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Overview
This text, updated and expanded from the first edition, is designed for beginning students of stellar physics, and introduces the fundamentals of stellar structure and evolution. In emphasizing the general picture of the life cycles of stars and the physics responsible, it also allows prospective specialists a taste of many of the detailed aspects of this mature discipline. The authors develop a solid foundation in important theory that is often overlooked in typical courses yet steer clear of extraneous intensive mathematics and physics.
Topics include:
*The life stories of stars explained by observation and theory
*Equations of state of stellar material
*Basic radiative transfer and stellar spectra
*Stellar energy sources and nucleosynthesis
*Phenomenological approaches to convection
*Numerical techniques for computation of stellar evolution
Keeping pace with recent developments, the authors incorporate important elements such as asteroseismology, and the effects of rotation and magnetic fields.
The attached CD-ROM contains a suite of stellar structure, evolution, and pulsation source codes in FORTRAN suitable for compilation under Unix-based systems, MS Windows platforms, etc. Some executable code is included for Windows PCs. The CD also includes illustrations of results of stellar evolution calculations for a variety of evolutionary phases. This edition contains an extensive set of exercises that supplement and expand on the text.
About the authors:
Carl Hansen is Professor Emeritus of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, and Fellow Adjoint of JILA, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Steve Kawaler is Professor of Astrophysics at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Virginia Trimble is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Irvine, and Visiting Professor of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Synopsis
This text, designed for beginning students of stellar physics, introduces the fundamentals of stellar structure and evolution. In emphasizing the general picture of the life cycles of stars and the physics responsible, it also allows prospective specialists a taste of many of the detailed aspects of this mature discipline. The authors develop a solid foundation in important theory that is often overlooked in typical courses, yet steer clear of extraneous intensive mathematics and physics. Topics include nuclear physics and stellar energy sources, the equation of state of stellar material, phenomenological approaches to convection, and modern numerical techniques for computation of stellar evolution. Keeping pace with recent developments, the authors incorporate important elements such as asteroseismology, and the effects of rotation and magnetic fields.
The text contains the source code for two useful programs, ZAMS (for constructing chemically homogeneous zero-age main sequence models) and PULS (to study the seismological properties of the ZAMS models). Some chapters include exercises. The diskette can be used on any computer with a FORTRAN compiler.