The neutral K meson or neutral kaon, K0, and its antiparticle, K(bar)0, form a remarkable quantum-mechanical two-state system that has played an important role in the history of elementary particle physics. This text provides an overview of the subject of neutral kaons.

The book develops a comprehensive understanding of the surface impedance of the oxide high-temperature superconductors in comparison with the conventional superconductor Nb3Sn. Linear and nonlinear microwave responses are treated separately, both in terms of models, theories or numerical approaches and in terms of experimental results. The theoretical treatment connects fundamental aspects of superconductivity to the specific high-frequency properties. The experimental data review the state of the art, as reported by many international groups. The book describes further the main features of...

The book considers the main growth-related phenomena occurring during epitaxial growth, such as thermal etching, doping, segregation of the main elements and impurities, coexistence of several phases at the crystal surface and segregation-enhanced diffusion.
It is complete with tables, graphs and figures, which allow fast determination of suitable growth parameters for practical applications.

This book contains comprehensive reviews of modern topics in nuclear physics, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Special emphasis is placed on the role of several symmetries in physics at intermediate and high energies and on neutrino physics, with its implications in nuclear astrophysics and cosmology.
Many applications of the theories and experiments are included, along with interesting information on recent developments with respect to current problems in modern physics. Thus, it will be especially useful to new scientists and graduate students.

Granular materials are an integral part of our everyday life. They are also the base material for most industrial processing techniques. The highly dissipative nature of the particle collisions means energy input is needed in order to mobilize the grains. This interplay of dissipation and excitation leads to a wide variety of pattern formation processes, which are addressed in this book. The reader is introduced to this wide field by, first, a description of the material properties of granular materials under different experimental conditions that are important in connection with the pattern...

The review is devoted to an investigation of the physical vacuum properties of quantum electrodynamics (QED), relying on the perturbative effective action approach. By probing the vacuum with external perturbations, its response is analyzed after averaging over the high-energy degrees of freedom. The book is written for scientists active in the field as well as for students who want to become familiar with the more advanced computational strategies of external-field problems which are partly outlined in great detail. Schwinger's proper-time method is the backbone of the book. Many recent...

Recent advances in semiconductor technology have made it possible to fabricate microcavity structures in which both photon fields and electron-hole pairs (or excitons) are confined in a small volume comparable to their wavelength. The radiative properties of the electron-hole pairs and excitons are modified owing to the drastic change in the structure of the electromagnetic-field modes. This book is the first to give a comprehensive account of the theory of semiconductor cavity quantum electrodynamics for such systems in the weak-coupling and strong-coupling regimes. The important concepts...

Inthepastfewdecades, greatprogresshasbeenmadeinthe?eldofdynamical interactions of photons and charged particles with surfaces. Developments in this ?eld have largely been driven by technological advances. Foremost, the preparation and characterization of atomically ?at surfaces has opened up opportunities to precisely and reproducibly investigate surface structure and dynamics in unprecedented detail. An equally important advance represents the availability of new sources for projectiles interacting with and probing surfaces. Third-generation s- chrotron sources provide high-brilliance photon...

This book is devoted to the formation and dynamics of localized structures (vortices, solitons) and of extended patterns (stripes, hexagons, tilted waves) in nonlinear optical resonators such as lasers, optical parametric oscillators, and the like. Theoretical analysis is performed by deriving order parameter equations, and also through numerical integration of microscopic models of the systems under investigation. Experimental observations, and possible technological implementations of transverse optical patterns are also discussed. A comparison with patterns found in other nonlinear...

This review consists of three parts. The first part provides basic information about the physics and materials science of high-temperature superconductors for applications in magnet and energy technology. It addresses more than is required by a newcomer in this field, by putting together information from very different areas such as physical chemistry, materials science and condensed matter physics, which otherwise would have to be collected from various textbooks and original literature. In an introductory chapter potential applications are presented and the limitations of the materials are...