Asteroseismology (astronomy And Astrophysics Library)
by J. Christensen-Dalsgaard /
2010 / English / PDF
32.3 MB Download
Understanding the stars is the bedrock of modern astrophysics.
Stars are the source of life. The chemical enrichment of our Milky
Way and of the Universe
withallelementsheavierthanlithiumoriginatesintheinteriorsofstars.Stars
arethe tracersofthe dynamics ofthe Universe,gravitationallyimplying
much more than meets the eye. Stars ionize the interstellar medium
and re-ionized the early intergalactic medium. Understanding
stellar structure and evolution is fundamental. While stellar
structure and evolution are understood in general terms, we lack
important physical ingredients, despite extensive research during
recent
decades.Classicalspectroscopy,photometry,astrometryandinterferometryof
stars have traditionally been used as observational constraints to
deduce the internal stellar physics. Unfortunately, these types of
observations only allow the tuning of the basic common physics laws
under stellar conditions with relatively poor precision. The
situation is even more worrisome for unknown aspects of the physics
and dynamics in stars. These are usually dealt with by using
parameterised descriptions of, e.g., the treatments of convection,
rotation,angularmomentumtransport,theequationofstate,atomicdi?usion
andsettlingofelements,magneto-hydrodynamicalprocesses,andmore.There
is a dearth of observational constraints on these processes, thus
solar values
areoftenassignedtothem.Yetitishardtoimaginethatonesetofparameters
is appropriate for the vast range of stars.
Understanding the stars is the bedrock of modern astrophysics.
Stars are the source of life. The chemical enrichment of our Milky
Way and of the Universe
withallelementsheavierthanlithiumoriginatesintheinteriorsofstars.Stars
arethe tracersofthe dynamics ofthe Universe,gravitationallyimplying
much more than meets the eye. Stars ionize the interstellar medium
and re-ionized the early intergalactic medium. Understanding
stellar structure and evolution is fundamental. While stellar
structure and evolution are understood in general terms, we lack
important physical ingredients, despite extensive research during
recent
decades.Classicalspectroscopy,photometry,astrometryandinterferometryof
stars have traditionally been used as observational constraints to
deduce the internal stellar physics. Unfortunately, these types of
observations only allow the tuning of the basic common physics laws
under stellar conditions with relatively poor precision. The
situation is even more worrisome for unknown aspects of the physics
and dynamics in stars. These are usually dealt with by using
parameterised descriptions of, e.g., the treatments of convection,
rotation,angularmomentumtransport,theequationofstate,atomicdi?usion
andsettlingofelements,magneto-hydrodynamicalprocesses,andmore.There
is a dearth of observational constraints on these processes, thus
solar values
areoftenassignedtothem.Yetitishardtoimaginethatonesetofparameters
is appropriate for the vast range of stars.
