Lectures on Astrophysics provides an account of classic and contemporary aspects of astrophysics, with an emphasis on analytic calculations and physical understanding. It introduces fundamental topics in astrophysics, including the properties of single and binary stars, the phenomena associated with interstellar matter, and the structure of galaxies. Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg combines exceptional physical insight with his gift for clear exposition to cover exciting recent developments and new results. Emphasizing theoretical results, and explaining their derivation and application, this book provides an invaluable resource for physics and astronomy students and researchers.
Lectures on Astrophysics provides an account of classic and contemporary aspects of astrophysics, with an emphasis on analytic calculations and physical understanding. It introduces fundamental topics in astrophysics, including the properties of single and binary stars, the phenomena associated with interstellar matter, and the structure of galaxies. Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg combines exceptional physical insight with his gift for clear exposition to cover exciting recent developments and new results. Emphasizing theoretical results, and explaining their derivation and application, this book provides an invaluable resource for physics and astronomy students and researchers.
Preface: 1. Stars; 2. Binaries; 3. Interstellar matter; 4. Galaxies; Assorted problems; Author index; Subject index.
An account of classic and contemporary aspects of astrophysics, with an emphasis on analytical calculations and physical understanding.
Steven Weinberg is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Texas, Austin. His research has covered a broad range of topics in quantum field theory, elementary particle physics, and cosmology, and he has been honored with numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, and the Heinemann Prize in Mathematical Physics. The American Philosophical Society awarded him the Benjamin Franklin medal, with a citation that said he is 'considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today'. He is a member of several academies in the USA and abroad, including the US National Academy of Sciences and Britain's Royal Society. He has written several highly regarded books, including Gravitation and Cosmology (1972), a three-volume work The Quantum Theory of Fields (Cambridge, 2005), Cosmology (2008), and Lectures on Quantum Mechanics (Cambridge, 2nd edition, 2015).
'This book is entitled 'Lectures on Astrophysics' and indeed is
based on notes for courses on astrophysics delivered in recent
years. Thus the material is road-tested and, as is necessary in any
lecture course, compromises have been made on the scope of the work
in order to make the treatment digestible.' K. Alan Shore,
Contemporary Physics
'I would have to say that the stronger you are at mathematics, the
more you will get out of the book. But even if you feel that you
are not heavily mathematically inclined, the explanatory texts in
the equation-free paragraphs are a model of clarity. The book is
strong on modern topics, so, if you haven't updated your
astrophysics teaching notes for a long time, and you wish to update
them with modern topics, this is just the very book you need.'
Jeremy Tatum, The Observatory
'Steven Weinberg has written a self-contained and relatively short
account of the foundations of astrophysics, from stars to galaxies.
The result is extremely pleasant and particularly suitable for
students and young practitioners in the field … Weinberg's books
always stimulate a wealth of considerations on the mutual interplay
of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, and the problems
of dark matter, dark energy, gravitational waves and neutrino
masses are today so interlocked that it is quite difficult to say
where particle physics stops and astrophysics takes over. If we
want to understand the developments of fundamental physics in
coming years, Lectures on Astrophysics will be an inspiring source
of reflections and a valid reference.' Massimo Giovannini, CERN
Courier
'… based on lectures delivered in 2016 and 2017. In a text that is
clear and concise, and supported by analytical equations that do
not require a computer to solve, Weinberg frequently offers the
reader insight into the essential physical concepts by doing
approximate calculations. He also provides twelve problems for the
reader to attempt to solve, … The book is strongly recommended to
libraries supporting readers at the graduate and advanced
undergraduate level.' T. Barker, Choice
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