- Email: [email protected]
Perturbed angular correlations
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
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