Book Description
White dwarfs, neutron stars, and (solar mass) black holes are the collapsed cores of stars which, near the ends of their luminous lives, have shed most of their mass in supernova explosions or other, less spectacular, instabilities. Here gravity crushes matter to realms that lie far beyond present empirical knowledge. This book explores the diverse forms that such compact stars can possibly take, as constrained by the laws of nature: the general principles of relativity and quantum mechanics, the properties of nuclear matter deduced from nuclei, and the asymptotic freedom of quarks at high density. The book is self contained. It reviews general relativity, essential aspects of nuclear and particle physics, and general features of white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes; it includes background on such matters as stellar formation and evolution, the discovery of pulsars and associated phenomena, and the strange-matter hypothesis. The book develops a theory for the constitution of neutron stars and the more exotic Hyperon Stars, Hybrid Stars (containing a quark matter core surrounded by an intricate lattice of quark and hadronic matter) and Strange Stars and Dwarfs (composed of the three light quark flavors sheathed in a solid skin of heavy ions). This second edition has been revised throughout to clarify discussions and bring data up to date; it includes new figures, several new sections, and new chapters on Bose condensates in neutron stars and on phase transitions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A very interesting but advanced textbook
Compact stars are fascinating objects.It is sad that it is difficult to adequately explain many of their properties in a book for the layman.This book does a great job, but it is basically a textbook for graduate students.

This book does review the fundamentals of compact stars.It shows the evidence that the source of energy for a supernova is the binding energy of a neutron star (that binding energy is about ten per cent of the mass).

Compact stars are relativistic, the book teaches us General Relativity, in what I consider a very readable and instructive chapter.The Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations are then derived to obtain the gravitational mass and pressure gradient for a static and spherically symmetric compact star.We're also reminded of a famous test of General Relativity provided by the Hulse-Taylor pulsar binary discovered in 1974.That test found a decay in the orbital period of 0.76 microseconds per year, agreeing to within a percent of the calculations of energy loss through gravitational radiation predicted by General Relativity: convincing evidence if you ask me!

And we're reminded that some of these compact stars rotate at very high rates.And that objects falling towards them starting at rest from a great distance fall not towards the center of the star but instead acquire ever larger angular velocities as they approach.

After that we learn some theoretical basics about white dwarves and neutron stars, their temperatures, the stellar sequences that produce them, and black holes.

Next we find we need to learn some Lagrangian Field Theory, so that we can try to derive a relativistically covariant theory of dense hadronic matter (the likely constituent of neutron stars).We learn about sigma-omega models and the isospin force.And the author also gets to the question of whether neutron matter is bound or unbound.While neutron stars are clearly bound by gravity, not the nuclear force, the issue is whether there is a bound state of neutron matter at any density.If so, then the surfaces of neutron stars are, well, neutrons, rather than some overlying layer of matter at subnuclear density.

There's a section on the observational evidence for neutron stars, namely pulsar observations.And then we get into the constitution (including the hyperon density) and phase transitions in neutron stars, followed by an extensive discussion of rotating neutron stars.

There's a discussion of pulsar "glitches" which are hypothesized to be starquakes, caused by deceleration-induced stress on the crust of the star. I wish Glendenning had said more about an additional possibility, namely that the star is a rotating neutron superfluid, penetrated by an array of vortex lines, and that the glitches are transitions between metastable states of the vortex array.There are also analogies with experiments done on superfluid liquid helium that support this, so I was hoping to see a discussion of it.Either way, the glitches seem to imply the existence of a crust, ruling out theories of a bound state of neutron matter.

Finally, we've gotten to the fun stuff: quark stars. After all, quarks are the constituents of nucleons, and they're asymptotically free.So are there hybrid stars, with quark matter in the central region and a nuclear matter mantle?That gets us into our introduction to the concept of strange and charm stars, and the MIT bag model of quark confinement.And at the end of the book, we see discussions of the structure of strange quark stars.This is an exciting field, as observations of sub-millisecond pulsars would imply the existence of these strange quark stars.That in turn would imply that the actual ground state of the stong interaction is not quarks confined in hadrons but deconfined strange quark matter.In short. "it would tell us that the universe is in a very long-lived but excited state."

This is a very interesting book, and it is a shame that it requires so much background material to appreciate it. ... Read more

Book Description
The exploration of the first billion years of the history of the Universe, from the so-called dark ages to cosmic reionisation, represents one of the great challenges of contemporary astrophysics. During these phases the first structures start to grow forming the first stars, galaxies, and possibly also soon the first quasars. At the same time the dark, neutral Universe starts to be lit up and ionised by these sources, leading to its progressive reionisation anding at a redshift of about 6. Furthermore the first stars and supernovae begin to enrich their surroundings and the intergalactic medium, and to produce the first dust.
In the recent years tremendous progress has been made on the theoretical understanding and on numerical simulations of the underlying astrophysical mechanisms. Furthermore, observations of signatures of reionisation and even direct observations of galaxies at redshifts larger than 6 are now becoming feasible. The observational and theoretical aspects of this story were comprehensively and pedagocically covered by the lecturers of the 36th Saas-Fee Advanced Course. This volume contains their worked out and updated lecture notes. ... Read more

Book Description
This book utilizes the author's twenty years of research experience to describe conclusions on the nature of quasars, their distribution, and their evolution in the universe. Concentrating on observational astrophysics rather than theory, Quasar Astronomy serves as both a summary of what is known about quasars and a guide to research methods and unanswered questions. After reviewing the cosmological framework and necessary equations, the book discusses all aspects of observed quasar properties. Techniques are summarized for analysing quasar data obtained with various kinds of telescopes and extensive references are given to recent publications. The major original contributions in chapters 5 and 6 deal with the distribution of quasars in spacetime, a subject extensively discussed in the current research literature. The book not only summarizes existing results from various techniques but refers to the potentialities of new instruments that are presently being developed, resulting in a unified, up-to-date and practical account of the astronomy of quasars. ... Read more

Book Description

G. Beutler's Methods of Celestial Mechanics is a coherent textbook for students as well as an excellent reference for practitioners. The first volume gives a thorough treatment of celestial mechanics and presents all the necessary mathematical details that a professional would need. The reader will appreciate the well-written chapters on numerical solution techniques for ordinary differential equations, as well as that on orbit determination. In the second volume applications to the rotation of earth and moon, to artificial earth satellites and to the planetary system are presented. The author addresses all aspects that are of importance in high-tech applications, such as the detailed gravitational fields of all planets and the earth, the oblateness of the earth, the radiation pressure and the atmospheric drag. The concluding part of this monumental treatise explains and details state-of-the-art professional and thoroughly-tested software for celestial mechanics. The accompanying CD-ROM enables readers to employ this software themselves and also serves as to illustrate and reinforce the related theoretical concepts.

Book Description

The book covers the field of solar system astrophysics beginning with basic tools of spherical astronomy and coordinate frames and celestial mechanics. Historical introductions precede the development and discussion in most chapters.

Book Description
Humanity has always looked at the heavens in fascination, but now we have the tools to make precise observations.

In this new book, a distinguished panel makes recommendations for the nation's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including a number of new initiatives for observing the universe.With the goal of optimum value, the recommendations address the role of federal research agencies, allocation of funding, training for scientists, competition and collaboration among space facilities, and much more.

The book identifies the most pressing science questions and explains how specific efforts, from the Next Generation Space Telescope to theoretical studies, will help reveal the answers.

Astronomy has significant impact on science in general as well as on public imagination. The committee discusses how to integrate astronomical discoveries into our education system and our national life. ... Read more

Book Description
This book describes the development of astronomy in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength range, from the first rocket-based experiments in the late 1960s through to the latest satellite missions.It provides detailed material on the tools of EUV astronomy, dealing with the instrumentation, observational techniques, and modelling tools for the interpretation of data.Prospects for future EUV missions are discussed, and a catalog of known EUV sources is included.Download Description
This text describes the development of astronomy in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength range, from the first rocket-based experiments in the late 1960s through to the latest satellite missions. Discussions of the results from the most important space projects are followed by an analysis of the contributions made by EUV astronomy to the study of specific groups of astronomical objects. Within this framework, the book provides detailed material on the tools of EUV astronomy, dealing with the instrumentation, observational techniques, and modelling tools for the interpretation of data. Prospects for future EUV missions are discussed, and a catalogue of the known EUV sources is included. This timely book will be of great value to graduate students and researchers. It is the first to give a complete overview of Extreme Ultraviolet astronomy, and comes at the end of a major phase of discovery in the field. ... Read more

Book Description
Designed for students who have a basic understanding of physics and mathematics, this text provides a fundamental, three-in-one introduction to astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology. The astronomy section explores fundamental topics such as the celestial coordinate system, stellar classification schemes, H-R diagrams, and the masses and radii of stars. The astrophysics section addresses stellar structure, stellar atmospheres, energy generation in stars, and nucleosynthesis. Also covering galactic structure and rotation, the cosmology section introduces the Robertson-Walker metric and Friedman models of the universe and discusses the present status of the Hubble constant along with problems associated with the age of the universe.Numerous problems, diagrams, and up-to-date references make this an ideal introductory text for graduate courses in physics, mathematics, space physics, or any program for which astronomy is an option. ... Read more

Book Description

Beginning with some basic facts about the observable universe the authors consider in successive chapters the complete range of topics that make up a degree course in cosmology and particle astrophysics. The outstanding feature of this book is that it is self-contained, in that no specialised knowledge is required on the part of the reader, apart from basic undergraduate mathematics and physics.

Book Description
This book is intended for students interested in the applications of general relativity in astrophysics and cosmology but who would like to avoid mathematical complications. This volume thus combines relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology in a single volume. It provides an introduction to the subject that will enable students to consult more detailed treatises as well as the current literature. For prospective researchers in these fields, the book includes an appendix on differential forms, and an extensive, though not exhaustive list of references. The book is divided into three parts. The section on general relativity gives the case for a curved space-time, presents the mathematical background (tensor calculus, Riemannian geometry), discusses the Einstein equation and its solutions (including black holes, Penrose processes, and similar topics), and considers the energy-momentum tensor for various solutions. The section on relativistic astrophysics discusses stellar contraction and collapse, neutron stars and their equations of state, black holes, and accretion onto collapsed objects. The section on cosmology discusses various cosmological models, observational tests, and scenarios for the early universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Who is this book for?
For whom was this book written? If you don't know tensor analysis, GR and the rest of that stuff you're sure not going to learn it here. If you do know tensor analysis and the other stuff why are you reading this book? ... Read more

Book Description

The aim of State of the Universe 2007 (and subsequent volumes issued annually) is to provide an annual astronomy review suitable for the popular science level reader to be published every year in September in a format that will be suitable for an appeal to the Christmas market. The book will cover all major astronomical news on topics beyond the Solar System and place them in the context of the longer term goals that astronomers and astrophysicists around the world are aiming for. The target is to capture the excitement and vibrancy of modern astronomical research. The book will present a complete list of the major announcements, discoveries and news items from each year, with the major ones being explained in detail through selected chapters being written by invited contributors who are at the forefront in those fields. The January meeting of the American Astronomical Society each year will be the major source of astronomical news for the following years volume, giving access to potential authors and contacts with public information officers of major observatories, space centers, etc.

Customer Reviews (2)

A must have!
When I read about the book I was quite excited and when I received the book, a few days ago, I was not disappointed. The book has a part dedicated to brief news and other with in-depth articles about very interesting topics (gravitational waves and LIGO, supernova 1987A remnants, gamma ray bursts...) and appendixes with data about current and future telescopes and extrasolar planets. I have still not finished it, but it won't take me long to.

Only slight cons is that I expected it to cover 2006 news and, because editorial schedule, it covers march 2005 - march 2006. Then maybe State of the Universe 2007 was not the most proper or accurate title. Other con was that I expected glossy paper, and it's not, Mate astronomical pictures are not so spectacular, but I guess this way it's cheaper (and more ecologic?).

I hope next year will bring a new State of The Universe, and I sure will buy it,

Excelent Information
I read the Martin Radcliffe's book "State of the Universe 2007" and I think it was a good idea to write a book like this. It is informative, well documented, comprehensive and provides you a good vision of what is going on in the different areas of the Universe whicha are under investigation. I think he should publish it every year, to keep un up-to-date with the latest discoveries. We could collect them and follow up different researches and their results and novelties. Superb. ... Read more

Book Description
The Dictionary of Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy provides a lexicon of terminology covering fields such as astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, relativity, geophysics, meteorology, Newtonian physics, and oceanography. Authors and editors often assume - incorrectly - that readers are familiar with all the terms in professional literature. With over 4,000 definitions and 50 contributing authors, this unique comprehensive dictionary helps scientists to use terminology correctly and to understand papers, articles, and books in which physics-related terms appear. ... Read more

Book Description

After three decades of intense research in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, the time was ripe to summarize basic knowledge on X-ray and gamma-ray spectroscopy for interested students and researchers ready to become involved in new high-energy missions. This volume exposes both the scientific basics and modern methods of high-energy spectroscopic astrophysics. The emphasis is on physical principles and observing methods rather than a discussion of particular classes of high-energy objects, but many examples and new results are included in the three chapters as well.

Book Description
Pulsars offer the opportunity to study physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory, and provide powerful probes for exploring the interstellar medium. This authoritative volume provides an ideal introductory account of pulsars for those entering the field, and an invaluable reference for established researchers. Pulsars, discovered by radioastronomers in 1967, are now studied at optical, X-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths. This book tells the exciting story of their discovery and then leads on to review all aspects of pulsar physics. This second edition has been thoroughly revised to include the latest understanding of millisecond and binary pulsars, and recent observations at X-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths. It includes extensive references and tables and a complete catalogue of all known pulsars. Written by two of the founders of the field, this book provides a unique reference source for researchers, and the only up-to-date introduction to the subject available for graduate students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The discoveries over the past forty years.
The discovery of pulsars is now less than 40 years old. But in that time pulsars have been in the forefront of the discoveries in cosmology. An astounding amount of information exploring the limits of theoretical physics has been obtained from these pulsating light signals.

This book, now in its third edition, would be of interest to the advanced undergraduate astronomy or astrophysics student. Or more likely it can serve as an introductory text to pulsars at the graduate school level or as a source of reference to the researcher. Among other things, it gives a catalog of the 1483 known pulsars.

The text begins with the early history of the discovery of pulsars by Jocelyn Bell during her graduate work at Cambridge (for which her advisor Anthony Hewish received the Nobel prize). From here the book chronicles the discoveries made by other researchers made since that time along with the changes in the theory that these discoveries brought about.

what is currently known about pulsars
Pulsars are one of the most fascinating types of astronomical objects known. This new third edition gives a comprehensive and up to date description of what is known about them.

Much of the book is the same as earlier editions. Like the now familiar story of how the first pulsar was discovered in the 60s by Jocelyn Bell. And how a Nobel was later awarded to her advisor. (Considered by some to be a massive oversight.)

The book explains how pulsars let us probe cosmological distances and times. (The two are related.) It gives the latest models for pulsar formation. More recent results include the solving of the gamma ray bursters conundrum. A deep puzzle until recently, when satellite observations proved vital in explaining bursters.

interested in astronomy or neutron stars?
an excellent book for anyone deeply into astronomy, stellar evolution, or galactic dynamics .. the only part i question is the speculation on internal structure. the book should also appeal to physicists interested in materials or states of matter. ah yes! there is much current research in 'gravity waves' (search on LIGO). good luck! :)

A must have for people interested in pulsars
This book contains everything you need to know about pulsars. Although it includes some advanced physical and mathematical concepts, people not familiar with them can still read and enjoy it. It is an excellentreference for basic information about the discovery, observations andnature of pulsars. ... Read more