This book presents an overview of the current understanding of gravitation, with a focus on the current efforts to test its theory, especially general relativity. It shows how the quest for a deeper theory, which would possibly incorporate gravity in the quantum realm, is more than ever an open field. The majority of the contributions deals with the manifold facets of “experimental gravitation”, but the book goes beyond this and covers a broad range of subjects from the foundations of gravitational theories to astrophysics and cosmology. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with foundations and Solar System tests. An introductory pedagogical chapter reviews first Newtonian gravitational theory, special relativity, the equivalence principle and the basics of general relativity. Then it focuses on approximation methods, mainly the post-Newtonian formalism and the relaxed Einstein equations, with a discussion on how they are used in treating experimental tests and in the problem of generation and detection of gravitational waves. Following this is a set of chapters describing the most recent experiments, techniques and observations on the testing of gravity theories in the laboratory, around the Earth and in the Solar System. The second part is dedicated to astrophysical topics deeply linked with the study of gravitation, namely binary pulsars and the perspective of direct detection of gravitational waves. These cases are paradigmatic in that the gravitational signals act at the same time as messengers helping us to understand the properties of important and wide classes of astrophysical objects. The third part explores the many open issues in current knowledge of gravitation machinery, especially related to astrophysical and cosmological problems and the way possible solutions to them impact the quest for a quantum theory of gravitation and unified theory. Included is a selection of the many possible paths, giving a hint to the subtleties one is called upon. Whenever possible, a close link to observational constraints and possible experimental tests is provided. In selecting the topics of the various contributions, particular care has been devoted to ensure their fit in a coherent representation of our understanding of gravitational phenomena. The book is aimed at graduate level students and will form a valuable reference for those working in the field.

Supersymmetry, supergravity and superstring are the most popular research topics in particle physics. In particular, the phenomenological studies beyond the standard model have become very popular in view of possible identification or exclusion of supersymmetric particles in the future. Also, the lightest supersymmetric particle in most supersymmetric models can be a good candidate for dark matter in the universe.The recent developments in supersymmetry with important applications to particle physics are the main theme of this book, which includes superstring calculations with D-branes, TeV-scale gravity, superstring- and supergravity-inspired interactions, supersymmetric GUT, supergravity phenomenology, and cosmological implications of LSP.

This breakthrough volume touts having dissolved the remaining barriers to implementing Bulk Universal Quantum Computing (UQC), and as such most likely describes the most advanced QC development platform. Numerous books, hundreds of patents, thousands of papers and a Googolplex of considerations fill the pantheon of QC R&D. Of late QC mathemagicians claim QCs already exist; but by what chimeric definition. Does flipping a few qubits in a logic gate without an algorithm qualify as quantum computing? In physics, theory bears little weight without rigorous experimental confirmation, less if new, radical or a paradigm shift. This volume develops quantum computing based on '3rd regime' physics of Unified Field Mechanics (UFM). What distinguishes this work from a myriad of other avenues to UQC under study? Virtually all R&D paths struggle with technology and decoherence. If highly favored room-sized cryogenically cooled QCs ever become successful, they would be reminiscent of the city block-sized Eniac computer of 1946. The QC prototype proposed herein is room temperature and tabletop. It is dramatically different in that it is not confined to the limitations of quantum mechanics; since it is based on principles of UFM the Uncertainty Principle and Decoherence no longer apply. Thus this QC model could be implemented on any other quantum platform!

With a focus on modified gravity this book presents a review of the recent developments in the fields of gravity and cosmology, presenting the state of the art, high-lighting the open problems, and outlining the directions of future research. General Relativity and the ΛCDM framework are currently the standard lore and constitute the concordance paradigm of cosmology. Nevertheless, long-standing open theoretical issues, as well as possible new observational ones arising from the explosive development of cosmology in the last two decades, offer the motivation and lead a large amount of research to be devoted in constructing various extensions and modifications. In this review all extended theories and scenarios are first examined under the light of theoretical consistency, and are then applied in various geometrical backgrounds, such as the cosmological and the spherical symmetric ones. Their predictions at both the background and perturbation levels, and concerning cosmology at early, intermediate and late times, are then confronted with the huge amount of observational data that astrophysics and cosmology has been able to offer in the last two decades. Theories, scenarios and models that successfully and efficiently pass the above steps are classified as viable and are candidates for the description of Nature, allowing readers to get a clear overview of the state of the art and where the field of modified gravity is likely to go. This work was performed in the framework of the COST European Action “Cosmology and Astrophysics Network for Theoretical Advances and Training Actions” - CANTATA.

This book covers some recent advances in string theory and extra dimensions. Intended mainly for advanced graduate students in theoretical physics, it presents a rare combination of formal and phenomenological topics, based on the annual lectures given at the School of the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (2001) OCo a traditional event that brings together graduate students in high energy physics for an intensive course of advanced learning. The lecturers in the School are leaders in their fields. The first lecture, by E DOCOHoker and D Freedman, is a systematic introduction to the gaugeOCogravity correspondence, focusing in particular on correlation functions in the conformal case. The second, by L Dolan, provides an introduction to perturbative string theory, including recent advances on backgrounds involving Ramond-Ramond fluxes. The third, by S Gubser, explains some of the basic facts about special holonomy and its uses in string theory and M-theory. The fourth, by J Hewett, surveys the TeV phenomenology of theories with large extra dimensions. The fifth, by G Kane, presents the case for supersymmetry at the weak scale and some of its likely experimental consequences. The sixth, by A Liddle, surveys recent developments in cosmology, particularly with regard to recent measurements of the CMB and constraints on inflation. The seventh, by B Ovrut, presents the basic features of heterotic M-theory, including constructions that contain the Standard Model. The eighth, by K Rajagopal, explains the recent advances in understanding QCD at low temperatures and high densities in terms of color superconductivity. The ninth, by M Sher, summarizes grand unified theories and baryogenesis, including discussions of supersymmetry breaking and the Standard Model Higgs mechanism. The tenth, by M Spiropulu, describes collider physics, from a survey of current and future machines to examples of data analyses relevant to theories beyond the Standard Model. The eleventh, by M Strassler, is an introduction to supersymmetric gauge theory, focusing on Wilsonian renormalization and analogies between three- and four-dimensional theories. The twelfth, by W Taylor and B Zwiebach, introduces string field theory and discusses recent advances in understanding open string tachyon condensation. The thirteenth, by D Waldram, discusses explicit model building in heterotic M-theory, emphasizing the role of the E8 gauge fields. The written presentation of these lectures is detailed yet straightforward, and they will be of use to both students and experienced researchers in high-energy theoretical physics for years to come. The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: . OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo CC Proceedings OCo Engineering & Physical Sciences."