Customer Reviews

Introduction to Stellar Astrophysics: Volume 3

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The third volume in this series is an excellent text. It provides a good level of detail (ie, no hand-waving and no obsession with minutiae), moving efficiently through convection, energy generation, basic stellar structure equations, methods for calculating the models, evolution and tests of the models, star formation. It is worth noting that this book has the clearest description of degeneracy I have yet come across; this is a topic where many authors wave their hands and give a footnote, but she has taken the time to clearly delineate issues that many students find puzzling. This is a REAL text, so come prepared with the usual background in calculus, quantum, and thermodynamics.

This is an excellent series Vol 1 thur 3 for the person wishing to review the basics of stellar astrophysics. I stress the words review for the author assumes at least a basic level of knowledge on the physics of stellar interiors. The reader is cautioned to be versed in basic mathematical skills up through the beginning calculus level as detailed worked out examples are not provided in the text. At the conclusion of this and Volumes 1 and 2 are a series of chapter review problems for which there are no answers provided. Volume 1 and 2 deal with stellar data and atmospheres.

This is a good set of volumes and worth having if you are knowledgeable in the subject. It is not a self teaching set but a sound set to be used for classroom work at the intermediate level.

My only real complaint was that the author did not provide worked out answers to the problem sets at the end of each book.

This is one of those rare books bridging the gap between undergraduate and more advanced graduated books. The book is not very big in size, but it is certainly dense. I goes straight to the point and allows very little deviation from its main topic: basic stellar structure and evolution. The book is easy to follow. Uses lots of formulae, but mathematics are kept at a basic level and most important, developments are always complete. Little is left for the imagination of the reader. That contributes to make it a pleasure to read. The book is part of a series, but it is self-contained and the frequent references to volume 2 are not too much annoying.

The book covers lots of stellar topics from the very beginning, but it is focused mainly in main sequence stars and red giants. Stars formation is treated only superficially and black holes are simply avoided; i.e. general relativity background is not required.

The book is always close to the observational phenomena but does not overwhelm the reader with lots of observational data. The first part of the book is oriented to settling the background of the basic stellar equations. The second part builds on that to draw conclusions and compare the results with observational phenomena.

I strongly recommend this book for readers who are not experts in the subject, but would like to advance one more step into stellar astrophysics. It would be also a good reference book for a one semester course in stellar evolution.