Astrophysics Processes

About this book

Bridging the gap between physics and astronomy textbooks, this book provides physical explanations of twelve fundamental astrophysical processes underlying a wide range of phenomena in stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy. Written for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, its strong pedagogy ensures solid mastery of each process and application. It contains tutorial figures and step-by-step mathematical and physical development with real examples and data. Topics covered include the Kepler-Newton problem, stellar structure, radiation processes, special relativity in astronomy, radio propagation in the interstellar medium, and gravitational lensing. Applications presented include Jeans length, Eddington luminosity, the cooling of the CMB, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, Doppler boosting in jets, and determinations of the Hubble constant.

Contents

Preface; 1. Kepler, Newton, and the mass function; 2. Equilibrium in stars; 3. Equations of state; 4. Stellar structure and evolution; 5. Thermal bremsstrahlung radiation; 6. Blackbody radiation; 7. Special theory of relativity in astronomy; 8. Synchrotron radiation; 9. Compton scattering; 10. Hydrogen spin-flip radiation; 11. Dispersion and Faraday rotation; 12. Gravitational lensing; References; Acronyms; Appendix; Index.

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Biography

Hale Bradt is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his forty years on the faculty, he carried out research in cosmic ray physics and X-ray astronomy and taught courses in physics and astrophysics. Bradt founded the MIT sounding rocket program in x-ray astronomy, and was a senior or principal investigator on three missions for x-ray astronomy. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Science Medal for his contributions to HEAO-1 (High Energy Astronomical Observatory), the 1990 Buechner Teaching Prize of the MIT Physics Department, and shared the 1999 Bruno Rossi prize of the American Astronomical Society for his contributions to the RXTE (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) program. His previous book, Astronomy Methods: A Physical Approach to Astronomical Observations, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2004.