Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 Observations of stellar winds
- 3 Basic concepts: isothermal winds
- 4 Basic concepts: non-isothermal winds
- 5 Coronal winds
- 6 Sound wave driven winds
- 7 Dust driven winds
- 8 Line driven winds
- 9 Magnetic rotator theory
- 10 Alfvén wave driven winds
- 11 Outflowing disks from rotating stars
- 12 Winds colliding with the interstellar medium
- 13 The effects of mass loss on stellar evolution
- 14 Problems
- APPENDIX 1 The chronology of stellar wind studies
- APPENDIX 2 Elements of thermodynamics
- APPENDIX 3 De l'Hopital's rule for equations with a singular point
- APPENDIX 4 Physical and astronomical constants
- Bibliography
- Object index
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 Observations of stellar winds
- 3 Basic concepts: isothermal winds
- 4 Basic concepts: non-isothermal winds
- 5 Coronal winds
- 6 Sound wave driven winds
- 7 Dust driven winds
- 8 Line driven winds
- 9 Magnetic rotator theory
- 10 Alfvén wave driven winds
- 11 Outflowing disks from rotating stars
- 12 Winds colliding with the interstellar medium
- 13 The effects of mass loss on stellar evolution
- 14 Problems
- APPENDIX 1 The chronology of stellar wind studies
- APPENDIX 2 Elements of thermodynamics
- APPENDIX 3 De l'Hopital's rule for equations with a singular point
- APPENDIX 4 Physical and astronomical constants
- Bibliography
- Object index
- Index
Summary
During the last thirty years astronomers have discovered that nearly all stars are losing mass in the form of stellar winds through a major fraction of their lives. This mass loss affects their evolution from their origin to their death. It also leads to spectacular interactions between the supersonic stellar winds and the interstellar medium in the form of planetary nebulae and ring nebulae and in the form of interstellar bubbles and superbubbles. The return of matter from stars into the interstellar medium and the formation of bubbles and superbubbles changes the chemical composition of the galaxies and affects their kinematical properties.
Literature in this field has grown tremendously over the past three decades. On the one hand this is due to the advance of spectroscopic observations over the full range of the spectrum and to the enormous improvements in image resolution from ground based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope which results in spectacular images of the nebulae formed by stellar winds. On the other hand it is the result of many theoretical studies to explain the basic mechanisms for stellar winds and the interactions with their surroundings. Many reviews have been published that give an overview of specific aspects of stellar winds or mass loss from stars.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Introduction to Stellar Winds , pp. xi - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999