Low energy neutron beams are used to address many questions in nuclear physics, particle physics and astrophysics. The scientific issues include elucidating the nature of time reversal noninvariance; understanding the origin of the baryon asymmetry in the Universe; describing the weak interaction between quarks and between nucleons; understanding the origin of the elements in stellar and big bang nucleosynthesis.This book summarizes how spallation neutron sources work and discuss the advantages of pulsed beams in reducing systematic errors in precision measurements. It also describes recent breakthroughs in ultracold neutron production, together with the physics that will be addressed by the new generation of intense neutron sources.

The spallation neutron source (SNS) being built at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will be by far the highest flux pulsed source of epithermal neutrons in the world when it comes on line in 2006. Although the main thrust of the science program at the SNS will be materials science, the facility could provide outstanding opportunities for research in nuclear astrophysics, fundamental symmetries, and applied nuclear physics. To review the current status of these fields and to begin to assemble the scientific case and the community of researchers for future experiments at the SNS, a workshop on “Astrophysics, Symmetries, and Applied Physics” was held in March 2002 at the ORNL. Over 60 scientists, representing 11 US and 4 foreign universities as well as many national laboratories around the world, participated in the workshop. The proceedings describe the current state of research in those fields and the future opportunities at the SNS.

Strangeness and Spin in Fundamental Physics is dedicated to the discussion of the role played by two subtle and somehow puzzling quantum numbers, the strangeness and the spin, in fundamental physics. They both relate to basic properties of the fundamental quantum field theories describing strong and electro-weak interactions and to their phenomenological applications. In some instances, like the partonic spin structure of the proton, they are deeply correlated. The many puzzling results recently obtained by measuring several spin asymmetries have stimulated gigantic progresses in the study of the spin structure of protons and neutrons. Intense theoretical activity has discovered new features of non-perturbative QCD, like strong correlations between the spin and the intrinsic motions of quarks inside the nucleons. The purpose of this publication is that of providing a complete, updated and critical account of the most recent and relevant discoveries in the above fields, both from the experimental and theoretical sides.

This volume is a collection of invited talks, oral contributions and poster contributions devoted to advances in gamma-ray spectroscopy of various capture reactions. In agreement with the trend of previous meetings in the series, the symposium paid special attention to theoretical and experimental studies of nuclear structure at low energies and to nuclear astrophysics. Among the other topics covered are: statistical properties of nuclei and other quantum many-body systems, fundamental physics, nuclear data, practical application of capture reactions, and new techniques and facilities for capture gamma-ray spectroscopy.

This book reviews the major physics results from the meson factories, surveys the status of the relevant fields (including pion physics, hadron physics, and electroweak physics), and explores prospects for further progress.

This proceedings volume is a collection of papers dealing with the applications of spallation neutron sources to pure science, applied science and defense programs. The topics, ranging from accelerator technology to applications in materials science and neutrino physics, are covered by experts in their respective fields.