scope:

This collection of twenty articles in honor of the noted physicist and mentor Sergei Matinyan focuses on topics that are of fundamental importance to high-energy physics, field theory and cosmology. The topics range from integrable quantum field theories, three-dimensional Ising models, parton models and tests of the Standard Model, to black holes in loop quantum gravity, the cosmological constant and magnetic fields in cosmology. A pedagogical essay by Lev Okun concentrates on the problem of fundamental units. The articles have been written by well-known experts and are addressed to graduate students and researchers.