The study of shape optimization problems is a very wide field, both classical, as the isoperimetric problem and Newton problem of the best aerodynamical shape show, and modern, for all the recent results obtained in the last two, three decades. The fascinating feature is that the competing objects are shapes, i.e. domains of Rn, instead of functions, as usually occurs in problems of calculus of variations. This constraint often produces additional difficulties that lead to a lack of existence of a solution and the introduction of suitable relaxed formulations of the problem. However, in a few...

Since neutrinos interact so weakly with matter, most of their basic properties are still largely unknown. One of the most important issues to be settled concerns their rest mass. We have no idea why neutrinos are so much lighter than their charged lepton partners; no fundamental symmetry in nature requires massless neutrinos. Massive neutrinos are demanded to explain the anomalous counting rate of experiments measuring the solar and the atmospheric neutrino fluxes. The discrepancy between experimental data and theoretical predictions can be accounted for in terms of neutrino oscillations,...

Neuronal plasticity is the term generally used to describe a great variety of changes in neuronal structure and functions, in particular activity-dependent, prolonged functional changes, accompanied by corresponding biochemical and possibly morphological alterations. The first insights about neuronal plasticity have been obtained on simple forms of life. Today, many areas in the mammalian central nervous system are under investigation, in particular the cortex and the hippocampus. In these areas, neuronal plasticity is considered to be at the basis of learning and memory. The study of brain...

These volumes collect the lecture notes of the course An introduction to computational physics held in the academic year 2000/01 for students of the University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore at the level of the last two-year undergraduates in physics and chemistry. The second part deals with various types of particle methods, both deterministic and stochastic, used in modern applications of computer simulations in physics and related disciplines."

These volumes collect the lecture notes of the course An introduction to computational physics held in the academic year 2000/01 for students of the University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore at the level of the last two-year undergraduates in physics and chemistry. Grid methods are the tool of the trade for the solution of ordinary and partial differential equations and consequently they represent a must for anyone dealing with computational science. With grid methods, a major distinction is made between methods which do not require matrix algebra and those which do."

These notes contain lectures on the theory of group representations and its applications to the physics of atoms, molecules and crystals, given at Purdue University, Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy) and Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria (Valparaiso, Chile) on and off over a period of over 25 years. The topics selected reflect my special interests and their scope is limited by the time available to the students. The style is somewhat concise and will require careful attention on the part of the reader.

These are the written notes of Fermi's Lectures supported by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and given at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa during March-April 1973. We propose to discuss here certain spectral properties of Schrodinger operators H=-D+V(x) (D the Laplacian and V a potential) which have application to scattering theory. We consider an operator H with potential V of class SR. We show that the positive point spectrum of H is a discrete set in R+. Eigenfunctions which correspond to positive eigenvalues are shown to decay rapidly. This property is shown to hold also for...

This volume collects two articles by Christine Laurent-Thiebaut and Jurgen Leiterer which were submitted to, and accepted by the Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore, Classe di Scienze: The q-convex case; the q-concave case. Owing to the character of the systematic exposition of the new scientific results achieved and to the size of the work, the authors agreed to have the two papers published in a separate volume.

We consider in Rn a differential operator P(D), P a polynomial, with constant coefficients. Let U be an open set in Rn and A(U) be the space of real analytic functions on U. We consider the equation P(D)u=f, for f in A(U) and look for a solution in A(U). Hormander proved a necessary and sufficient condition for the solution to exist in the case U is convex. From this theorem one derives the fact that if a cone W admits a Phragmen-Lindeloff principle then at each of its non-zero real points the real part of W is pure dimensional of dimension n-1. The Phragmen-Lindeloff principle is reduced to...

In the present thesis we develop new strategies concerning the use of lanthanide cations as spectroscopic probes for the study of molecular structures in solution. A widespread interest for lanthanides is mainly centered in two large fields: organic synthesis and clinical practice. Systems containing lanthanides enjoy a very favorable situation, since these ions feature high coordination numbers, which assure rich binding chemistry, and at the same time they possess the right spectroscopic properties to monitor it. The present thesis develops the potentialities of electronic spectroscopy of...