Astrophysics: A New Approach (Astronomy and Astrophysics Library) - Softcover

Kundt, Wolfgang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3642436951 ISBN 13: 9783642436956

Publisher: Springer, 2014

Synopsis

Devised for a quantitative understanding of the physics of the universe from the solar system through the milky way to clusters of galaxies all the way to cosmology, this acclaimed text offers among the most concise and most critical ones of extant works. Special chapters are devoted to magnetic and radiation processes, disks, black-hole candidacy, bipolar flows, cosmic rays, gamma-ray bursts, image distortions, and special sources. At the same time, planet earth is viewed as the arena for life, with plants and animals having evolved to homo sapiens during cosmic time. This text is unique in covering the basic qualitative and quantitative tools, formulae as well as numbers, needed to for the precise interpretation of frontline phenomena.

About this title

From the Back Cover

For a quantitative understanding of the physics of the universe - from the solar system through the milky way to clusters of galaxies all the way to cosmology - these edited lecture notes are perhaps among the most concise and also among the most critical ones: Astrophysics has not yet stood the redundancy test of laboratory physics, hence should be wary of early interpretations. Special chapters are devoted to magnetic and radiation processes, supernovae, disks, black-hole candidacy, bipolar flows, cosmic rays, gamma-ray bursts, image distortions, and special sources. At the same time, planet earth is viewed as the arena for life, with plants and animals having evolved to homo sapiens during cosmic time. -- This text is unique in covering the basic qualitative and quantitative tools, formulae as well as numbers, needed for the precise interpretation of frontline phenomena in astrophysical research. The author compares mainstream interpretations with new and even controversial ones he wishes to emphasize.

The second edition includes numerous updates throughout the book and, in addition, it contains a list of alternative explanations to astrophysical findings that can be seen as a serious testing ground for young scientists.

Review

 From the reviews:

"The author seems to be of the [Fred] Hoyle school of independent thinkers, which is no bad thing, and if a different perspective on a topic might shed some illumination, then having a copy in the departmental library may be a worthwhile investment." (The Observatory, 2002)

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 3642436951
• ISBN 13: 9783642436956
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 236