Advanced Stellar Astrophysics

About this book

In the last few decades, remarkable progress has been made in understanding stars. This graduate-level textbook provides a systematic, self-contained and lucid introduction to the physical processes and fundamental equations underlying all aspects of stellar astrophysics. The timely volume provides authoritative astronomical discussions as well as rigorous mathematical derivations and illuminating explanations of the physical concepts involved. In addition to traditional topics such as stellar interiors and atmospheres, the reader is introduced to stellar winds, mass accretion, nuclear astrophysics, weak interactions, novae, supernovae, pulsars, neutron stars and black holes. A concise introduction to general relativity is also included. At the end of each chapter, exercises and helpful hints are provided to test and develop the understanding of the student. This advanced textbook on stellar astrophysics provides a thorough introduction for graduate students and a review for researchers.

Contents

Preface; 1. Star formation and stellar evolution: an overview; 2. Introduction to the physics of stellar interiors and the equations of stellar structure; 3. Statistical physics; 4. Absorption processes; 5. Stellar atmospheres, convective envelopes and stellar winds; 6. Thermonuclear reactions and nucleosynthesis; 7. Weak interactions in stellar interiors; 8. Stellar stability and hydrodynamics; 9. Binary stars, mass accretion, stellar rotation and meridional circulation; 10. Stellar magnetic fields; 11. White dwarfs, novae and supernovae; 12. General relativity; 13. Neutron stars and black holes; Appendix A: physical and astronomical constants; Appendix B: further comments on the Dirac equation; Appendix C: mathematical appendix; Appendix D: polytropes and the isothermal gas sphere; Appendix E: solutions to selected problems; References; Index.

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