Book Description
This text provides a comprehensive and timely introduction to general relativity. The foundations of the theory in Part I are thoroughly developed together with the required mathematical background from differential geometry in Part III. The six chapters in Part II are devoted to tests of general relativity and to many of its applications. Binary pulsars are studied in considerable detail. Much space is devoted to the study of compact objects, especially to black holes. This includes a detailed derivation of the Kerr solution, Israel's proof of his uniqueness theorem, and derivations of the basic laws of black hole physics. The final chapter of this part contains Witten's proof of the positive energy theorem.
The book addresses undergraduate and graduate students in physics, astrophysics and mathematics. It is very well structured and should become a standard text for a modern treatment of gravitational physics. The clear presentation of differential geometry makes it also useful for string theory and other fields of physics, classical as well as quantum.
General Relativity
is a complete revision and extension of Straumann's well-known classic textbook "General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics."
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.
Customer Reviews:
A very interesting but advanced textbook.......2004-11-23
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.
Book Description
The book gives an extended review of theoretical and observational aspects of neutron star physics. With masses comparable to that of the Sun and radii of about ten kilometres, neutron stars are the densest stars in the Universe. This book describes all layers of neutron stars, from the surface to the core, with the emphasis on their structure and equation of state. Theories of dense matter are reviewed, and used to construct neutron star models. Hypothetical strange quark stars and possible exotic phases in neutron star cores are also discussed. Also covered are the effects of strong magnetic fields in neutron star envelopes and a comparison on neutron star models with observations.
Book Description
This self-contained textbook brings together many different branches of physics--e.g. nuclear physics, solid state physics, particle physics, hydrodynamics, relativity--to analyze compact objects. The latest astronomical data is assessed. Over 250 exercises.
Customer Reviews:
About this edition --- Poorly made........2007-02-17
I am not going to talk about the subject of the book. If it has been around for those many years (in spite of the so many observational advances in the subject) is because the quality. I just want to say that this edition is poorly built physically. The words are printed with an inject-type-low-quality machine, so if you have a good eye you can see that the letters have irregular borders. You don't see that in old editions. After one month the pages are starting to falling apart. The chapter 2, which is about the equation of state in a degenerate gas and to which you have to come back to it often, have the extremes of the pages off so now I have to be very careful with the book if I don't wanna lose the pages. This is very annoying, specially if you remember that you paid about a $100 for this poorly built edition. It is a disappointment too, the book is very good, but is not made to last.
2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
printing: Strauss Gmbh, Morlenbach
bookbinding: Litges & Dopf Buchbinderei GmbH, Heppenheim
Last things..........2004-01-29
There are few things in the universe as apocalyptic in scope as the death of a star -- generally speaking, the remnant of a star at the end of its lifespan will turn into one of three objects: a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole (there are a few other variations or extensions, but this is the primary end).
This particular book is designed for the advanced undergraduate in physical sciences, or the beginning graduate student. It presumes no specific astrophysical education, although few without an interest in astrophysics will seek out this text, and thus readers will probably know a thing or two. It does assume a good degree of knowledge of physics, including electromagnetism, mechanics (both classical/Newtonian and quantum), special relativity, and thermodynamics. It also assumes a good proficiency with integral and differential calculus; the higher the mathematical training the better for understanding this text.
Compact objects are the core fragments or remnants of stars -- as such, they differ from stars in significant ways. They are no longer burning fuel in fusion reactions, which is what supports much of the mass of regular stars against gravitational collapse. The three objects of the title are different degrees of the same type of object, and what a collapsing star becomes depends upon how much mass still remains at the exhaustion of nuclear energy processes. The collapse of such large objects impacts matter at the very smallest levels -- hence, the study here is not simply one of gravitational pull versus surface area and small size relative to stars, but also of the distortions that occur at the smallest of levels due to the tremendous warping.
The book begins with a broad overview of what is known and not known, and what will be studied. For instance, the dividing lines between objects is blurry, particularly when it comes to determining the line between neutron star and black hole formation. Similarly, there are other methods of forming black holes (accretion of materials onto neutron stars, supermassive star collapse, or primordial black holes) that are theoretically possible but still (as of the publication of this text) still very speculative.
Compact objects are important in the universe for many reasons. Many galaxies seem to have such compact objects both at their centre and scattered through the stellar populations. They produce various x-ray sources (pulsars) as well as other interesting objects in the sky.
This is not a book for the casual, back-yard astronomer. It can be used by the advanced amateur, however, who has sufficient mathematics and physics background. There are problems to be worked (this is a text book, after all) -- many of these are fairly elementary with computer programming now; at the time of publication, the regular use of computers was only beginning to become commonplace. One hopes that the text will be updated someday, particularly as some aspects of the field change sufficiently that various emphases have changed -- in thinking about popular astrophysics (if such is not an oxymoron), black holes tend to be attractive (if you'll forgive the pun!), and thus the literature is frequently updated.
The authors, both professors at Cornell, have interest in astrophysics, cosmology, stellar dynamics, and relativity. The text is solid and interesting, worthwhile even twenty years after original publication.
Excellent reference.......2002-05-17
I did not have this book as a graduate class text, but I used it extensively while studying for my candidacy exam. This book was invaluable for that purpose. It contains great insight and intuition for many of the physical phenomena described. Its theoretical description of neutron stars was better than any other I had seen. I highly recommend this book.
Please create an audio adaptation ..........1999-06-02
To the publisher I would appreciate it if the publisher could produce an audio adaptation of this book. I would love to listen to this while I drive to work and to let my 16 month old son listen to it as a bedtime story. Arnold D Veness
Book Description
Special and General Relativity are concisely developed together with essential aspects of nuclear and particle physics. Problem sets are provided for many chapters, making the book ideal for a course on the physics of white dwarf and neutron star interiors.
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The Universe in Gamma Rays
V. Schonfelder
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 3540678743 |
Book Description
Gamma-ray astronomy began in the mid-1960s with balloon satellite, and, at very high photon energies, also with ground-based instruments. However, the most significant progress was made in the last decade of the 20th century, when the tree satellite missions SIGMA, Compton, and Beppo-Sax gave a completely new picture of our Universe and made gamma-ray astronomy an integral part of astronomical research. This book, written by well-known experts, gives the first comprehensive presentation of this field of research, addressing both graduate students and researchers. Gamma-ray astronomy helps us to understand the most energetic processes and the most violent events in the Universe. After describing cosmic gamma-ray production and absorption, the instrumentation used in gamma-ray astronomy is explained. The main part of the book deals with astronomical results, including the somewhat surprising result that the gamma-ray sky is continuously changing.
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Theory of Neutron Star Magnetospheres (Theoretical Astrophysics)
F. Curtis Michel
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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ASIN: 0226523306 |
Book Description
An incomparable reference for astrophysicists studying pulsars and other kinds of neutron stars, Theory of Neutron Star Magnetospheres sums up two decades of astrophysical research. It provides in one volume the most important findings to date on this topic, essential to astrophysicists faced with a huge and widely scattered literature.
F. Curtis Michel, who was among the first theorists to propose a neutron star model for radio pulsars, analyzes competing models of pulsars, radio emission models, winds and jets from pulsars, pulsating X-ray sources, gamma-ray burst sources, and other neutron-star driven phenomena. Although the book places primary emphasis on theoretical essentials, it also provides a considerable introduction to the observational data and its organization. Michel emphasizes the problems and uncertainties that have arisen in the research as well as the considerable progress that has been made to date.
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High-Energy Radiation from Magnetized Neutron Stars (Theoretical Astrophysics)
Peter Meszaros
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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Binding: Paperback
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Plasma Physics for Astrophysics (Princeton Series in Astrophysics)
ASIN: 0226520943 |
Book Description
Neutron stars, the most extreme state of matter yet confirmed, are responsible for much of the high-energy radiation detected in the universe. Mèszàros provides a general overview of the physics of magnetized neutron stars, discusses in detail the radiation processes and transport properties relevant to the production and propagation of high-energy radiation in the outer layers of these objects, and reviews the observational properties and theoretical models of various types of neutron star sources.
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Stellar Physics 2: Stellar Evolution and Stability
G. S. Bisnovatyi-Kogan
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 3540669876 |
Book Description
"
Stellar Physics" is a rather unique book in the growing literature on star formation and evolution. Not only does the author, a leading expert in the field, give a very thorough description of the current knowledge about stellar physics, but he handles with equal care the many problems that this field of research still faces. A bibliography with well over 650 entries makes this book an unparalleled source of references.
"Stellar Evolution and Stability" is the second volume and can be read, as can the first volume, as a largely independent work. It traces in great detail the evolution of the protostar towards the main sequence and beyond this to the last stage of stellar evolution, with the corresponding vast range from white dwarfs to the mighty supernovae explosions and blackhole formation. The book concludes with special chapters on the dynamical, thermal and pulsing stability of stars.
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Stellar Physics 1: Fundamental Concepts and Stellar Equilibrium
G. S. Bisnovatyi-Kogan
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 354063262X |
Book Description
Stellar Physics is a rather unique book among the growing literature on star formation and evolution. Not only does the author, a leading expert in the field, give a very thorough description of the current knowledge about stellar physics but he handles with equal care the many problems that this field of research still faces. A bibliography with well over 650 entries makes this book an unparalleled source of references.Fundamental Concepts and Stellar Equilibrium is the first of two volumes, and can be read, as can the second volume, as an independent work. It provides an extensive introduction into all physical processes that play a role in star formation and evolution. The basic equations describing stellar equilibrium are discussed, where attention is paid to both the theoretical and the numerical aspects.
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