Spiral Structure in Galaxies: A Density Wave Theory [Hardcover]

G Bertin (Author), C C Lin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262023962 | ISBN-13: 978-0262023962 | Publication Date: 1995

How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book presents a theory of spiral structure that has been developed over the past three decades under the continuous stimulus of new observational studies. The theory unfolds in a way that can be grasped by any reader with an undergraduate science background who is interested in astronomy, as well as by graduate students and scientists actively involved in astronomy or related subjects who want to see the "backbone" and the physical content of the theory.The foundations of this theoretical framework were laid in the early 1960s, following the pioneering work of B. Lindblad. C. C. Lin had already contributed significantly to the field of fluid mechanics when he turned his attention to spiral structures, and he has focused on the problem ever since. Giuseppe Bertin joined this research effort when he first visited at MIT in 1975, bringing to the project knowledge from his work on elliptical galaxies and plasma astrophysics. Together, Bertin and Lin have contributed to the exciting developments on spiral structure of the last few decades, working closely with many observers and other theorists. In this book they describe the density-wave theory with the goal of making the key concepts and astrophysical implications explicit and accessible.The essence of the solution Bertin and Lin present is that the spirals are wave rather than material phenomena and generally trace intrinsic characteristics of the individual galaxies. The book is in three parts -- Physical Concepts, Observational Studies, and Dynamical Mechanisms -- with most of the technical details confinedto the last part.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

G. Bertin is Professor of Physics at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy. C. C. Lin is Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262023962
• ISBN-13: 978-0262023962
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,139,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A hard to read book, May 26, 2008

By 

Tomas Rodriguez (Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiral Structure in Galaxies: A Density Wave Theory (Hardcover)

The subject of the book is extremelly interesting and the author seems to know what he is talking about. However, I cannot recommend this book. The author presents it as a divulgative book for begginners. However, beginners will hardly take any advange of it because of the deep matters involved and the unnecessarily technical language he used. He made the mistake to write a divulgative book using the same language he would do in a scientific paper. I am afraid average readers will find it hard to read and will probably not survive the introductory chapters.

4.0 out of 5 stars massive long distance theory, December 31, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spiral Structure in Galaxies: A Density Wave Theory (Hardcover)

It is a tribute to the power of physics and the mind, that humans could conceive of models that try to explain the grand sweep of spiral galaxies. Bertin gives a summary of 30 years research in this field, where he is one of the principal investigators.

He describes how he and Lin and others attempted to integrate continually improving observations with refinements in theory. The result of which has been termed density wave theory. It borrows some ideas from hydrodynamics, and pushes these to a cosmic scale.

The theory is shown to describe fairly adequately how structure can arise out of billions of stars in a galaxy, spread over distances of a hundred thousand light years or more. Some readers will appreciate the elegance of the theory.