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Nuclear theory
Nuclear Physics 57 (1964) 691--694; (~) North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam
BOOK
REVIEWS
K. PRZInRAM (editor), Briefe zur Wellenmechanik (Springer-Verlag, Vienna, 1963. 68 p. D.M. 10). An exchange of scientific correspondence between such people as Schr6dinger, Planck, Einstein and Lorentz cannot fail to be of interest; especially when it dates from 1926 and 1927 and concerns the birth of wave mechanics; but the value of the present publication is severely limited by its fragmentary character: for instance, one of the letters from Lorentz is amputated of a substantial part, of which we are only given a brief s~immary; an important letter from Bohr is alluded to, but not reproduced. Altogether, we are left wondering what fraction of the whole available material is here presented, and according to what criterion the selection has been made. With these reservations, one may express appreciation for the insight which the letters afford us into the attitude of mind of some of the greatest physicists when confronted with Schrt~dinger's decisive contribution to quantum mechanics, and into the latter's heroic struggle with the formulation of the new ideas. Better still than the published papers, they wonderfully reflect the very different styles of the four interlocutors. A few later letters between SchrOdinger and Einstein remind us of their irreductible opposition to the new epistemological features revealed by quantum theory. L.R.
G. B. B~n~DEg, Magnetic resonance at high pressure (Wiley, London, 1964. ix-100 p. 36 s). This monograph describes a field of investigation of matter under high pressure opened up only a decade ago by the extension to such conditions of the nuclear resonance method. L.R. G. C. PmLL~S, J. B. MARION and J. R. RISSER (editors), Progress in fast neutron physics (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1964. xiv-397 p. $ 8.50, 63s). Very carefully edited and neatly printed proceedings of a conference held at Rice University in 1963. The papers here collected (with the exception of 5) are survey articles, but at such a specialized level that they are only useful for people who already know all about the subject. For these specialists, however, the book will undoubtedly serve its purpose most excellently. L.R. E. KAnxSSoN, E. MATTm~ and K. Sn~oBAHN (editors) Perturbed angular correlations (North-Holland, Amsterdam 1964. xvi-466 p. $12.60) This book is a n example of a really good publication of conference proceedings. The text of the communications and discussions at the 1963 Uppsala conference occupies less than half of the book, whereas the other half consists of three thorough survey articles on the influence of extranuclear fields on angular correlations, magnetic moments of nuclear excited states and paramagnetic effects, preceded by an excellent introduction to the whole subject. The value of the book is further enhanced by the addition, as appendices, of tables of nuclear spins and moments, lifetimes of excited nuclear states and angular correlation coefficients and a note on finite solid angle corrections. L.R.
A. M. I.ad~, Nuclear theory (W. A. $4.95 paperbound).
Benjgmin~ New York, 1964. x-250 p. $8.00 clothbound,
A substantial part of this book contains the text of a course of lectures destined to introduce experimenters to the "spurious mysteries" of the conception of pairing correlation which has thrown 691
692
BOOK REVIEW
so much light on essential features of the structure of nuclei and their collective behaviour. The author has made a brave and successful attempt at bringing order in the chaos of "models" and "approximations" centered around this conception, and his guidance will be appreciated as much by the theorists as by the experimenters. There follows a selection of reprints of the most important papers on the subject; the mutual relations of these papers are exhibited in a very clear chart at the beginning of Dr. Lane's lectures. L.R. Yu. N. DEMKOV, l/ariationalprinciples in the theory of collisions (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1963. x-157 p. 42s) A very useful monograph, clearly written and thorough in its treatment. After giving the different formulations of the variational principle and discussing their mutual cormexions and applications, the author analyses with instructive appeals to physical examples the general properties of the collision matrix. The book ends with an interesting chapter on the virial theorem. L.R. D. R. FRISCH (editor), Progress in nuclear physics, vol. 9 (Pergamon, Oxford, 1964. 310 p. 90s) This ninth volume of the well-known series contains six excellent reviews of important topics, three on instrumental questions (spark chambers, semiconductor counters, high-energy beam design), a particularly remarkable one by R. J. Eden on a theoretical method, the "structure analysis" of collision amplitudes (i.e., the study of the analytical properties of these amplitudes) for high energy processes, and. finally two on physics: the interaction of strange particles with nuclei, the electromagnetic properties of the rouen. L.R. P. E. HODOSON, The optical model of elastic scattering (Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press; Onford, 1963. viii-211 p. 30 s) P. B. JONES, The optical model in nuclear and particle physics (Interscience, London, 1963. vii-118 p. 35 s). These two monographs, which both cover not only nuclear reactions but also high energy processes, differ in scope (the former being limited to elastic scattering) but above all in the relative emphasis put on the I two aspects of the subject: Hodgson discusses in great detail, and very competently, the question of the foundation of the optical model and treats more cursorily the techniques for using the model in the analysis of experimental data; Jones insists just on the last point (and herein lies the usefulness of his tract) and prudently desists from any pretension to treating the first problem in any deeper way. In fact, the section he devotes to this treatment is marred by a curious reluctance to abandon well-beaten tracks leading nowhere; the spell of expansions in orthonormal sets of functions, which lures people into such tracks, is apparently hard to break! L.R. W. I. FUTTERMAN (editor), Propagation and instabilities in plasmas (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1963. vi-144 p. $4.50) Amplified versions of specialized papers presented at the seventh Lockheed Magnetohydrodynamics Symposium, held in Pale Alto in December 1962. L.R.
Nobel Lectures "Physics" (1942-1962) (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1964. xiii-619 p. [ 24 per set of 3, 65 per set of 9, ~ 80 for the whole series). All Nobel lectures are being reprinted in a series of volumes in which they will be collected in a more systematic and accordingly more practical way than in the yearly publication Les prix Nobel. For the period 1901-1962 there will be 3 volumes for physics, 3 for chemistry, 3 for physiology and medicine, 1 for literature and 1 for peace.
BOOK
REVIEWS
K. PRZInRAM (editor), Briefe zur Wellenmechanik (Springer-Verlag, Vienna, 1963. 68 p. D.M. 10). An exchange of scientific correspondence between such people as Schr6dinger, Planck, Einstein and Lorentz cannot fail to be of interest; especially when it dates from 1926 and 1927 and concerns the birth of wave mechanics; but the value of the present publication is severely limited by its fragmentary character: for instance, one of the letters from Lorentz is amputated of a substantial part, of which we are only given a brief s~immary; an important letter from Bohr is alluded to, but not reproduced. Altogether, we are left wondering what fraction of the whole available material is here presented, and according to what criterion the selection has been made. With these reservations, one may express appreciation for the insight which the letters afford us into the attitude of mind of some of the greatest physicists when confronted with Schrt~dinger's decisive contribution to quantum mechanics, and into the latter's heroic struggle with the formulation of the new ideas. Better still than the published papers, they wonderfully reflect the very different styles of the four interlocutors. A few later letters between SchrOdinger and Einstein remind us of their irreductible opposition to the new epistemological features revealed by quantum theory. L.R.
G. B. B~n~DEg, Magnetic resonance at high pressure (Wiley, London, 1964. ix-100 p. 36 s). This monograph describes a field of investigation of matter under high pressure opened up only a decade ago by the extension to such conditions of the nuclear resonance method. L.R. G. C. PmLL~S, J. B. MARION and J. R. RISSER (editors), Progress in fast neutron physics (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1964. xiv-397 p. $ 8.50, 63s). Very carefully edited and neatly printed proceedings of a conference held at Rice University in 1963. The papers here collected (with the exception of 5) are survey articles, but at such a specialized level that they are only useful for people who already know all about the subject. For these specialists, however, the book will undoubtedly serve its purpose most excellently. L.R. E. KAnxSSoN, E. MATTm~ and K. Sn~oBAHN (editors) Perturbed angular correlations (North-Holland, Amsterdam 1964. xvi-466 p. $12.60) This book is a n example of a really good publication of conference proceedings. The text of the communications and discussions at the 1963 Uppsala conference occupies less than half of the book, whereas the other half consists of three thorough survey articles on the influence of extranuclear fields on angular correlations, magnetic moments of nuclear excited states and paramagnetic effects, preceded by an excellent introduction to the whole subject. The value of the book is further enhanced by the addition, as appendices, of tables of nuclear spins and moments, lifetimes of excited nuclear states and angular correlation coefficients and a note on finite solid angle corrections. L.R.
A. M. I.ad~, Nuclear theory (W. A. $4.95 paperbound).
Benjgmin~ New York, 1964. x-250 p. $8.00 clothbound,
A substantial part of this book contains the text of a course of lectures destined to introduce experimenters to the "spurious mysteries" of the conception of pairing correlation which has thrown 691
692
BOOK REVIEW
so much light on essential features of the structure of nuclei and their collective behaviour. The author has made a brave and successful attempt at bringing order in the chaos of "models" and "approximations" centered around this conception, and his guidance will be appreciated as much by the theorists as by the experimenters. There follows a selection of reprints of the most important papers on the subject; the mutual relations of these papers are exhibited in a very clear chart at the beginning of Dr. Lane's lectures. L.R. Yu. N. DEMKOV, l/ariationalprinciples in the theory of collisions (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1963. x-157 p. 42s) A very useful monograph, clearly written and thorough in its treatment. After giving the different formulations of the variational principle and discussing their mutual cormexions and applications, the author analyses with instructive appeals to physical examples the general properties of the collision matrix. The book ends with an interesting chapter on the virial theorem. L.R. D. R. FRISCH (editor), Progress in nuclear physics, vol. 9 (Pergamon, Oxford, 1964. 310 p. 90s) This ninth volume of the well-known series contains six excellent reviews of important topics, three on instrumental questions (spark chambers, semiconductor counters, high-energy beam design), a particularly remarkable one by R. J. Eden on a theoretical method, the "structure analysis" of collision amplitudes (i.e., the study of the analytical properties of these amplitudes) for high energy processes, and. finally two on physics: the interaction of strange particles with nuclei, the electromagnetic properties of the rouen. L.R. P. E. HODOSON, The optical model of elastic scattering (Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press; Onford, 1963. viii-211 p. 30 s) P. B. JONES, The optical model in nuclear and particle physics (Interscience, London, 1963. vii-118 p. 35 s). These two monographs, which both cover not only nuclear reactions but also high energy processes, differ in scope (the former being limited to elastic scattering) but above all in the relative emphasis put on the I two aspects of the subject: Hodgson discusses in great detail, and very competently, the question of the foundation of the optical model and treats more cursorily the techniques for using the model in the analysis of experimental data; Jones insists just on the last point (and herein lies the usefulness of his tract) and prudently desists from any pretension to treating the first problem in any deeper way. In fact, the section he devotes to this treatment is marred by a curious reluctance to abandon well-beaten tracks leading nowhere; the spell of expansions in orthonormal sets of functions, which lures people into such tracks, is apparently hard to break! L.R. W. I. FUTTERMAN (editor), Propagation and instabilities in plasmas (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1963. vi-144 p. $4.50) Amplified versions of specialized papers presented at the seventh Lockheed Magnetohydrodynamics Symposium, held in Pale Alto in December 1962. L.R.
Nobel Lectures "Physics" (1942-1962) (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1964. xiii-619 p. [ 24 per set of 3, 65 per set of 9, ~ 80 for the whole series). All Nobel lectures are being reprinted in a series of volumes in which they will be collected in a more systematic and accordingly more practical way than in the yearly publication Les prix Nobel. For the period 1901-1962 there will be 3 volumes for physics, 3 for chemistry, 3 for physiology and medicine, 1 for literature and 1 for peace.