Life and death of the stars Ganesan Srinivasan

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Srinivasan, G. (Ganesan), 1942- author.

Series:

Undergraduate lecture notes in physics 2192-4791

Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics 2192-4791

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stars--Evolution.

Stars.

Stars--Formation.

Genre:

Observations

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Berlin Springer 2014

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume is devoted to one of the fascinating things about stars: how they evolve as they age. This evolution is different for stars of different masses. How stars end their lives when their supply of energy is exhausted also depends on their masses. Interestingly, astronomers conjectured about the ultimate fate of the stars even before the details of their evolution became clear. Part I of this book gives an account of the remarkable predictions made during the 1920s and 1930s concerning the ultimate fate of stars. Since much of this development hinged on quantum physics that emerged during this time, a detailed introduction to the relevant physics is included in the book. Part II is a summary of the life history of stars. This discussion is divided into three parts: low-mass stars, like our Sun, intermediate-mass stars, and massive stars. Many of the concepts of contemporary astrophysics were built on the foundation erected by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in the 1930s. This book, written during his birth centenary, includes a brief biographical sketch of the brilliant scientist, which readers will find fascinating. Reading this book will get young students excited about the presently unfolding revolution in astronomy and the challenges that await them in the world of physics, engineering and technology. General readers will also find the book appealing for its highly accessible narrative of the physics of stars

Contents:

Part I: A Historical Perspective

What Are the Stars?

Stars in Their Youth

White Dwarf Stars

The Principles of Statistical Mechanics

Fermi?Dirac Distribution

Quantum Stars

The Chandrasekhar Limit

The Absurd Behaviour of Stars: Not All Stars Will Have Energy to Cool

Guest Stars

Supernovae, Neutron Stars and Black Holes

A Profile of Chandra

Part II: The Life History of Stars?A Modern Perspective

To Burn or Not To Burn

What Does the Future Hold for the Sun?

Life History of Intermediate Mass Stars

Diamonds in the Sky

Exploding Stars

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed March 17, 2014)

Other Format:

Printed edition:

ISBN:

9783642453847

3642453848

364245383X

9783642453830

OCLC:

874997277

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license