- Offers detailed and clear coverage of modern topics within stellar structure and stellar evolution such as black holes, cosmology and gravitational waves
- Adopts a highly pedagogical approach, providing numerous astrophysical examples which will encourage students to read more broadly about general relativity and cosmology
- Includes online resources providing a password-protected solutions manual and a gallery of images from the book
This textbook offers a modern approach to the physics of stars, assuming only undergraduate-level preparation in mathematics and physics, and minimal prior knowledge of astronomy. It starts with a concise review of introductory concepts in astronomy, before covering the nuclear processes and energy transport in stellar interiors, and stellar evolution from star formation to the common stellar endpoints as white dwarfs and neutron stars.
In addition to the standard material, the author also discusses more contemporary topics that students will find engaging, such as neutrino oscillations and the MSW resonance, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, advanced nucleosynthesis, neutron stars, black holes, cosmology, and gravitational waves.
With hundreds of worked examples, explanatory boxes, and problems with solutions, this textbook provides a solid foundation for learning either in a classroom setting or through self-study.
Table of Contents:
- 1. Some properties of stars
- 2. The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
- 3. Stellar equations of state
- 4. Hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium
- 5. Thermonuclear reactions in stars
- 6. Stellar burning processes
- 7. Energy transport in stars
- 8. Summary of stellar equations
- 9. The formation of stars
- 10. Life and times on the main sequence
- 11. Flavor oscillations of solar neutrinos
- 12. Solar neutrinos and the MSW effect
- 13. Evolution of lower-mass stars
- 14. Evolution of higher-mass stars
- 15. Stellar pulsations and variability
- 16. White dwarfs and neutron stars
- 17. Black holes
- 18. Accreting binary systems
- 19. Nova explosions and X-ray bursts
- 20. Supernovae
- 21. Gamma-ray bursts
- 22. Gravitational waves and stellar evolution
The author Mike Guidry is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee.
