Stellar Structure and Evolution
The attempt to understand the physics of the structure of stars and their change in time - their evolution - has been bothering many physicists and astronomers ever since the last century. This long chain of successful research is well documented not only by numerous papers in the corresponding journals but also by a series of books. Some of them are so excellently written that despite their age they can still be recommended, and not only as documents of the state of the art at that time. A few outstanding examples are the books of R. Emden (1907), A. S. Eddington (1926), S. Chandrasekhar (1939), and M. Schwarzschild (1958). But our science has rapidly expanded in the last few decades, and new aspects have emerged which could not even be anticipated, say, 30 years ago and which today have to be carefully explored. This does not mean, however, that our ambition is to present a complete account of the latest and most refined numerical results. This can well be left to the large and growing number of excellent review articles. The present book is intended rather to be a textbook that will help students and teachers to understand these results as far as possible and present them in a simple and clear manner. We know how difficult this is since we ourselves have tried for the largest part of our scientific career to understand "how the stars work" - and then to make others believe it.
1120722694
Stellar Structure and Evolution
The attempt to understand the physics of the structure of stars and their change in time - their evolution - has been bothering many physicists and astronomers ever since the last century. This long chain of successful research is well documented not only by numerous papers in the corresponding journals but also by a series of books. Some of them are so excellently written that despite their age they can still be recommended, and not only as documents of the state of the art at that time. A few outstanding examples are the books of R. Emden (1907), A. S. Eddington (1926), S. Chandrasekhar (1939), and M. Schwarzschild (1958). But our science has rapidly expanded in the last few decades, and new aspects have emerged which could not even be anticipated, say, 30 years ago and which today have to be carefully explored. This does not mean, however, that our ambition is to present a complete account of the latest and most refined numerical results. This can well be left to the large and growing number of excellent review articles. The present book is intended rather to be a textbook that will help students and teachers to understand these results as far as possible and present them in a simple and clear manner. We know how difficult this is since we ourselves have tried for the largest part of our scientific career to understand "how the stars work" - and then to make others believe it.
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Stellar Structure and Evolution

Stellar Structure and Evolution

Stellar Structure and Evolution

Stellar Structure and Evolution

Overview

The attempt to understand the physics of the structure of stars and their change in time - their evolution - has been bothering many physicists and astronomers ever since the last century. This long chain of successful research is well documented not only by numerous papers in the corresponding journals but also by a series of books. Some of them are so excellently written that despite their age they can still be recommended, and not only as documents of the state of the art at that time. A few outstanding examples are the books of R. Emden (1907), A. S. Eddington (1926), S. Chandrasekhar (1939), and M. Schwarzschild (1958). But our science has rapidly expanded in the last few decades, and new aspects have emerged which could not even be anticipated, say, 30 years ago and which today have to be carefully explored. This does not mean, however, that our ambition is to present a complete account of the latest and most refined numerical results. This can well be left to the large and growing number of excellent review articles. The present book is intended rather to be a textbook that will help students and teachers to understand these results as far as possible and present them in a simple and clear manner. We know how difficult this is since we ourselves have tried for the largest part of our scientific career to understand "how the stars work" - and then to make others believe it.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9783540580133
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date: 07/28/1994
Series: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library
Edition description: 1st ed. 1990. Corr. 3rd printing 1994
Pages: 468
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Rudolf Kippenhahn is author of very successful academic astronomy books as well of a large number of best-selling popular science books on astronomy, atomic physics and cryptology. From 1965-1975 he was professor for astronomy and astrophysics in Göttingen, Germany, and from 1975-1991 he was the director of the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching. He has received several medals and awards including the Eddington medal by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Karl-Schwarzschild medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft. Alfred Weigert was professor for astrophysics at the University of Hamburg, Germany. His research forcussed on the simulation of stellar evolution and on the solution of the set of equations describing the structure of stars. He was not only Rudolf Kippenhahn’s co-author of the first edition of Stellar Structure and Evolution, but also author (with Heinrich J. Wendker) of the successful German introductory textbook “Astronomie und Astrophysik”. He died in 1992. Achim Weiss is an astrophysicist at the Max-Planck Instiute for Astrophysics in Garching and lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. Dr. Weiss’ research interests are on stellar evolution of low- and intermediate mass stars, population synthesis and AGB- and post-AGB evolution.

Table of Contents

I The Basic Equations.- 1. Coordinates, Mass Distribution, and Gravitational Field in Spherical Stars.- 2. Conservation of Momentum.- 3. The Virial Theorem.- 4. Conservation of Energy.- 5. Transport of Energy by Radiation and Conduction.- 6. Stability Against Local, Non-spherical Perturbations.- 7. Transport of Energy by Convection.- 8. The Chemical Composition.- II The Overall Problem.- 9. The Differential Equations of Stellar Evolution.- 10. Boundary Conditions.- 11. Numerical Procedure.- 12. Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions.- III Properties of Stellar Matter.- 13. The Ideal Gas with Radiation.- 14. Ionization.- 15. The Degenerate Electron Gas.- 16. The Equation of State of Stellar Matter.- 17. Opacity.- 18. Nuclear Energy Production.- IV Simple Stellar Models.- 19. Polytropic Gaseous Spheres.- 20. Homology Relations.- 21. Simple Models in the U-V Plane.- 22. The Main Sequence.- 23. Other Main Sequences.- 24. The Hayashi Line.- 25. Stability Considerations.- V Early Stellar Evolution.- 26. The Onset of Star Formation.- 27. The Formation of Protostars.- 28. Pre-Main-Sequence Contraction.- 29. From the Initial to the Present Sun.- 30. Chemical Evolution on the Main Sequence.- VI Post-Main-Sequence Evolution.- 31. Evolution Through Helium Burning — Massive Stars.- 32. Evolution Through Helium Burning — Low-Mass Stars.- 33. Later Phases.- 34. Final Explosions and Collapse.- VII Compact Objects.- 35. White Dwarfs.- 36. Neutron Stars.- 37. Black Holes.- VIII Pulsating Stars.- 38. Adiabatic Spherical Pulsations.- 39. Non-adiabatic Spherical Pulsations.- 40. Non-radial Stellar Oscillations.- IX Stellar Rotation.- 41. The Mechanics of Rotating Stellar Models.- 42. The Thermodynamics of Rotating Stellar Models.- 43. The Angular-Velocity Distribution in Stars.-References.
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