This volume examines the latest advances emerging from the theoretical exploration into the quantum mechanical structure of our universe. It will be of interest to researchers dealing with strings, quantum fields, gauge theory, and quantum gravity.

This volume contains a series of lectures presented at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos de Santiago to celebrate John Archibald Wheeler's invention of the term "black hole" a quarter of a century ago. In 11 lucid articles, a distinguished group of world experts discuss current issues in black hole physics, ranging from epistemological considerations to recent developments connecting black hole thermodynamics and string theory.

This collection of papers explore developments and advances in the field of astrophysics.

This volume is based on a meeting on Quantum Mechanics of Fundamental Systems, held December 17-20 of 1987, at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos de Santiago (CECS). The meeting was intended to review new developments in the field defined by its purposely vague title. We were especially interested in communicating important advances in a broad perspective and in a self-contained manner to a wide colleague ship, and in particular to Latin American physicists. Whatever success we may have achieved in that direction would cer tainly not have been possible without the help and generosity of many...

From January 8-13,1990, distinguished physicists from many nations came to Chile to share with each other and with Latin American students exciting recent developments. The occasion was the third of a series of meetings on Quantum Mechanics of Fundamental Systems which are held every two years at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos de Santiago. This volume grew out from that gathering. The meeting was possible thanks to the generous support of the Tinker Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the Ministere des AfIaires...

Il capitano generale lagrimo per allegrezza e nomino quel capo: Deseado, perehe l'avevamo gia gran tempo desiderato. Antonio Pigafetta Il Primo Viaggo in torno al Mondo I would like to take some poetic license in introducing this volume in a way that seems appropriate for a country, like Chile, that Iooks to the ocean. I believe it was Heisenberg who compared different times in physics with sailing a ship. He said that most of the time we keep our ships in port, or in the protection of a bay. But on a few occasions we go into the open sea, and those occasions are really the great times in...