Stellar Evolution Physics, Vol. 1: Physical Processes in Stellar Interiors

This text describes the microscopic physics operating in stars and demonstrates how stars respond from formation, through hydrogen-burning phases, up to the onset of helium burning. Intended for beginning graduate students and senior undergraduates with a solid background in physics, it illustrates the intricate interplay between the microscopic physical processes and the stars' macroscopic responses. The volume starts with the gravitationally contracting phase which carries the star from formation to the core hydrogen-burning main sequence, through the main sequence phase, through shell hydrogen-burning phases as a red giant, up to the onset of core helium burning. Particular emphasis is placed on describing the gravothermal responses of stars to nuclear transformations in the interior and energy loss from the surface, responses which express the very essence of stellar evolution. The volume is replete with many illustrations and detailed numerical solutions to prepare the reader to program and calculate evolutionary models.

Icko Iben, Jr is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he also gained his MS and PhD degrees in Physics and where a Distinguished Lectureship in his name was established in 1998. He initiated his teaching career at Williams College (1958–1961), engaged in astrophysics research as a Senior Research Fellow at Cal Tech (1961–1964), and continued his teaching career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1964–1972) and Illinois (1972–1999). He has held visiting Professorships at over a dozen institutions, including Harvard University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Bologna, Italy and Niigata University, Japan. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 1985 and his awards include the Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society (1989), the George Darwin Lectureship (1984) and the Eddington Medal (1990) of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the Eminent Scientist Award of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2003–2004).