Download or read book The Chemical Evolution of the Galaxy written by Francesca Matteucci and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001-06-30 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is based partly on a. lecture course given at the University of Tri este, but mostly on my own research experience in the field of galactic chemical evolution. The subject of galactic chemical evolution was started and developed by Beat rice Tinsley in the seventies and now is a flourishing subject. This book is dedi cated to the chemical evolution of our Galaxy and aims at giving an up-to-date review of what we have learned since Tinsley's pioneering efforts. At the time of writing, in fact, books of this kind were not available with the exception of the excellent book by Bernard Pagel on "Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution of Galaxies" (Cambridge University Press, 1997), and the subject of galactic chem ical evolution has appeared only as short chapters in books devoted to other subjects. Therefore, I felt that a book of this kind could be useful. The book summarizes the observational facts which allow us to reconstruct the chemical history of our Galaxy, in particular the abundances in stars and in terstellar medium; in the last decade, a great deal of observational work, mostly abundance determinations in stars in the solar vicinity, has shed light on the pro duction and distribution of chemical elements. Even more recently more abun dance data have accumulated for external galaxies at both low and high redshift, thus providing precious information on the chemical evolution of different types of galaxies and on the early stages of galaxy evolution.

Download or read book Cosmic Plasma written by H. Alfvèn and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The general background of this monograph and the aim of it is described in detail in Chapter I. As stated in 1.7 it is written according to the principle that "when rigour appears to conflict with simplicity, simplicity is given preference", which means that it is intended for a rather broad public. Not only graduate students but also advanced undergraduates should be able to understand at least most of it. This monograph is the result of many years of inspiring discussions with a number of colleagues, for which I want to thank them very much. Especially I should mention the groups in Stockholm and La Jolla: in Stockholm, Dr Carl-Gunne Flilthammar and many of his collaborators, including Drs Lars Block, Per Carlqvist, Lennart lindberg, Michael Raadu, Staffan Torven, Miroslav Babic, and Itlgvar Axniis, and further, Drs Bo Lehnert and Bjorn Bonnevier, all at the Royal Institute of Technology. Of other col leagues in Sweden, I should mention Dr Bertel Laurent, Stockholm University, Dr Aina Elvius, The Stockholm Observatory, and Dr Bengt Hultqvist, Kiruna. In La Jolla my thanks go first of all to Dr Gustaf Arrhenius, who once invited me to La Jolla, which was the start of a most interesting collaboration; further, to Dr W.B.

Download or read book Neutron Stars and Pulsars written by Werner Becker and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-02-11 with total page 702 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neutron stars are the most compact astronomical objects in the universe which are accessible by direct observation. Studying neutron stars means studying physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory. Understanding their observed complex phenomena requires a wide range of scientific disciplines, including the nuclear and condensed matter physics of very dense matter in neutron star interiors, plasma physics and quantum electrodynamics of magnetospheres, and the relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of electron-positron pulsar winds interacting with some ambient medium. Not to mention the test bed neutron stars provide for general relativity theories, and their importance as potential sources of gravitational waves. It is this variety of disciplines which, among others, makes neutron star research so fascinating, not only for those who have been working in the field for many years but also for students and young scientists. The aim of this book is to serve as a reference work which not only reviews the progress made since the early days of pulsar astronomy, but especially focuses on questions such as: "What have we learned about the subject and how did we learn it?", "What are the most important open questions in this area?" and "What new tools, telescopes, observations, and calculations are needed to answer these questions?". All authors who have contributed to this book have devoted a significant part of their scientific careers to exploring the nature of neutron stars and understanding pulsars. Everyone has paid special attention to writing educational comprehensive review articles with the needs of beginners, students and young scientists as potential readers in mind. This book will be a valuable source of information for these groups.

Download or read book Integrated Modeling of Telescopes written by Torben Andersen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ground- or space-based telescopes are becoming increasingly more complex and construction budgets are typically in the billion dollar range. Facing costs of this magnitude, availability of engineering tools for prediction of performance and design optimization is imperative. Establishment of simulation models combining different technical disciplines such as Structural Dynamics, Control Engineering, Optics and Thermal Engineering is indispensable. Such models are normally called Integrated Models because they involve many different disciplines. The models will play an increasingly larger role for design of future interdisciplinary optical systems in space or on ground. The book concentrates on integrated modeling of optical and radio telescopes but the techniques presented will be applicable to a large variety of systems. Hence, the book will be of interest to optical and radio telescope designers, designers of spacecrafts that include optical systems, and to designers of various complex defense systems. The book may also find use as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses within the field. "Adaptive Optics" is an exciting and relatively new field, originally dedicated to correction for blurring when imaging through the atmosphere. Although this objective is still of high importance, the concept of Adaptive Optics has recently evolved further. Today, the objective is not only to correct for atmospheric turbulence effects but also for a range of static and dynamical telescope aberrations. The notion of adaptive optics has expanded to the field of "Wavefront Control", correcting for a variety of system aberrations. Wavefront control systems maintain form and position of optical elements with high precision under static and dynamical load. In many ways, such systems replace the steel structures of traditional optical systems, thereby providing much lighter systems with a performance not possible before. Integrated Modeling is the foremost tool for studies of Wavefront Control for telescopes and complex optics and is therefore now of high importance. Springer has recently published two books on telescopes, "Reflecting Telescope Optics" by R. Wilson, and "The Design and Construction of Large Optical Telescopes" by P. Bely. Noting that a new (and expensive) generation of Extremely Large Telescopes with apertures in the 30-100 m range is on the way, the present book on integrated modeling is a good match to the existing books and an appropriate specialization and continuation of some subjects dealt with in those books.

Download or read book Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics written by Martin V. Zombeck and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-11-09 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully updated and including data from space-based observations, this Third Edition is a comprehensive compilation of the facts and figures relevant to astronomy and astrophysics. As well as a vast number of tables, graphs, diagrams and formulae it also includes a comprehensive index and bibliography, allowing readers to easily find the information they require. The book contains information covering a diverse range of topics in addition to astronomy and astrophysics, including atomic physics, nuclear physics, relativity, plasma physics, electromagnetism, mathematics, probability and statistics, and geophysics. This handbook contains the most frequently used information in modern astrophysics, and will be an essential reference for graduate students, researchers and professionals working in astronomy and the space sciences. A website with links to extensive supplementary information and databases can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521782425.

Download or read book Dark Matter and Dark Energy written by Sabino Matarrese and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-02-10 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together reviews from leading international authorities on the developments in the study of dark matter and dark energy, as seen from both their cosmological and particle physics side. Studying the physical and astrophysical properties of the dark components of our Universe is a crucial step towards the ultimate goal of unveiling their nature. The work developed from a doctoral school sponsored by the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation. The book starts with a concise introduction to the standard cosmological model, as well as with a presentation of the theory of linear perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic background. It covers the particle physics and cosmological aspects of dark matter and (dynamical) dark energy, including a discussion of how modified theories of gravity could provide a possible candidate for dark energy. A detailed presentation is also given of the possible ways of testing the theory in terms of cosmic microwave background, galaxy redshift surveys and weak gravitational lensing observations. Included is a chapter reviewing extensively the direct and indirect methods of detection of the hypothetical dark matter particles. Also included is a self-contained introduction to the techniques and most important results of numerical (e.g. N-body) simulations in cosmology. " This volume will be useful to researchers, PhD and graduate students in Astrophysics, Cosmology Physics and Mathematics, who are interested in cosmology, dark matter and dark energy.

Download or read book Machine Learning for Planetary Science written by Joern Helbert and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2022-03-22 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Machine Learning for Planetary Science presents planetary scientists with a way to introduce machine learning into the research workflow as increasingly large nonlinear datasets are acquired from planetary exploration missions. The book explores research that leverages machine learning methods to enhance our scientific understanding of planetary data and serves as a guide for selecting the right methods and tools for solving a variety of everyday problems in planetary science using machine learning. Illustrating ways to employ machine learning in practice with case studies, the book is clearly organized into four parts to provide thorough context and easy navigation. The book covers a range of issues, from data analysis on the ground to data analysis onboard a spacecraft, and from prioritization of novel or interesting observations to enhanced missions planning. This book is therefore a key resource for planetary scientists working in data analysis, missions planning, and scientific observation. - Includes links to a code repository for sharing codes and examples, some of which include executable Jupyter notebook files that can serve as tutorials - Presents methods applicable to everyday problems faced by planetary scientists and sufficient for analyzing large datasets - Serves as a guide for selecting the right method and tools for applying machine learning to particular analysis problems - Utilizes case studies to illustrate how machine learning methods can be employed in practice

Download or read book An Introduction to Plasma Astrophysics and Magnetohydrodynamics written by M. Goossens and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of the visible matter in the universe exists in the plasma state. Plasmas are of major importance for space physics, solar physics, and astrophysics. On Earth they are essential for magnetic controlled thermonuclear fusion. This textbook collects lecture notes from a one-semester course taught at the K.U. Leuven to advanced undergraduate students in applied mathematics and physics. A particular strength of this book is that it provides a low threshold introduction to plasmas with an emphasis on first principles and fundamental concepts and properties. The discussion of plasma models is to a large extent limited to Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) with its merits and limitations clearly explained. MHD provides the students on their first encounter with plasmas, with a powerful plasma model that they can link to familiar classic fluid dynamics. The solar wind is studied as an example of hydrodynamics and MHD at work in solar physics and astrophysics.

Download or read book New Millennium Solar Physics written by Markus J. Aschwanden and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-22 with total page 719 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a follow-on book to the introductory textbook "Physics of the Solar Corona" previously published in 2004 by the same author, which provided a systematic introduction and covered mostly scientific results from the pre-2000 era. Using a similar structure as the previous book the second volume provides a seamless continuation of numerous novel research results in solar physics that emerged in the new millennium (after 2000) from the new solar missions of RHESSI, STEREO, Hinode, CORONAS, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during the era of 2000-2018. The new solar space missions are characterized by unprecedented high-resolution imaging, time resolution, spectral capabilities, stereoscopy and tomography, which reveal the intricate dynamics of magneto-hydrodynamic processes in the solar corona down to scales of 100 km. The enormous amount of data streaming down from SDO in Terabytes per day requires advanced automated data processing methods. The book focuses exclusively on new research results after 2000, which are reviewed in a comprehensive manner, documented by over 3600 literature references, covering theory, observations, and numerical modeling of basic physical processes that are observed in high-temperature plasmas of the Sun and other astrophysical objects, such as plasma instabilities, coronal heating, magnetic reconnection processes, coronal mass ejections, plasma waves and oscillations, or particle acceleration.

Download or read book Opacity written by Walter F. Huebner and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-01-02 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers all aspects of opacity and equations of state for gases, plasmas, and dust. The discussion emphasizes the continuous transformation of the equilibrium compositions of these phases as a function of temperature and density.

Download or read book The Sun and Space Weather written by Arnold Hanslmeier and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2002-06-30 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Sun is the main source of space weather effects, the first part of the book is devoted to a general introduction to the physics of the Sun. A better understanding of the phenomena underlying solar activity is also important for prediction of solar outbursts and thus for establishing alert systems for space missions and telecommunication systems. The book contains the following topics: possible influence of the Sun on the Earth's climate; the effects of radiation on humans in space and the expected radiation dose from various solar events; disturbances of the Earth's ionosphere and the implications of radio communication at different wavelength ranges; possible hazardous asteroids and meteoroids and their detection; and space debris and special shielding of spacecraft. In the cited literature more detailed information about the topics may be found. This book provides an introduction and overview of modern solar-terrestrial physics for students as well as for researchers in the field of astrophysics, solar physics, geophysics, and climate research.

Download or read book In Search of William Gascoigne written by David Sellers and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-08-09 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Gascoigne (c.1612-44) was the inventor of the telescopic sight and micrometer (instruments crucial to the advance of astronomy). His name is now known to historians of science around the world. For some considerable time after his tragic death at the age of 32 in the English Civil War, however, it seemed as if his achievements would be consigned to oblivion. Most of his papers were lost and even the few that survived have largely disappeared. This is the story of how his work was rescued. Into this story is woven an account of the state of astronomy and optics during Gascoigne’s lifetime, so that the reader can appreciate the significance of his discoveries.

Download or read book Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-02-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In preparing the report, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium , the AASC made use of a series of panel reports that address various aspects of ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics. These reports provide in-depth technical detail. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium: An Overview summarizes the science goals and recommended initiatives in a short, richly illustrated, non-technical booklet.

Download or read book How Einstein Created Relativity out of Physics and Astronomy written by David Topper and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tracks the history of the theory of relativity through Einstein’s life, with in-depth studies of its background as built upon by ideas from earlier scientists. The focus points of Einstein’s theory of relativity include its development throughout his life; the origins of his ideas and his indebtedness to the earlier works of Galileo, Newton, Faraday, Mach and others; the application of the theory to the birth of modern cosmology; and his quest for a unified field theory. Treading a fine line between the popular and technical (but not shying away from the occasional equation), this book explains the entire range of relativity and weaves an up-to-date biography of Einstein throughout. The result is an explanation of the world of relativity, based on an extensive journey into earlier physics and a simultaneous voyage into the mind of Einstein, written for the curious and intelligent reader.

Download or read book Fifty Years of Quasars written by Mauro D'Onofrio and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 50th anniversary of the discovery of quasars in 1963 presents an interesting opportunity to ask questions about the current state of quasar research. Formatted as a series of interviews with noted researchers in the field, each of them asked to address a specific set of questions covering topics selected by the editors, this book deals with the historical development of quasar research and discusses how advances in instrumentation and computational capabilities have benefitted quasar astronomy and have changed our basic understanding of quasars. In the last part of the book the interviews address the current topic of the role of quasars in galaxy evolution. They summarise open issues in understanding active galactic nuclei and quasars and present an outlook regarding what future observational facilities both on the ground and in space might reveal. Its interview format, the fascinating topic of quasars and black holes, and the lively recollections and at times controversial views of the contributors make this book both rewarding and a pleasure to read!

Download or read book New Worlds New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-02-04 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.

Download or read book Kappa Distributions written by Marian Lazar and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents recent results on the modelling of space plasmas with Kappa distributions and their interpretation. Hot and dilute space plasmas most often do not reach thermal equilibrium, their dynamics being essentially conditioned by the kinetic effects of plasma particles, i.e., electrons, protons, and heavier ions. Deviations from thermal equilibrium shown by these plasma particles are often described by Kappa distributions. Although well-known, these distributions are still controversial in achieving a statistical characterization and a physical interpretation of non-equilibrium plasmas. The results of the Kappa modelling presented here mark a significant progress with respect to all these aspects and open perspectives to understanding the high-resolution data collected by the new generation of telescopes and spacecraft missions. The book is directed to the large community of plasma astrophysics, including graduate students and specialists from associated disciplines, given the palette of the proposed topics reaching from applications to the solar atmosphere and the solar wind, via linear and quasilinear modelling of multi-species plasmas and waves within, to the fundamental physics of nonequilibrium plasmas.