which variations are expected and the search for variations of quantities like the fine-structure constant, the electron/proton mass ratio, g-factors of proton and neutron etc. in astrophysical and geophysical observations and in precision experiments with atomic clocks and frequency standards.