Acknowledgement

The slow and tedious task of compiling the information found within these pages has had many direct and indirect supporters over the years, to whom I sincerely wish to express my gratitude. Alas, all their diligent and faithful support could probably not avert my limitations and imperfections of introducing oversights, omissions and errors, for which I am deeply sorry and which should in no way be regarded as a sign of disrespect to all their hard work.

I wish to thank professor Grasser who saw fit to offer me an opportunity to work as a member of his group and Robert Entner for introducing me. Furthermore, I wish to thank professor Selberherr for his continued support and for providing a challenging working environment at the institute, which forced me to adapt and evolve. My gratitude goes to my former colleagues at the institute for whenever they provided support and advice, especially Michael Spevak, with whom I worked only a short but influential and inspiring time, before his calling took him elsewhere.

I am deeply indebted to Михаил ”Mixi” Недялков, who has patiently been introducing me to the arcane art of Monte Carlo methods and has been a guide through the mysterious and twisting realm of quantum mechanics and its obscure secrets.

I am very grateful to Виктор Свердлов for his time and for his moral support.

I also wish to express my gratitude to Franz Stimpfl and Josef Weinbub for their fresh and interested questions, which reminded me, that there is always more to learn and explore.

Проф. Иван Димов has my sincerest gratitude for agreeing to be an examiner of my thesis despite his busy schedule.

I owe an exceptionally big debt of gratitude to René Heinzl, who has been my coworker, friend and brother in arms since the earliest days on this quest for knowledge and understanding. Not only did the heated debates and discussions provide new, valuable insights, but our joint travels, which took us all around the globe, opened my eyes to new views on life beyond the merely scientific. I would have abandoned the project, without his fierce and fiery loyalty and belief in me being able to of its feasibility, when mine had already faltered.

Of course nothing would have been possible without the continued and unwavering support of my family and friends, who provided me with a silver lining in the dark times and kept me from completely loosing the last traces of my sanity. That their names are not given explicitly makes them no less dearer, my gratitude no less, as those knowing me indubitably know.

I hope no one is offended by these words, but if this should be the case, you should know that I do take exception to you taking offence and therefore invite you to seek me out so that I may offend you properly.

Non nobis …