The Physics of Astrophysics Volume II: Gas Dynamics (Hardcover)

by Frank H. Shu (Author) "In this volume, we shall be concerned with the dynamics of gases under astrophysical conditions..." (more)
Key Phrases: radiative relaxation layer, nonlinear resolution, minus characteristic, Mathematical Physics (more...)

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Product Description
Presented in two volumes, The Physics of Astrophysics is ideally suited for a year-long astrophysics course for university seniors and first-year graduate students. This second volume deals with the interactions of matter and radiation, and electromagnetic fields of macroscopic scale in both the strongly collisional and collisionless regimes. It covers such fields as single-fluid theory, including radiative processes; waves, shocks, and fronts; magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics; as well as their applications to such topics as self-gravitating spherical masses, accretion disks, spiral density waves, star formation, and dynamo theory. Over two hundred photos, line drawings, and tables amplify the major points of the text.

About the Author
Frank Shu is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1968. Shu has written a number of expository articles for the lay public, and is the author of a best-selling introductory textbook in astronomy and astrophysics, The Physical Universe. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 476 pages
• Publisher: University Science Books; First Edition edition (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935702652
• ISBN-13: 978-0935702651
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #617,548 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 26, 2000

By	Pedro Osuna Alcalaya (Spain) - See all my reviews

I was very dissapointed to see a rating on this book of only two little stars, so I've decided to express my opinion as well, for I believe this book deserves a much better qualification. The book gives an excellent overview in many of the most important aspects of the theory of gas dynamics as applied to astrophysics. The clarity with which the author expresses the underlying physical phenomena is amazing. You even find it "easy" the way in which fluid equations are deduced by taking the different momenta of the statistical distribution function of the fluid, or why a supersonic flow governed by a hyperbolic PDE is converted to a subsonic one governed by an elliptic PDE after passage through a shock wave in the stationary case. It's true that it doesn't go into too much detail; if it would, the book should have been at least of the size of the "Gravitation" (by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler) and it wouldn't easily fit anywhere. However, the references to excellent books on all the touched subjects have been meticulously selected and should be consulted by anyone interested in expanding the knowledge on any specific topic of the ones covered by the book. And for your curiosity, if you want to know whether Mr. Shu is a competent astrophysicist or not, just go to the Astronomical Data Service online and search for his name. You'll discover quite a big number of high quality papers on different subjects...