Physics: Books

Much of our understanding of physics in the last 30-plus years has come from research on atoms, photons, and their interactions. Collecting information previously scattered throughout the literature, Modern Atomic Physicsprovides students with one unified guide to contemporary developments in the field. After reviewing metrology and preliminary material, the text explains core areas of atomic physics. Important topics discussed include the spontaneous emission of radiation, stimulated transitions and the properties of gas, the physics and applications of resonance fluorescence, coherence, cooling and trapping of charged and neutral particles, and atomic beam magnetic resonance experiments. Covering standards, a different way of looking at a photon, stimulated radiation, and frequency combs, the appendices avoid jargon and use historical notes and personal anecdotes to make the topics accessible to non-atomic physics students. Written by a leader in atomic and optical physics, this text gives a state-of-the-art account of atomic physics within a basic quantum mechanical framework. It shows students how atomic physics has played a key role in many other areas of physics.

Astronomy is the field of science devoted to the study of astronomical objects, such as stars, galaxies, and nebulae. Astronomers have gathered a wealth of knowledge about the universe through hundreds of years of painstaking observations. These observations are interpreted by the use of physical and chemical laws familiar to mankind. These interpretations supply information about the nature of these astronomical objects, allowing for the deduction of their surface and interior conditions. The science associated with these interpretations is called astrophysics. An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics offers a comprehensive introduction to astronomy and astrophysics, complete with illustrative examples and illuminating homework problems. Requiring a familiarity with basic physics and mathematics, this undergraduate-level textbook: Addresses key physics concepts relevant to stellar observations, including radiation, electromagnetic spectrum, photometry, continuous and discrete spectrum, and spectral lines Describes instruments used for astronomical observations as well as how the radiation received is characterized and interpreted to determine the properties of stars Examines the structure of stars, the basic equations which explain stars in equilibrium, and the fusion reactions occurring in stellar cores Discusses the evolution of stars, the solar system, the dynamics of galaxies, and the fundamentals of modern cosmology Explores the universe at high redshifts, where it is dominated by objects such as active galaxies Solutions manual and figure slides available with qualifying course adoption An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics teaches students how to interpret the night sky, providing them with a critical understanding of the stars and other heavenly bodies.

In cyber-physical systems (CPS), sensors and embedded systems are networked together to monitor and manage a range of physical processes through a continuous feedback system. This allows distributed computing using wireless devices. Cyber-Physical Systems--A Computational Perspectiveexamines various developments of CPS that are impacting our daily lives and sets the stage for future directions in this domain. The book is divided into six sections. The first section covers the physical infrastructure required for CPS, including sensor networks and embedded systems. The second section addresses energy issues in CPS with the use of supercapacitors and reliability assessment. In the third section, the contributors describe the modeling of CPS as a network of robots and explore issues regarding the design of CPS. The fourth section focuses on the impact of ubiquitous computing and cloud computing in CPS and the fifth section discusses security and privacy issues in CPS. The final section covers the role of CPS in big data analytics, social network analysis, and healthcare. As CPS are becoming more complex, pervasive, personalized, and dependable, they are moving beyond niche laboratories to real-life application areas, such as robotics, smart grids, green computing, and healthcare. This book provides you with a guide to current CPS research and development that will contribute to a "smarter" planet.

Hydroelectric power stations are a major source of electricity around the world; understanding their dynamics is crucial to achieving good performance. The electrical power generated is normally controlled by individual feedback loops on each unit. The reference input to the power loop is the grid frequency deviation from its set point, thus structuring an external frequency control loop.The book discusses practical and well-documented cases of modelling and controlling hydropower stations, focused on a pumped storage scheme based in Dinorwig, North Wales. These accounts are valuable to specialist control engineers who are working in this industry. In addition, the theoretical treatment of modern and classic controllers will be useful for graduate and final year undergraduate engineering students.This book reviews SISO and MIMO models, which cover the linear and nonlinear characteristics of pumped storage hydroelectric power stations. The most important dynamic features are discussed. The verification of these models by hardware in the loop simulation is described. To show how the performance of a pumped storage hydroelectric power station can be improved, classical and modern controllers are applied to simulated models of Dinorwig power plant, that include PID, Fuzzy approximation, Feed-Forward and Model Based Predictive Control with linear and hybrid prediction models.