Exciting Interdisciplinary Physics: Quarks and Gluons / Atomic Nuclei / Relativity and Cosmology / Biological Systems (FIAS Interdisciplinary Science Series)

Nuclear physics is an exciting, broadly faceted field. It spans a wide range of topics, reaching from nuclear structure physics to high-energy physics, astrophysics and medical physics (heavy ion tumor therapy). New developments are presented in this volume and the status of research is reviewed. A major focus is put on nuclear structure physics, dealing with superheavy elements and with various forms of exotic nuclei: strange nuclei, very neutron rich nuclei, nuclei of antimatter. Also quantum electrodynamics of strong fields is addressed, which is linked to the occurrence of giant nuclear systems in, e.g., U U collisions. At high energies nuclear physics joins with elementary particle physics. Various chapters address the theory of elementary matter at high densities and temperature, in particular the quark gluon plasma which is predicted by quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to occur in high-energy heavy ion collisions. In the field of nuclear astrophysics, the properties of neutron stars and quark stars are discussed. A topic which transcends nuclear physics is discussed in two chapters: The proposed pseudo-complex extension of Einstein's General Relativity leads to the prediction that there are no black holes and that big bang cosmology has to be revised. Finally, the interdisciplinary nature of this volume is further accentuated by chapters on protein folding and on magnetoreception in birds and many other animals. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Exciting Physics: Superheavy, Superneutronic, Superstrange Nuclear Clusters....Pages 3-21 Overview and Perspectives of SHE Research at GSI SHIP....Pages 23-32 Nuclear Reaction Mechanisms Induced by Heavy Ions....Pages 33-42 Search for Superheavy Elements in Nature (Experimental Approach)....Pages 43-54 Superheavies: Short-Term Experiments and Far-Reaching Designs....Pages 55-67 Superheavy Nuclei: Decay and Stability....Pages 69-79 Stability Peninsulas at the Neutron Drip Line....Pages 81-90 Unexpected Strong Decay Mode of Superheavy Nuclei....Pages 91-101 Front Matter....Pages 103-103 Coupled-Channel Effects in Collisions Between Heavy Ions Near the Coulomb Barrier....Pages 105-118 Collinear Cluster Tri-Partition as a Probe of Clustering in Heavy Nuclei....Pages 119-128 Pairing Influence in Binary Nuclear Systems....Pages 129-137 Chiral Symmetry in Real Nuclei....Pages 139-148 High Energy-Resolution Experiments with the K600 Magnetic Spectrometer at Intermediate Energies....Pages 149-161 Activities at iThemba LABS Cyclotron Facilities....Pages 163-174 Front Matter....Pages 175-185 New Forms of High Energy Density Matter....Pages 187-187 Antinuclei Produced in Relativistic Collisions: Results and Expectations....Pages 189-198 RHIC and LHC Phenomena with a Unified Parton Transport....Pages 199-209 The QGP Phase in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions....Pages 211-224 Recent HBT Results from a Hybrid Transport Approach to Heavy Ion Reactions....Pages 225-235 Front Matter....Pages 237-242 Energy Loss of Heavy Quarks—A Signal of Plasma Properties....Pages 187-187 The Thermal Model and the Tsallis Distribution at the Large Hadron Collider....Pages 243-251 The Mini Bang and the Big Bang: From Collider to Cosmology....Pages 253-260 From d-Bars to Antimatter- and Hyperclusters....Pages 261-273 Front Matter....Pages 275-289 Astronomical Tests of General Relativity and the Pseudo-Complex Theory....Pages 291-291 Black Holes or Gray Stars? That’s the Question: Pseudo-Complex General Relativity....Pages 293-312 Structure and Cooling of Neutron and Hybrid Stars....Pages 313-321 Nuclei in Strongly Magnetised Neutron Star Crusts....Pages 323-332 Generation Model of Particle Physics and the Parity of the Neutral Pion....Pages 333-343 Fundamental Neutrinos Properties....Pages 345-355 Front Matter....Pages 357-366 Crystalline Undulator: Current Status and Perspectives....Pages 367-395 Crystals, Critical Fields, Collision Points, and a QED Analogue of Hawking Radiation....Pages 397-397 QED Calculations on Highly Charged Ions, Using a Unified MBPT-QED Approach....Pages 399-409 Supercritical QED and Time-Delayed Heavy Ion Collisions....Pages 411-423 Nuclear Muon Capture in Hydrogen Isotopes....Pages 425-437 A Safari Through Density Functional Theory....Pages 439-451 Front Matter....Pages 453-463 Light-Activated Magnetic Compass in Birds....Pages 465-478 Statistical Mechanical Theory of Protein Folding in Water Environment....Pages 479-479 Back Matter....Pages 481-492 ....Pages 493-508