Kinematics and Dynamics of Galactic Stellar Populations
Kinematics and Dynamics of Galactic Stellar Populations

Author: Rafael Cubarsi

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2018-07-27

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1527514803

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Stellar dynamics is an interdisciplinary field where mathematics, statistics, physics, and astronomy overlap. The approaches to studying a stellar system include dealing with the collisionless Boltzmann equation, the Chandrasekhar equations, and stellar hydrodynamic equations, which are comparable to the equations of motion of a compressible viscous fluid. Their equivalence gives rise to the closure problem, connected with the higher-order moments of the stellar velocity distribution, which is explained and solved for maximum entropy distributions and for any velocity distribution function, depending on a polynomial function in the velocity variables. On the other hand, the Milky Way kinematics in the solar neighbourhood needs to be described as a mixture distribution accounting for the stellar populations composing the Galactic components. As such, the book offers a statistical study, according to the moments and cumulants of a population mixture, and a dynamical approach, according to a superposition of Chandrasekhar stellar systems, connected with the potential function and the symmetries of the model.

Galactic Astronomy
Galactic Astronomy

Author: James Binney

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-07-13

Total Pages: 818

ISBN-13: 0691233322

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the definitive treatment of the phenomenology of galaxies--a clear and comprehensive volume that takes full account of the extraordinary recent advances in the field. The book supersedes the classic text Galactic Astronomy that James Binney wrote with Dimitri Mihalas, and complements Galactic Dynamics by Binney and Scott Tremaine. It will be invaluable to researchers and is accessible to any student who has a background in undergraduate physics. The book draws on observations both of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and of external galaxies. The two sources are complementary, since the former tends to be highly detailed but difficult to interpret, while the latter is typically poorer in quality but conceptually simpler to understand. Binney and Merrifield introduce all astronomical concepts necessary to understand the properties of galaxies, including coordinate systems, magnitudes and colors, the phenomenology of stars, the theory of stellar and chemical evolution, and the measurement of astronomical distances. The book's core covers the phenomenology of external galaxies, star clusters in the Milky Way, the interstellar media of external galaxies, gas in the Milky Way, the structure and kinematics of the stellar components of the Milky Way, and the kinematics of external galaxies. Throughout, the book emphasizes the observational basis for current understanding of galactic astronomy, with references to the original literature. Offering both new information and a comprehensive view of its subject, it will be an indispensable source for professionals, as well as for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

Galactic Dynamics
Galactic Dynamics

Author: James Binney

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-10-30

Total Pages: 902

ISBN-13: 1400828724

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Since it was first published in 1987, Galactic Dynamics has become the most widely used advanced textbook on the structure and dynamics of galaxies and one of the most cited references in astrophysics. Now, in this extensively revised and updated edition, James Binney and Scott Tremaine describe the dramatic recent advances in this subject, making Galactic Dynamics the most authoritative introduction to galactic astrophysics available to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers. Every part of the book has been thoroughly overhauled, and many sections have been completely rewritten. Many new topics are covered, including N-body simulation methods, black holes in stellar systems, linear stability and response theory, and galaxy formation in the cosmological context. Binney and Tremaine, two of the world's leading astrophysicists, use the tools of theoretical physics to describe how galaxies and other stellar systems work, succinctly and lucidly explaining theoretical principles and their applications to observational phenomena. They provide readers with an understanding of stellar dynamics at the level needed to reach the frontiers of the subject. This new edition of the classic text is the definitive introduction to the field. ? A complete revision and update of one of the most cited references in astrophysics Provides a comprehensive description of the dynamical structure and evolution of galaxies and other stellar systems Serves as both a graduate textbook and a resource for researchers Includes 20 color illustrations, 205 figures, and more than 200 problems Covers the gravitational N-body problem, hierarchical galaxy formation, galaxy mergers, dark matter, spiral structure, numerical simulations, orbits and chaos, equilibrium and stability of stellar systems, evolution of binary stars and star clusters, and much more Companion volume to Galactic Astronomy, the definitive book on the phenomenology of galaxies and star clusters

Secular Evolution of Galaxies
Secular Evolution of Galaxies

Author: Jesús Falcón-Barroso

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 1107035279

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the most important topics in modern astrophysics. Secular evolution refers to the relatively slow dynamical evolution due to internal processes induced by a galaxy's spiral arms, bars, galactic winds, black holes and dark matter haloes. It plays an important role in the evolution of spiral galaxies with major consequences for galactic bulges, the transfer of angular momentum, and the distribution of a galaxy's constituent stars, gas and dust. This internal evolution is in turn the key to understanding and testing cosmological models of galaxy formation and evolution. Based on the twenty-third Winter School of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, this volume presents reviews from nine world-renowned experts on the observational and theoretical research into secular processes, and what these processes can tell us about the structure and formation of galaxies. The volume provides a firm grounding for graduate students and early career researchers working on galactic dynamics and galaxy evolution.

Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems
Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems

Author: Gerard Gilmore

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-02-23

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789400756113

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is volume 5 of Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems, a six-volume compendium of modern astronomical research, covering subjects of key interest to the main fields of contemporary astronomy. This volume on “Galactic Structure and Stellar Populations”, edited by Gerard F. Gilmore, presents accessible review chapters on Stellar Populations, Chemical Abundances as Population Tracers, Metal-Poor Stars and the Chemical Enrichment of the Universe, The Stellar and Sub-Stellar Initial Mass Function of Simple and Composite Populations, The Galactic Nucleus, The Galactic Bulge, Open Clusters and Their Role in the Galaxy, Star Counts and the Nature of Galactic Thick Disk, The Infrared Galaxy, Interstellar PAHs and Dust, Galactic Neutral Hydrogen, High-Velocity Clouds, Magnetic Fields in Galaxies, Astrophysics of Galactic Charged Cosmic Rays, Gamma-Ray Emission of Supernova Remnants and the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays, Galactic Distance Scales, Globular Cluster Dynamical Evolution, Dynamics of Disks and Warps, Mass Distribution and Rotation Curve in the Galaxy, Dark Matter in the Galactic Dwarf Spheroidal Satellites, and History of Dark Matter in Galaxies. All chapters of the handbook were written by practicing professionals. They include sufficient background material and references to the current literature to allow readers to learn enough about a specialty within astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology to get started on their own practical research projects. In the spirit of the series Stars and Stellar Systems published by Chicago University Press in the 1960s and 1970s, each chapter of Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems can stand on its own as a fundamental review of its respective sub-discipline, and each volume can be used as a textbook or recommended reference work for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate courses. Advanced students and professional astronomers in their roles as both lecturers and researchers will welcome Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems as a comprehensive and pedagogical reference work on astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology.

Fundamentals of Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution
Fundamentals of Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution

Author: Ignacio Ferreras

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2019-04-02

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1911307614

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Galaxies, along with their underlying dark matter halos, constitute the building blocks of structure in the Universe. Of all fundamental forces, gravity is the dominant one that drives the evolution of structures from small density seeds at early times to the galaxies we see today. The interactions among myriads of stars, or dark matter particles, in a gravitating structure produce a system with fascinating connotations to thermodynamics, with some analogies and some fundamental differences. Ignacio Ferreras presents a concise introduction to extragalactic astrophysics, with emphasis on stellar dynamics, and the growth of density fluctuations in an expanding Universe. Additional chapters are devoted to smaller systems (stellar clusters) and larger ones (galaxy clusters). Fundamentals of Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution is written for advanced undergraduates and beginning postgraduate students, providing a useful tool to get up to speed in a starting research career. Some of the derivations for the most important results are presented in detail to enable students appreciate the beauty of maths as a tool to understand the workings of galaxies. Each chapter includes a set of problems to help the student advance with the material.

Astrophotonics
Astrophotonics

Author: Stefano Minardi

Publisher: VCH

Published: 2012-04-04

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9783527411108

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Written by well-known scientists in the field with vast experience in teaching astrophotonics, this is the first book to bridge astronomy and photonics for the benefit of developing new astronomical instrumentation. The textbook is clearly structured and covers four main methods relevant to observational astronomy: adaptive optics, photometry, interferometry and spectroscopy. It follows a progressive didactical path in photonics, starting from fundamentals of wave- and micro-optics and developing step-by-step the formalisms required for the treatment of optical multilayers, fiber optics and diffraction/holographic gratings. This approach allows students with a physics/engineering background to learn about the problematic of observational astronomy, while, conversely, students of astronomy are exposed to topics in modern photonics. Each chapter is divided into three main sections devoted to the discussion of astronomical concepts required to size an instrument designed for the particular method, the photonic concepts that most suit that instrument, and an analysis of existing, related photonic instruments. A set of exercises and a bibliography complete each chapter. Appendices include a short review of fundamentals of wave optics and photon detectors, plus an overview of project design and management using a real-life example of an astronomical instrumentation project. With its review of the latest instrumentation and techniques, this is invaluable for graduate and post-graduate students in astronomy, physics and optical engineering.

Unveiling Galaxies
Unveiling Galaxies

Author: Jean-René Roy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1108417019

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A thought provoking study of the powerful impact of images in guiding astronomers' understanding of galaxies through time.

Stellar Populations (IAU S262)
Stellar Populations (IAU S262)

Author: International Astronomical Union. Symposium

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-29

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 9780521764841

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

IAU Symposium 262 presents reviews on the current understanding of the theories of stellar evolution, galaxy formation and galaxy evolution. It emphasises what we have learned in the past few years from massive surveys covering large portions of the sky (e.g. SDSS, HDF, UDF, GOODS, COSMOS). Several critical aspects of research on stellar populations deserve further effort in order to be brought in tune with other areas of astrophysical research. The next ten years will see the opening of major observatories that will increase the quality and quantity of astronomical data by orders of magnitude. The expected benefits from these instruments for the study of stellar populations are explored. This critical review of state of the art observational and theoretical work will appeal to all those working on stellar populations, from distant galaxies to local resolved galaxies and galactic star clusters.