Note: Lecture Notes in Physics -- Geomorphological Fluid Mechanics -- Copyright -- Preface -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- 1 The Language of Pattern and Form -- 2 Geophysical Aspects of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics -- 3 Introduction to Rheology and Application to Geophysics -- 4 Granular Material Theories Revisited -- 5 Earth's Surface Morphology and Convection in the Mantle -- 6 Morphological Instabilities in Flows with Cooling, Freezing or Dissolution -- 7 Shallow Lava Theory -- 8 Explosive Volcanic Eruptions -- 9 The Dynamics of Snow and Ice Masses -- 10 Response of Italian Glaciers to Climatic Variations -- 11 Asymptotic Theories of Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves -- 12 Aspects of Iceberg Deterioration and Drift -- 13 Snow Avalanches -- 14 Dense Granular Avalanches: Mathematical Description and Experimental Validation -- 15 Patterns of Dirt -- 16 Invitation to Sediment Transport -- 17 Types of Aeolian Sand Dunes and Their Formation -- 18 Dunes and Drumlins -- 19 Estuarine Patterns: An Introduction to Their Morphology and Mechanics -- 20 Longshore Bars and Bragg Resonance -- 21 Debris Flows and Related Phenomena -- 22 Mud Flow - Slow and Fast -- Index.

Note: Title Page -- Indice -- Preface -- Gruppo fotografico dei partecipanti al Corso -- Total solar irradiance variability: A review -- Introduction -- Variations observed in total solar irradiance -- Modeling total solar irradiance variations -- Modeling variations on active-regions time scale -- Results of multivariate spectral analysis -- Results of singular spectrum analysis -- Modeling variations over the solar cycle -- Uncertainties of irradiance measurements -- Limitation of the irradiance models -- Conclusions -- Cosmogenic isotopes as a tool to study solar and terrestrial variability -- Introduction -- Cosmogenic isotopes -- Production of cosmogenic isotopes -- Transport of cosmogenic isotopes -- Detection of cosmogenic isotopes -- Cosmogenic isotopes and solar variability -- Cosmogenic isotopes and terrestrial variability -- Precipitation rates -- 36Cl bomb pulse -- The "35 ky peak -- Solar variability and climate -- Summary -- Records of the solar cycle in terrestrial archives -- Introduction -- The 11 y solar cycle -- Records of the solar hydromagnetic variability -- Records of the solar bolometric variability -- Conclusions -- The 200 y variability in terrestrial archives: solar forcing? -- Cosmogenic isotope records -- Climatic records -- Records in the shallow-water cores of the Gallipoli terrace -- The cores and their dating -- The total carbonate time series -- Comparison of the carbonate record with the tree ring radiocarbon record -- The thermoluminescence (TL) time series -- Conclusions -- The solar-irradiance variability re~orded by thermoluminescence in shallow Ionian Sea sediments -- Introduction -- Experimental procedure -- Spectral properties of the TL profiles -- Conclusion -- Solar cylces recorded in meteorites -- Introduction -- Solar modulation of GCR in the inner heliosphere. , Modelling of cosmogenic nuclide production in meteorites -- The 11 y and the century scale solar cycle in meteorites -- The 11 y solar cycle -- The century scale solar cycle -- Conclusions -- Radiocarbon time scale of the Mediterranean core CT85-5: the last 40 000 years -- Radiocarbon dating -- Dating method and radiocarbon time scale -- Radiocarbon dating of the deep-sea core CT85-5 -- Long-term global change from Mediterranean Sea sediments -- Introduction -- Core dating -- Comparison of carbonate profiles in Tyrrhenian and North Atlantic cores -- Conclusions -- Records of solar activity in planetary objects -- Charge particle environment in the interplanetary space -- Interaction of charged particles with matter -- Rates of production of tracks and their depth profiles -- Tracks due to VVH (Z more or equal 30) nuclei -- Rates of production of stable and radio nuclides -- Isotope production by solar particles -- Production of nuclides by GCR protons -- Neutron capture effects -- Application of cosmogenic effects for paleosolar activity -- Paleoactivity of the Sun: Meteoritic perspective -- Meteorite records over decades to century -- Meteorite records over 10^6-10^9 years -- Meteorite records relating to the earliest stages of the solar system -- Meteorite records of the early activity of the Sun -- The Sun through time: The lunar and planetary perspective -- Lunar samples as monitors of solar processes -- The diagnostic signatures of the Sun and possible interferences -- Lunar rocks as monitors of solar-flare fluxes and their variation over the past few million years -- Lunar breccias and soils as monitors of solar processes and long-term secular variations in solar-wind characteristics -- The exposure history of grains and rocks -- The characteristic signatures of the contemporary Sun -- Measurements and possible interferences. , Observed long-term changes in isotopic ratios -- The solar-wind velocity -- Evidence of solar variability from other planetary records -- Advanced spectral-analysis methods -- Introduction -- Classical spectral estimation -- Periodogram -- Variance reduction -- Leakage reduction -- Correlogram -- Maximum-entropy method (MEM) -- Parametric spectral estimation -- Some problems with MEM spectra -- Multi-channel MEM -- Multi-taper method (MTM) -- Singular-spectrum analysis (SSA) -- Basic algorithms -- Reconstruction and power spectrum -- Monte Carlo SSA (MC-SSA) -- Multi-channel SSA (MSSA) -- Wavelet analysis -- Windowed Fourier transform (WFT) -- The wavelet transform (WT) -- Concluding remarks -- Dynamics of forced and coupled systems -- Introduction -- Time series analysis: A matter of motivations -- Phase space reconstruction -- Correlation dimension -- Self-similar random processes and surrogate data -- Systems with on / off intermittency -- Weakly coupled systems -- Conclusions and perspectives -- The maintenance of uncertainty -- Introduction -- Preliminaries -- State-space dynamics -- Linearized dynamics of infinitesimal uncertainties -- Instantaneous infinitesimal dynamics -- Finite-time evolution of infinitesimal uncertainties -- Lyapunov exponents and predictability -- The Baker's apprentice map -- Infinitesimals and predictability -- Dimensions -- The Grassberger-Procaccia algorithm -- Towards a better estimate from Takens' estimators -- Space-time-separation diagrams -- Intrinsic limits to the analysis of geometry -- Takens' theorem -- The method of delays -- Noise -- Prediction, prophecy, and pontification -- Introduction -- Simulations, models and physics -- Ground rules -- Data-based models: dynamic reconstructions -- Analogue prediction -- Local prediction -- Global prediction -- Accountable forecasts of chaotic systems. , Evaluating ensemble forecasts -- The annulus -- Prophecies -- Aids for more reliable nonlinear analysis -- Significant results: surrogate data, synthetic data and self-deception -- Surrogate data and the bootstrap -- Surrogate predictors: Is my model any good? -- Hints for the evaluation of new techniques -- Avoiding simple straw men -- Feasibility tests for the identification of chaos -- On detecting "tiny" data sets -- Building models consistent with the observations -- Cost functions -- t-shadowing: Is my model any good? (reprise) -- Casting infinitely long shadows (out-of-sample) -- Distinguishing model error and system sensitivity -- Forecast error and model sensitivity -- Accountability -- Residual predictability -- Deterministic or stochastic dynamics? -- Using ensembles to distinguish the expectation from the expected -- Numerical Weather Prediction -- Probabilistic prediction with a deterministic model -- The analysis -- Constructing and interpreting ensembles -- The outlook(s) for today -- Conclusion -- Summary -- Solar variability: Simple models and proxy data -- A nonlinear dynamo model -- Subject and methods of qualitative analysis -- Bifurcation phenomena in the nonlinear dynamo model -- Reconstruction of grand minima of solar activity from Delta 14C data -- Historical sunspot observations and grand minima -- Determination of a record of grand minima from proxy data -- Preprocessing -- Estimation procedure -- Result -- Test of models -- Comments -- Appendix A - Testing the AR model -- Phase synchronization of chaotic oscillators and analysis of bivariate data -- Introduction -- Instantaneous phase of signals and systems -- Phase synchronization of chaotic self-sustained oscillators -- Looking for synchronization phenomena in real data -- Conclusions -- Search for low-dimensional chaos in observational data -- Introduction. , The underlying dynamics -- A test case: the Rossler oscillator -- The test data sets -- The flow reconstruction -- Noise -- A real system: the light curve of R Scuti -- Conclusion -- The evolution of the solar cycle -- Introduction -- The reconstruction of the solar cycle back to 1609 -- Original measurement devices -- Wolf sunspot number -- Group sunspot number -- Solar-diameter measurements -- Original techniques and data -- Comparison of historical radius with modern values -- Period analysis of the solar-diameter data -- Maunder Minimum -- Butterfly diagram and rotation distributions -- Wavelet analysis -- Further evidences from solar-type stars -- Alpha-omega dynamo and solar cycle -- Nonlinear prospects -- Conclusion -- Catastrophes, chaos and cycles -- Astromathematics -- Sensitive systems -- Gradient systems -- Excitability -- Chaotic systems -- Intermittency -- The macculate Sun -- Variable solar maccularity -- The solar tachocline -- Solar solitoids -- Cycles -- A model solar oscillation -- Solar activity waves -- Physics of the solar dynamo -- Introduction -- Stellar magnetic cycles -- Solar magnetic activity -- Stellar activity -- Origins of the Sun's magnetic field -- Dynamo theory -- The kinematic dynamo problem -- Nonlinear equilibration -- Mean-field dynamo theory -- Modulation of activity cycles -- Toy models -- Global models -- Solar activity and climatic change -- Observational correlations -- Mechanisms and speculations -- Dynamics of the solar convection zone -- Introduction -- Multiple discrete scales of convection -- Probing of structure and flows with helioseismology -- Multitude of magnetic structures and dynamo action -- Structures and inverse cascades in turbulence -- Dynamical range of solar turbulence -- Local models of rotating compressible convection -- Formulation of local f-plane models. , Nature of rotating turbulent convection.

Note: Title Page -- Indice -- Introductory note -- Gruppo fotografico dei partecipanti al Corso fuori testo -- Status of cosmological parameters: Omega_0 approx 0.3 vs. Omega = 1 -- Introduction -- Models with mostly cold dark matter -- Age of the Universe t_0 -- Hubble parameter H_0 -- A) Relative-distance methods -- B) Fundamental-physical approaches -- Correcting for Virgocentric infall -- Cosmological constant Lambda, and t_0 again -- Measuring Omega_0 -- Very-large-scale measurements -- Large-scale measurements -- Measurements on scales of a few Mpc -- Estimates on galaxy halo scales -- Clusters -- Cluster baryons vs. big-bang nucleosynthesis -- Cluster morphology -- Cluster evolution -- Early structure formation -- Neutrino mass -- Conclusions -- OBSERVATIONAL DATA -- Galaxy redshift surveys -- Introduction -- Redshift surveys -- The Las Campanas Redshift Survey -- The beginning of the end? -- Beyond the LCRS -- Peculiar motions and the Tully-Fisher relation -- Introduction -- Newtonian theory of small perturbations -- The case for large-scale motions -- The CMB dipole -- Motions at the Local Supercluster scale -- The Great Attractor -- Bulk flows -- The Tully-Fisher relation -- Scaling laws -- Extinction and the TF relation -- Optical and radio velocity widths -- The scatter in the TF relation -- Importance of the TF template relation -- Results for a cluster sample -- An all-sky field spiral sample -- Galaxy redshift surveys: caveat emptor -- Introduction -- Catalogs: tricks and pitfalls -- Nearby-galaxy catalogs -- Optical catalog -- IRAS galaxy surveys -- The density field based on redshift catalogs -- Morphological and luminosity segregation -- The Pisces-Perseus Supercluster -- Not a random volume -- Measures of clustering -- Morphological segregation -- Substructure in clusters: Abell 2634 -- Hidden galaxies -- Conclusion. , CMBR observations: spectrum -- Introduction -- Spectrum observations prior to COBE -- COBE mission -- DIRBE measurements -- FIRAS measurements -- Comparison of FIRAS with other data -- Possible distortions -- Summary -- CMBR observations: anisotropy -- Introduction -- History -- The COBE DMR -- DMR data analysis. Sparse matrix -- Correlated noise in the DMR maps -- Scaling to large maps -- DMR results -- Galactic interference -- Power spectrum -- Comparison to large-scale structure -- Future CMB work -- Galaxy number counts -- Introduction -- Modelling the number counts -- Luminosity evolution models -- The redshift distributions of faint field galaxies -- Could we fit the counts in a q_0 = 0.5 Universe model? -- Conclusion -- Cosmological adventures in the Lyman forest -- Introduction -- A Lyman-alpha database -- The b-N_(HI) distributions: the temperature of the Lyman-alpha clouds -- The HI column density distribution -- The redshift distribution -- The measure of the ultraviolet background from the proximity effect -- Clustering properties of the Lyman-alpha clouds -- Simulations -- ADVANCED STATISTICAL ESTIMATORS -- Cosmic velocity fields -- Introduction -- Gravitational instability -- Measuring peculiar velocities -- Distance indicators -- Malmquist biases -- Homogenized catalogs -- Analysis of observed peculiar velocities -- Toy models -- Potential analysis -- Regularized multiparamenter models-Wiener filter -- Malmquist-free analysis -- Fields of velocity and mass density -- Predicted motions from the galaxy Z-distribution -- Testing basic hypotheses -- CMB fluctuations vs. motions -- Galaxies vs. dynamical mass -- Environmental effects: ellipticals vs. spirals -- Then initial fluctuations -- Power spectrum-dark matter -- Bulk velocity -- Mach number -- Power spectrum from POTENT -- Power spectrum from likelihood analysis. , Probability distribution-back in time -- The value of Omega -- beta from galaxies vs. the CMB dipole -- beta from galaxy density vs. velocities -- beta from distortions in redshift space -- Omega from PDFs using velocities -- Omega from velocities in voids -- Discussion: are the hypotheses justified? -- Advanced statistical methods for large-scale structure studies -- Introduction -- The correlation statistics -- Correlation functions -- Correlations of a Gaussian field -- The count-in-cell statistics -- The hierarchical model -- Error analysis -- Sampling errors -- Cosmic variance -- Results from observations -- Correlation analysis -- The probability density function -- Geometrical descriptions of the LSS -- The void probability function -- Topology -- Conclusions -- Appendix A - The functional derivative -- Models of nonlinear clustering -- I. - Interesting distribution functions -- Introduction -- Continuous random fields -- Statistical description -- Gaussian random fields -- Scaling and the Edgeworth expansion -- The lognormal model -- Properties -- Motivation -- Discrete distributions -- Statistical description -- The Poisson model -- The GQED distribution -- Conclusions -- Measures of galaxy clustering -- Introduction -- Surveys of galaxy redshifts -- Galaxy obscuration -- Brightness and apparent-magnitude limit -- Redshift pace distortions -- Segregation -- Ergodic hypothesis -- Statistical measures -- Second-order characteristics -- Estimators of xi(r) -- Moments of the cell counts and scaling -- Multiscaling -- Conclusions -- Improved ways to compare simulations to data -- Introduction -- Testing models -- Very large scales -- Large-scale structure (~(10--100) Mpc) -- Intermediate scales (less than 10 Mpc) -- Large-scale constrained realizations -- Early structure formation -- Needs for the future -- Minkovski functionals in cosmology. , Motivation -- Fundamentals -- Hadwiger's theorem -- The principal kinematical formula of integral geometry -- Minkowski functionals of a Poissonian distribution -- Clusters, walls and filaments -- Applications -- Simulations -- Redshift catalogues -- The software and its future -- FROM BB TO MATTER-RADIATION DECOUPLING -- Inflation -- Preliminary-The art of inflation -- Introduction-Why inflate? -- Fine tuning in the big-bang model -- Origin of perturbations beyond the Hubble radius -- Unwanted relics -- Accelerated expansion and entropy production -- Models of inflation -- No-roll inflation -- Slow-roll inflation -- Pre-history -- The classical era of old inflation -- Slow-rollover renaissance of new inflation -- Rococo inflation -- Impressionism -- The postmodern era -- Details of the classical evolution -- Quantum corrections -- Overwiew -- Scalar perturbations -- Exact solution for power law inflation -- Slow-roll expansion for general potentials -- Tensor perturbations -- Mixed dark matter and supersymmetry -- Introduction -- Lepton number violation and neutrinos as HDM candidates -- The lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) -- Lepton number violation in SUSY -- Mixed DM -- The nature of the dark matter -- Introduction -- Physical evidence for dark matter -- Spiral galaxies -- Clusters of galaxies -- Large-scale flows -- The baryonic content of the Universe -- Distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way -- Brief survey of dark-matter candidates -- Thermal relics as dark matter (WIMPs) -- Nonthermal relics as dark matter (axions) -- Search for WIMP dark matter (neutralinos) -- Motivation for supersymmetry -- Relic abundance in more detail -- Accelerator constraints -- Detection techniques -- Direct detection -- Indirect detection -- Baryonic dark matter (MACHOs) -- Microlensing -- The MACHO Collaboration experiment -- Event selection. , Detection efficiency -- Interpretation of LMC events -- Interpretation of bulge events -- Advantages of having many events -- MACHO conclusion -- Conclusions -- Doppler peaks an all that: CMB anisotropies and what they can tell us -- Introduction -- Sources of CMB fluctuations: an overview -- Primary fluctuations -- Secondary fluctuations -- Gravitational effects -- Effects of local reionization -- Effects of global reionization -- Tertiary" fluctuations (foregrounds and headaches) -- Extragalactic point sources -- Radio sources -- Infrared sources -- Diffuse galactic sources -- Power spectrum -- Frequency dependence -- Local sources -- The origin of primary anisotropies -- Before recombination: acoustic oscillations -- The classical Jeans analysis -- The relativistic multifluid case -- A toy model -- The random element -- The Doppler peaks vanish... -- ... and return -- The WKB approximation -- During recombination: damping and diffusion -- After recombination: curvature and projection effects -- Parameter dependence -- How accurately can the CMB pin down cosmological parameters? -- The parameter estimation problem -- The error bars -- A geometric interpretation -- Real-world complications: foregrounds and incomplete sky coverage -- Foregrounds -- Incomplete sky coverage -- Summary -- Appendix A - Cosmic statistics-a primer -- Random fields -- Ergodicity -- Gaussianity -- The 3D power spectrum -- Working with spherical harmonics -- Random fields on the sphere -- DARK MATTER MODELS AND LSS -- Numerical simulations in cosmology. - I. -- Introduction -- Equations of evolution of fluctuations in an expanding universe -- Methods -- Distribution of the matter and effects of resolution -- Halo identification and overmerging problem -- Numerical simulations in cosmology -- II. - Small-scale power spectrum and correlations in ACDM model -- Introduction. , Model.