Table of contents

Various aspects and mechanisms of QCD colour confinement are surveyed. Following the introduction of gauge-invariant order parameters, a field-correlator definition of the phenomenon is given, and a class of correlators responsible for confinement is explicitly separated. It is shown that, in terms of effective Lagrangians, confinement is a dual Meissner effect, and for its quantitative description the popular Abelian projection method is used, which is explained in detail. To determine the field configurations responsible for confinement, classical solutions are analysed using a newly-developed criterion. Finally, all aspects of confinement are illustrated by a simple example of string formation for a quark moving in a field of heavy antiquark.

The construction of a dynamical theory of neural networks has been a goal of physicists, mathematicians and biologists for many years now. Experimental breakthroughs in modern neurobiology have allowed researchers to approach this goal. Significant advances have been made for small neural networks, which are generators of the rhythmic activities of living organisms. The subject of the present review is the problem of synchronisation, one of the major aspects of the dynamical theory. It is shown that synchronisation plays a key role in the activity of both minimal neural networks (neural pair) and neural assemblies with a large number of elements (cortex).

In July 1994, a dramatic event took place—the collision of the Shoemaker–Levy 9 comet with Jupiter. This collision has been accompanied by a great number of various effects in the atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere of Jupiter. The comet impact became one of the most grandiose active experiments Nature has ever performed. Among the most interesting effects are bursts of radiation registered in a wide spectral range during the cometary fragments fall, the generation of giant gaseous plumes caused by impact, the formation of large-scale long-lived vortex structures in the Jovian atmosphere. Unexpected events were the significant brightening of the Jovian radiation belts during the cometary fragments impact, the peculiarities of polar aurorae induced by the impact, the weakening of the Io plasma torus brightness observed in the extreme UV range, etc. In the present review, the results of the comet impact with Jupiter are discussed and a unified physical model is suggested which explains consistently the basis observational data.