Accuracy of Element Abundances from Stellar Atmospheres, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1990 Proceedings of Two Sessions Allocated at the IAU General Assembly in Baltimore, USA, August 1988 Lecture Notes in Physics Series, Vol. 356

To get a reasonably realistic picture of the structure and evolution of stars one needs to know accurately the abundances of chemical elements and their isotopes in the stellar atmosphere and in the galactic environment of the stars. The articles collected in this volume give a modern review of the abundance accuracies for main-sequence stars. After a general introduction in the first part the accuracies of atomic transition probabilities, ionization and excitation cross-sections, and line broad- ening data are discussed. In the second part the specific problems and results for different stellar types are presented, and, finally, an overview on the possibilities of abundance determinations for stars outside the Galaxy is given.

On the accuracy of atomic transition probabilities.- Accuracy of excitation and ionisation cross sections.- Accuracy of line broadening data.- Accuracy of abundances from O to mid B main sequence stars.- The accuracy of abundances from middle B to F main sequence normal stars.- Accuracy of the determination of the abundances in solar type stars.- Problems associated with cool dwarf stars.- Accuracy of abundances from stars in near-by galaxies.