Related papers: Modeling Physical Processes at Galactic Scales and…
This conference shows the impressive rate of advances in the observations and theoretical interpretations of large-scale structure. But to explain my feeling that we may still have a lot to learn I offer some comments on our sociology,…
These lecture notes are based on a set of six lectures that I gave in Edinburgh in 2008/2009 and they cover some topics in the interface between Geometry and Physics. They involve some unsolved problems and conjectures and I hope they may…
This is a reflection on the author's experience in teaching logic at the graduate level in a computer science department. The main lesson is that model building and the process of modelling must be placed at the centre stage of logic…
In these lectures I start by briefly reviewing the status of the electroweak theory, in the Standard Model and beyond. I then discuss the motivation and the possible avenues for new physics, on the brink of the LHC start.
This article describes an undergraduate physics module at a university in England that places year 3 student physicists in secondary school classrooms for a semester. This is done as a way of introducing them to the occupation of secondary…
In these lectures I describe some of the open questions in the standard model relating to the nature and origin of mass, forces and matter and discuss some of the speculative theoretical ideas put forth in this regard. Some of the topics…
Timescales spanning 24 orders of magnitude smaller than one second can be studied experimentally, and each range is packed with different physical phenomena. This rich range of timescales offers a great context for an innovative…
Biological organisms are composed of numerous interconnected biochemical processes. Diseases occur when normal functionality of these processes is disrupted. Thus, understanding these biochemical processes and their interrelationships is a…
In these three lectures I review the need to go beyond the Standard Glashow- Weinberg-Salam Model and discuss some of the approaches that are explored in this direction.
A combination of observation, theory, modeling, and laboratory plasma experiments provides a multifaceted approach to develop a much greater understanding of how magnetic fields arise in galactic settings and how these magnetic fields…
These are lecture notes on the subject defined in the title. As such, they do not pretend to be really new, probably except for the only section about Poisson equations with potentials. Yet, the hope of the author is that they may serve as…
The purpose of these lectures is to discuss in some detail a new, non-perturbative approach to quantum gravity. I would like to present the basic ideas, outline the key results that have been obtained so far and indicate where we are headed…
Galaxy formation is at the forefront of observation and theory in cosmology. An improved understanding is essential for improving our knowledge both of the cosmological parameters, of the contents of the universe, and of our origins. In…
These lecture notes are a guided tour through the fascinating world of polymer chains interacting with themselves and/or with their environment. The focus is on the mathematical description of a number of physical and chemical phenomena,…
This lecture course covers cosmology from the particle physicist perspective. Therefore, the emphasis will be on the evidence for the new physics in cosmological and astrophysical data together with minimal theoretical frameworks needed to…
I have two main aims. The first is general, and more philosophical (Section 2). The second is specific, and more closely related to physics (Sections 3 and 4). The first aim is to state my general views about laws and causation at different…
This is the written version of an invited review talk for the 13 Feb 2004 AAAS Meeting in Seattle. The talk's goal is to present a philosophical view of extragalactic astronomy as it applies to the sub-field of galaxy evolution. The talk is…
General-education college astronomy courses offer instructors both a unique audience and a unique challenge. For many students, such a course may be their first time encountering a standalone astronomy class, and it is also likely one of…
This article looks at philosophical aspects and questions that modern astrophysical research gives rise to. Other than cosmology, astrophysics particularly deals with understanding phenomena and processes operating at "intermediate" cosmic…
These lectures are intended to provide an introduction to the rich interplay between N-body simulations and stellar-kinematic observations of galaxies. The first section describes the kinematic properties of galaxies that are accessible to…