Compact Star Physics

This self-contained introduction to compact star physics explains important concepts from areas such as general relativity, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and nuclear physics. Containing many tested exercises, and written by an international expert in the research field, the book provides important insights on the basic concepts of compact stars, discusses white dwarfs, neutron stars, quark stars and exotic compact stars. Included are sections on astrophysical observations of compact stars, and present and future terrestrial experiments related to compact stars physics, as the study of exotic nuclei and relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Major developments in the field such as the discovery of massive neutron stars, and a discussion of the recent gravitational wave measurement of a neutron star merger are also presented. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers working on the physics of compact stars, general relativity and nuclear physics.

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. General relativity; 3. Dense matter; 4. Compact stars; 5. White dwarfs; 6. Pulsars; 7. Neutron stars; 8. Quark stars; 9. Hybrid stars; 10. Gravitational waves; References; Index.

Jürgen Schaffner-Bielich is a professor in theoretical astrophysics at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main. Since completing his Ph.D., he has worked at the Niels Bohr Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as Feodor-Lynen fellow of the Humboldt Foundation, the RIKEN BNL Research Center at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University,New York, and as a professor at the University of Heidelberg.