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High energy interactions and extensive air showers
Planet. Space Sci. 1971,VoL 19, pp. 1591 to 1592. PergamonPress. Printed in Northern Ireland
BOOK REVIEWS
JEAN-CLAUDE PECKER: Space Observatories (translated from the French). D. Reidel, 1970. vii + 120 pp. D ft. 35. $9.80. THIS RATHERunique little book makes interesting reading--not least because of the flowing Gallic style which has survived the translation into English rather well. In content the book falls into two parts: Part I dealing with the serious limitations facing the ground-based astronomer, and Part II surveying potential advances to be made by observations from space. The 'raisons d'etre' of Space Astronomy are well described in the first six chapters and quite properly deal fully with the problems of atmospheric scattering and refraction which limit the resolution of both optical and radio telescopes on the Earth's surface. In addition, the severe atomic and molecular absorption of the atmospheric gases which block out the X-ray, ultra-violet and much of the far infra-red spectrum is described. The second part of the book is much less useful, however, as the results included are considerably out of date. This is a common problem, of course, with published reviews on rapidly developing disciplines such as Space Astronomy and the extra delay in this case involved by translation from the original French text is no help. In consequence, the stellar ultra-violet and X-ray astronomy includes only the very early (pre-1966) rocket studies, whilst the now highly topical and significant infra-red region is dismissed in a page and a half. Bearing in mind the quality and clarity of the overall book and its obvious potential value to a wide range of interested, though non-expert readers, it is unfortunate that the opportunity was not taken to bring the results survey up to date when this English edition was being prepared. K. A. POUNDS
A. SOMOGYI (Editor: Acta Physica. Proc. of the 11th International Conf. on Cosmic Rays, Budapest, August 25-September 4, 1969. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, 1970. Vol. 2, Solar and Geophysical Effects 767 pp. £12. Vol. 3, High Energy Interactions and Extensive Air Showers 766 pp. £12. Vol. 4, Muons and Neutrinos: Techniques 607 pp. £8.30. THE FIRST volume of these Proceedings has already been reviewed (Vol. 19,798) and the general comments which were made at that time apply to the remaining volumes. Volume 2 covers ground which is generally familiar, but with a substantial amount of satellite material now available and with several years of NM64 ground monitor records to draw upon. Periodic effects occupy about half the volume, while the work on individual solar events reflects the low level of solar activity during the period under survey. A final group of papers is concerned with various terrestrial phenomena. Volume 3 deals with the related topics of high energy interactions and extensive air showers, and as regards the latter also includes the papers dealing with the primary energy spectrum in the currently important region beyond 1017eV. The high energy section is mainly concerned with experimental material; it includes attempted detection of quarks and monopoles. The main direction of investigation remains based on further developments of emulsion methods, but ionization calorimeter work and more advanced large scale systems are also reported. The section on extensive air showers contains important material from the conventional large scale particle-detecting arrays, work on problems of core-structure, on the muon component and some early results about the radio pulses associated with showers. There are no results of importance about the isotropy of high energy primaries. Finally, there are reports on atmospheric scintillation and Cerenkov observations, and on the so-called muon-poor showers. In Volume 4 reports have been collected on work of muons which does not involve their relationship with large extensive air showers, dealing with such matters as the charge ratio of muons as a function of zenith angle, a wide range of experiments deep underground, associated groups of muons, muon interactions and the problems posed in muon physics arising from the data of the U t a h experiment of Keuffel and others. Progress of various neutrino experiments is reported from the main groups working in this area. The second part of the volume is devoted to technical developments and major experiments currently under construction. J. G. WILSON 1591
BOOK REVIEWS
JEAN-CLAUDE PECKER: Space Observatories (translated from the French). D. Reidel, 1970. vii + 120 pp. D ft. 35. $9.80. THIS RATHERunique little book makes interesting reading--not least because of the flowing Gallic style which has survived the translation into English rather well. In content the book falls into two parts: Part I dealing with the serious limitations facing the ground-based astronomer, and Part II surveying potential advances to be made by observations from space. The 'raisons d'etre' of Space Astronomy are well described in the first six chapters and quite properly deal fully with the problems of atmospheric scattering and refraction which limit the resolution of both optical and radio telescopes on the Earth's surface. In addition, the severe atomic and molecular absorption of the atmospheric gases which block out the X-ray, ultra-violet and much of the far infra-red spectrum is described. The second part of the book is much less useful, however, as the results included are considerably out of date. This is a common problem, of course, with published reviews on rapidly developing disciplines such as Space Astronomy and the extra delay in this case involved by translation from the original French text is no help. In consequence, the stellar ultra-violet and X-ray astronomy includes only the very early (pre-1966) rocket studies, whilst the now highly topical and significant infra-red region is dismissed in a page and a half. Bearing in mind the quality and clarity of the overall book and its obvious potential value to a wide range of interested, though non-expert readers, it is unfortunate that the opportunity was not taken to bring the results survey up to date when this English edition was being prepared. K. A. POUNDS
A. SOMOGYI (Editor: Acta Physica. Proc. of the 11th International Conf. on Cosmic Rays, Budapest, August 25-September 4, 1969. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, 1970. Vol. 2, Solar and Geophysical Effects 767 pp. £12. Vol. 3, High Energy Interactions and Extensive Air Showers 766 pp. £12. Vol. 4, Muons and Neutrinos: Techniques 607 pp. £8.30. THE FIRST volume of these Proceedings has already been reviewed (Vol. 19,798) and the general comments which were made at that time apply to the remaining volumes. Volume 2 covers ground which is generally familiar, but with a substantial amount of satellite material now available and with several years of NM64 ground monitor records to draw upon. Periodic effects occupy about half the volume, while the work on individual solar events reflects the low level of solar activity during the period under survey. A final group of papers is concerned with various terrestrial phenomena. Volume 3 deals with the related topics of high energy interactions and extensive air showers, and as regards the latter also includes the papers dealing with the primary energy spectrum in the currently important region beyond 1017eV. The high energy section is mainly concerned with experimental material; it includes attempted detection of quarks and monopoles. The main direction of investigation remains based on further developments of emulsion methods, but ionization calorimeter work and more advanced large scale systems are also reported. The section on extensive air showers contains important material from the conventional large scale particle-detecting arrays, work on problems of core-structure, on the muon component and some early results about the radio pulses associated with showers. There are no results of importance about the isotropy of high energy primaries. Finally, there are reports on atmospheric scintillation and Cerenkov observations, and on the so-called muon-poor showers. In Volume 4 reports have been collected on work of muons which does not involve their relationship with large extensive air showers, dealing with such matters as the charge ratio of muons as a function of zenith angle, a wide range of experiments deep underground, associated groups of muons, muon interactions and the problems posed in muon physics arising from the data of the U t a h experiment of Keuffel and others. Progress of various neutrino experiments is reported from the main groups working in this area. The second part of the volume is devoted to technical developments and major experiments currently under construction. J. G. WILSON 1591