Synopsis
Ongoing studies in mathematical depth, and inferences from `helioseismological' observations of the internal solar rotation have shown up the limitations in our knowledge of the solar interior and of our understanding of the solar dynamo, manifested in particular by the sunspot cycle, the Maunder minimum, and solar flares. This second edition retains the identical overall structure as the first edition, but is designed so as to be self-contained with the early chapters presenting the basic physics and mathematics underlying cosmical magnetohydrodynamics, followed by studies of the specific applications appropriate for a book devoted to a central area in astrophysics.
New to this edition:
Chapter 6 gives an account of the present state of dynamo theory in general, and Chapter 8 the applications to the Sun and to other `Late-Type' stars with differing rotation rates -- the `Solar-Stellar Connection'. The minority of the more massive `Early-Type' stars that are observably magnetic are well described by the`oblique rotator' model, with a quasi-steady, `fossil' magnetic structure `frozen' into the highly conducting, non-turbulent envelope. Chapter 9 deals with the considerable progress on the associated theoretical problems.
Chapter 7 contains new material, relevant to both Late- and Early-Type Main Sequence stars, to the evolved Red Giants, and also to contracting pre-Main Sequence stars (Chapter 10}, which show the highest degree of magnetic activity (the magneto-rotational instability, and the magneto-centrifugal winds emitted by the surrounding `accretion disk'). In the earlier phases of star formation in molecular clouds (Chapters 11-12), `magneto-turbulence' is emerging as the appropriate scenario for the prediction of the mass spectrum of proto-stars, and the associated formation of planetary satellites. Chapter 14 describes developments in the study of the magnetosphere of a `pulsar' -- a magnetized neutron star -- consisting of spontaneously generated electron-positron pairs.
About the Author
Leon Mestel is Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at the University of Sussex. Mestel has also taught at the University of Cambridge, Princeton University, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovoth, Israel, the University of Manchester, and the Racah Institue at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has established himself as one of the leaders in his field.
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