Pulsating Stars

The scope of modern astrophysics is the entire cosmos and everything in it. As and substantial as its subject, The Tapestry of Modern Astrophysics provides advanced undergraduates or graduate-level students with a comprehensive introduction to the subject.Avoiding axiomatic presentations, the author combines extensive qualitative discussions with analytical treatments so that students develop physical intuition-the combination of observations and theoretical "horse sense" that is necessary for research in the field. The text is particularly distinguished by its deep and broad coverage, showing the way apparently different parts of astrophysics are intimately connected.Emphasizing the physical basis of the astrophysical phenomena along with the interpretation of data, Shore covers:\* The physical processes common to all cosmic bodies-gravitation, thermal physics, and the gas laws. Special topics include statistical mechanics of stellar systems, rate equations, and General Relativity\* Overview of instrumentation and data analysis methods including calibration, instrumentation, and image formation and reconstruction\* Radiative transfer and physical processes in stellar and planetary atmospheres. Special topics include spectral classification and techniques for treating scattering\* Stellar structure and evolution, energy sources, and nucleosynthesis\* The interstellar medium with a general introduction to radiative and hydrodynamical processes\* The Milky Way as a galaxy, emphasizing the connection between locally observed phenomena and broader properties of extragalactic systems, active galaxies, and clusters of galaxies\* Cosmology and structureformationSTEVEN N. SHORE is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Indiana University South Bend. He is a scientific editor of the Astrophysical Journal and a visiting professor at Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, University of Pisa, University of Notre Dame, and Arizona State University. He is the author of An Introduction to Astrophysical Hydrodynamics.

This book surveys our understanding of stars which change in brightness because they pulsate. Pulsating variable stars are keys to distance scales inside and beyond the Milky Way galaxy. They test our understanding not only of stellar pulsation theory but also of stellar structure and evolution theory. Moreover, pulsating stars are important probes of the formation and evolution of our own and neighboring galaxies. Our understanding of pulsating stars has greatly increased in recent years as large-scale surveys of pulsating stars in the Milky Way and other Local Group galaxies have provided a wealth of new observations and as space-based instruments have studied particular pulsating stars in unprecedented detail.

Historical Overview -- Fundamentals Of Stellar Variability Observations -- Classification Of Variable Stars -- Stellar Structure And Evolution Theory -- Stellar Pulsation Theory -- Rr Lyrae Stars -- Cepheid And Related Variable Stars -- Red Variable Stars -- Pulsating Stars Close To The Lower Main Sequence In The H-r Diagram -- Pulsating Stars Close To The Upper Main Sequence In The H-r Diagram -- Pulsating Supergiant Stars -- Hot Subdwarf Pulsators -- Pulsating Degenerate Stars. Márcio Catelan And Horace A. Smith. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 311-409) And Indexes. Content: Historical overview -- Fundamentals of stellar variability observations -- Classification of variable stars -- Stellar structure and evolution theory -- Stellar pulsation theory -- RR Lyrae stars -- Cepheid and related variable stars -- Red variable stars -- Pulsating stars close to the lower main sequence in the H-R diagram -- Pulsating stars close to the upper main sequence in the H-R diagram -- Pulsating supergiant stars -- Hot subdwarf pulsators -- Pulsating degenerate stars. The most recent and comprehensive book on pulsating stars which ties the observations to our present understanding of stellar pulsation and evolution theory. Written by experienced researchers and authors in the field, this book includes the latest observational results and is valuable reading for astronomers, graduate students, nuclear physicists and high energy physicists