The Unsolved Universe: Challenges for the Future: Jenam 2002

ISBN-13: 9789048164479 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 131 str.

Mario J. P. F. G. Monteiro

Opis

The reviews and highlights included in this book of proceedings of the plenary sessions, of the Joint European and National Astronomical Meeting (2002), cover some of the major fields and projects which will determine the research in astronomy in the next decades. The highlights have been presented by young astronomers from several European countries, selected from a list of proposals submitted by different institutions across Europe.

This book reflects the multi-disciplinarity and interaction that took place in the meeting. By including reviews on space and ground-based observational programmes, the scientific topics are associated with the new observational efforts in instrumentation. These projects, under development, are expected to drive the research in the coming decades. With such a wide and interdisciplinary coverage this book provides a comprehensive review on the present status and expectations for some of the major fields in astrophysics.

This work is of great relevance for students and researchers alike, as it provides an introductory approach to a wide range of fields in Astronomy, but also includes some detailed reviews for the major topics in each field.

Recenzje

Whereas many published meeting proceedings are quite limited in relevance (they are rapidly superseded) and in audience (appealing only to specialists), I suspect this little book will appeal to a wider readership, for longer than most. It will stand as an historical record of what researchers considered important in this era. Perhaps in hindsight, future researchers will find the omission of solar-system topics from the list as astonishing, considering the future of humankind may well hinge on our ability to exploit or deflect near-Earth asteroids. Perhaps they will be shocked that the effects of solar activity on the Earth's climate were not worthy of examination. Perhaps they will laugh at our blindness to non-stellar baryons in the Universe. Write down your own list of unsolved astronomical problems, and compare it with those in this book a decade hence! The comparison can only prove enlightening.
(G.C.L. Aikman, The Observatory (124/1183/2004)

Spis treści

1. Stars and Planets.- Asteroseismology and Planet Finding: The Ultra High Precision Photometry European Road Map.- Extra-Solar Planets: Clues to the Planetary Formation Mechanisms.- Continuum Excess Emission in Young Low Mass Stars.- 2. Galaxies.- The Formation and Evolution of Field Massive Galaxies.- A “Clear” View of the Nucleus: the Megamaser Perspective.- Low Luminosity BL Lacs.- 3. Cosmology.- Cosmic Structures, Parameters & Temperature Anisotropies: Status and Perspectives.- Probing Dark Energy with Supernova Searches.- Cosmological Constraints from Chandra X-ray Observations of Galaxy Clusters.- Cosmological Parameter Estimation with the Galaxy Cluster Abundance.- 4. Challenges for the Future.- The VLTI: Challenges for the Future.