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Quantum Mechanics of Fundamental Systems: The Quest for Beauty and Simplicity
This article is dedicated to Claudio Bunster on the occasion of his 60th birthday. It is a great honor to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to him, who in my opinion has been the greatest national physicist ever, for his wise guidance and intrepid support through the years. As a Chilean, I can further tell that Claudio’s contributions have been well far beyond theoretical physics, helping our country to be ready to face future challenges through science. Gravity in diverse dimensions is a subject in which Claudio has done major c- tributions, encouraging in many ways the following work, that is being made along different fronts in collaboration with my colleagues Diego Correa, ...
Lectures on Quantum Gravity
The 2002 Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute School on Quantum Gravity was held at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS),Valdivia, Chile, January 4-14, 2002. The school featured lectures by ten speakers, and was attended by nearly 70 students from over 14 countries. A primary goal was to foster interaction and communication between participants from different cultures, both in the layman’s sense of the term and in terms of approaches to quantum gravity. We hope that the links formed by students and the school will persist throughout their professional lives, continuing to promote interaction and the essential exchange of ideas that drives research forward. This volume contains improved and updated versions of the lectures given at the School. It has been prepared both as a reminder for the participants, and so that these pedagogical introductions can be made available to others who were unable to attend. We expect them to serve students of all ages well.
Pumps, Transporters, and Ion Channels
This book is a compilation of articles based on some of the talks given at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS) in Valdivia during the course of a celebration to th mark the 60 birthdays of Ramon Latorre and Enrico Stefani. Ramon Latorre is one of the most outstanding figures in channel Biophysics today. The first surprise is that he trained as a Biochemist! He soon, however, became a biophysicist through his work with Guayo (Eduardo) Rojas who guided him during his Ph. D thesis in the Laboratorio de Fisiologia Celular in Montemar. His work at N.I.H with Gerald Eherenstein and Harold Lecar constitutes one of the milestones of single ion channel Biophysics. This classical work, done in p...
Quantization of Gauge Systems
This book is a systematic study of the classical and quantum theories of gauge systems. It starts with Dirac's analysis showing that gauge theories are constrained Hamiltonian systems. The classical foundations of BRST theory are then laid out with a review of the necessary concepts from homological algebra. Reducible gauge systems are discussed, and the relationship between BRST cohomology and gauge invariance is carefully explained. The authors then proceed to the canonical quantization of gauge systems, first without ghosts (reduced phase space quantization, Dirac method) and second in the BRST context (quantum BRST cohomology). The path integral is discussed next. The analysis covers indefinite metric systems, operator insertions, and Ward identities. The antifield formalism is also studied and its equivalence with canonical methods is derived. The examples of electromagnetism and abelian 2-form gauge fields are treated in detail. The book gives a general and unified treatment of the subject in a self-contained manner. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, and pedagogical examples are covered in the text.
Principles of String Theory
The almost irresistible beauty of string theory has seduced many theoretical physicists in recent years. Even hardened men have been swept away by what they can already see and by the promise of even more. It would appear fair to say that it is not yet clear what form the theory will finally take and in what precise way it will relate to the physical world. However, it would seem equally fair to state that, most likely, strings are here to stay and will playa profound and central role in our conception of the universe. There is therefore a pressing need to provide both practicing physicists and advanced students with ways to master quickly, but soundly, the basic principles of the theory. The present volume is a step in that direction. It contains a lucid presentation of the basic principles of string theory in forms which may survive future developments. The book is an outgrowth of lectures given by Lars Brink and Marc Henneaux at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos de Santiago. The lectures covered in a self-contained manner different but complementary aspects of the foundations of string theory.
Memories of a Theoretical Physicist
A groundbreaking theoretical physicist traces his career, reflecting on the successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities of a life cut short by cancer. The groundbreaking theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski explained the genesis of his memoir this way: “Having only two bodies of knowledge, myself and physics, I decided to write an autobiography about my development as a theoretical physicist.” In this posthumously published account of his life and work, Polchinski (1954–2018) describes successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities, and the sheer persistence that led to his greatest discoveries. Writing engagingly and accessibly, with the wry humor for which he was known, P...
The Patagonian Icefields
The majesty of the icefields is beyond description. He who has been fortunate to be there once, remains bound forever. To a theoretical physicist working on black holes the icefields produce a familiar vertigo, the instinctive certainty of being confronted with something so simple and beautifully extreme that it must be of importance. The meeting whose proceedings are contained in this volume was conducted onboard of a vessel that went to the icefields, and the participants could literally set foot on them. It was expected that, for those who had not been there before, this would constitute a ritual of initiation. And so it did. For this reason we like to refer to the meeting as an expeditio...
From Ion Channels to Cell-to-Cell Conversations
Ion channels allow us to see nature in all its magnificence, to hear a Bach suite, to smell the aroma of grandmother's cooking, and, in this regard, they put us in contact with the external world. These ion channels are protein molecules located in the cell membrane. In complex organisms, cells need to communicate in order to know about their metabolic status and to act in a coordinate manner. The latter is also accomplished by a class of ion channels able to pierce the lipid bilayer membranes of two adjacent cells. These intercellular channels are the functional subunits of gap junctions. Accordingly, the book is divided in two parts: the first part is dedicated to ion channels that look to...
Transduction in Biological Systems
The present volume originated from the workshop "Transduction in Biological Sys tems," held at the Marine Biological Station of the Universidad de Valparaiso, Mon temar, Chile, May 23-30, 1988, and contains contributions from most of the partici pants in the workshop. The title of both the workshop and the book reflects accurately the central theme discussed during several days of intense debate and profound intellectual exchange in the peaceful environment offered by the central coast of Chile. It was apparent that the workshop was a great success-a sentiment expressed by many seasoned attendees, some of whom dared opinions as strong as "It was the best ever." There is no single reason to e...
Physical Properties of Biological Membranes and Their Functional Implications
This book was originated from a series of lectures given in a course on the physical properties of biological membranes and their functional implica tions. The course was intended to allow students to get acquainted with the physical techniques used to study biological membranes. The experience was valuable and we feel that a detailed description of the procedures used and of various examples of the results obtained allowed many students to become familiar with a theme that is not often part of regular courses on membrane physiology or biophysics. This book is designed as a tutorial guide for graduate students interested in understanding how physical methods can be utilized to study the prop...
