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This second edition of Galaxy Formation is an up-to-date text on astrophysical cosmology, expounding the structure of the classical cosmological models from a contemporary viewpoint. This forms the background to a detailed study of the origin of structure and galaxies in the Universe. The derivations of many of the most important results are derived by simple physical arguments which illuminate the results of more advanced treatments. A very wide range of observational data is brought to bear upon these problems, including the most recent results from WMAP, the Hubble Space Telescope, galaxy surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, studies of Type 1a supernovae, and many other observations.
Part I Preliminaries.- 1 A Brief History of Cosmology and Galaxy Formation.- 2 The Large Scale Structure of the Universe.- 3 Galaxies.- 4 Clusters of Galaxies.- Part II The Basic Framework.- 5 The Theoretical Framework.- 6 An Introduction to Relativistic Gravity.- 7 The Friedman World Models.- 8 The Determination of Cosmological Parameters.- 9 The Thermal History of the Universe.- 10 Nucleosynthesis in the Early Universe.- Part III The Development of Primordial Fluctuations under Gravity.- 11 The Evolution of Perturbations in the Standard Big Bang.- 12 More Tools and Problems.- 13 Dark Matter and Galaxy Formation.- 14 Correlation Functions and the Spectrum of the Initial Fluctuations.- 15 Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.- Part IV The Post-Recombination Universe.- 16 The Post-Recombination Era.- 17 The Evolution of Galaxies and Active Galaxies with Cosmic Epoch.- 18 The Intergalactic Medium.- 19 Making Real Galaxies.- 20 The Very Early Universe.- Index.
From the reviews of the first edition: "This book is yet another example of the author's outstanding expository skills and deserves to be hailed as a brilliant and up-to-date account of current understanding in the field of cosmology and galaxy formation." The Observatory, 1999 au!Despite its title, the book actually covers pretty much all of extragalactic astronomy and cosmology!offers one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the topic, in particular where observational data are concerned!.Longair never fails to place the results within the big picture!Besides completeness, it is also the most up-to-date textbook. Even very recent developments are included...I very much enjoyed reading this book, and I am sure I will make use of it the next time I teach a cosmology graduate course, as both a textbook for the students and a guide in preparing my lectures." Physics Today, September 1999 From the reviews of the second edition: "This second edition of Longair's 1998 book is extensively revised and updated. It is a superb and extensive overview of the physics and evolution of the universe ! . Longair ! succeeds in his goal of writing at an appropriate level for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students. He makes difficult material understandable by using clever analogies ! . The book is valuable both for academic coursework and as a reference source. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections." (T. Barker, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (10), June, 2008)
