On one of the inside cover
pages it is stated that the objectives of the
ISTC are to provide the
opportunity for experts in the CIS to redirect their
talents to peaceful activities
and to integrate CIS scientists into the
global scientific
community. My main comment on this book
is that I admire
these objectives and I think
that the realization of this book is a
milestone on the way to their
achievement.
A book on "High-energy
phenomena in electric discharges in dense gases" is
an ambitious undertaking. The high-energy phenomena in electric
discharges
that are discussed in this
book are mainly related to runaway electrons, but
Prof. Babich also covers
briefly a few other high-energy phenomena.
For
example, there is a section on
experimental studies and modeling of the
generation of x-rays in
sliding discharges and another section on the
production of neutrons in gas
discharges in deuterium at high overvoltages.
The latter is not well known
in the electric discharge literature and it is
interesting to see it
discussed here.
This book is lengthy because
is a fairly complete and detailed review of the
scientific literature on the
subject. Prof. Babich begins by tracing
the
history of the concept of
runaway electrons from the original
idea in 1925
to the present day. Much of the early work was in the context of
the generation
of penetrating radiation in
thunderstorm activity. Prof. Babich
presents
results from a number of
experiments in this context arguing that the
penetrating radiation is
related to the production of runaway electrons and
that the same phenomena can be
observed in laboratory experiments in
electric discharges.
I found the third chapter on
the contemporary status of the theory of
runaway electrons in weakly
ionized gases to be the most interesting chapter
in the book. In this chapter, Prof. Babich compares and
contrasts different
theoretical approaches
developed to describe runaway electrons.
Especially
useful for me were the
criticisms (I mean this in a positive sense) made by
Prof. Babich and his views as
to the particular advantages or disadvantages of
each approach.
The fourth chapter treats the
problem of gas breakdown with particular
emphasis on streamers and
their dynamics. This chapter is amply
illustrated
with useful figures and
numerical results drawn from the literature.
In
this chapter, the author
succeeds in showing the links between work from
different groups, and the
synthesis presented in this chapter should be
useful for both experts and
newcomers to the field.
Results from laboratory
experiments in gas discharges "governed or
accompanied by runaway
electrons" is the main thrust of the fifth chapter.
The sheer number of references
(207!) discussed in this chapter is
impressive and Prof. Babich
manages to put some order to the vast amount of
work in this area.
Overall, I like this
book. And, although there are some
rough spots, I
think that Prof. Babich has
managed to bridge the gap that has sometimes
separated East/West
researchers in this complex subject area.
His English
is quite readable and this
work should help to establish a common
terminology, which has been
complicated by the uneven translations of the
Russian literature into
English. He recounts material from a
number of
Russian works in a pedagogical
style that is much easier to follow than in
the original references. Although applications of these phenomena
are not
the main point of the book, Prof.
Babich does take care to point out the
practical aspects and in which
applications these phenomena are important.
During Prof. Babich's research
career, he has personally made many
contributions to our current
understanding of the phenomena discussed here.
He is a very gracious man and
is careful to give credit where it is
deserved. This makes for a pleasantly even-handed
presentation of the
material.
Leanne Pitchford
Directeur de Recherche,
Centre de Physique des Plasmas et Applications de Toulouse,
Université Paul Sabatier
CPAT, 118 route de Narbonne
31062 Toulouse, France