Books received
The Light Fantastic: A Modern Introduction to Classical and Quantum Optics by Ian R Kenyon, Oxford University Press. Hardback ISBN 9780198566458 £59.95 ($120). Paperback ISBN 9780198566465, £29.95 ($60).
This book presents a thorough and self-contained introduction to modern optics, covering in full the three components of ray optics, wave optics and quantum optics. Digital cameras, LCD screens, aircraft laser gyroscopes and the optical-fibre-based Internet illustrate the penetration of optics into 21st-century life. These and many more modern applications are presented from first principles. The self-contained material allows the reader to select specific themes, which are grouped in the following way: paraxial ray optics with matrix methods and aberrations; interference, coherence and interferometers; diffraction, spectrometers and Gaussian beams; fourier optics, holography and information processing; Maxwell’s theory; scattering, absorption and dispersion in bulk materials; and interface behaviour, etc.
Simple Models of Magnetism by Ralph Skomski, Oxford University Press. Hardback ISBN 9780198570752, £39.95 ($80).
For hundreds of years, models of magnetism have been pivotal in the understanding and advancement of science and technology, from the interpretation of the Earth as a magnetic dipole to quantum mechanics, statistical physics and modern nanotechnology. This book is the first to envision the field of magnetism in its entirety. It complements a rich literature on specific models of magnetism and provides an introduction to simple models, including some simple limits of complicated models. Written in an easily accessible style, with a limited amount of mathematics, it covers a range of quantum-mechanical, finite-temperature, micromagnetic and dynamical models and deals not only with basic magnetic quantities but also with modern areas, such as nanomagnetism and spintronics, and with "exotic" themes, as exemplified by the polymer analogy of magnetic phase transitions.
Introduction to Quantum Effects in Gravity by Viatcheslav Mukhanov and Sergei Winitzki, Cambridge University Press. Hardback ISBN 9780521868341 £45 ($85).
This is the first introductory textbook on quantum field theory in gravitational backgrounds intended for undergraduate and newly graduated students in the fields of theoretical astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics and string theory. It covers the basic (but essential) material of the quantization of fields in an expanding universe and quantum fluctuations in inflationary space–time. It also contains a detailed explanation of the Casimir, Unruh and Hawking effects, and introduces the method of effective action used for calculating the back-reaction of quantum systems on a classical external gravitational field. The broad scope of the material covered will provide the reader with a thorough perspective on the subject, every major result being derived from first principles and thoroughly explained. The book is self-contained, assuming only a basic knowledge of general relativity, and it provides exercises with detailed solutions throughout.