Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution of Galaxies

A lucid introduction for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, and an authoritative overview for researchers and professional scientists.

Bernard E. J. Pagel (Author)

9780521840309, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 January 2009

484 pages
25.3 x 17.9 x 2.8 cm, 1.09 kg

'This book fills a gap in astrophysical literature … certainly helpful for any instructor who wishes to teach a one-semester course on these subjects, especially because the author has included many end-chapter problems with hints for their solutions … a conceptually very successful and useful book.' Mounib El Eid, Transport in Porous Media

The distribution of elements in the cosmos is the result of many processes, and it provides a powerful tool to study the Big Bang, the density of baryonic matter, nucleosynthesis and the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies. Covering many exciting topics in astrophysics and cosmology, this textbook, by a pioneer of the field, provides a lucid and wide-ranging introduction to the interdisciplinary subject of galactic chemical evolution for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. It is also an authoritative overview for researchers and professional scientists. This new edition includes results from recent space missions and new material on abundances from stellar populations, nebular analysis, and meteoric isotopic anomalies, and abundance analysis of X-ray gas. Simple derivations for key results are provided, together with problems and helpful solution hints, enabling the student to develop an understanding of results from numerical models and real observations.

Preface
1. Introduction and overview
2. Thermonuclear reactions
3. Cosmic abundances of elements and isotopes
4. Cosmological nucleosynthesis and abundances of light elements
5. Outline of stellar structure and evolution
6. Neutron capture processes
7. Galactic chemical evolution: basic concepts and issues
8. Some specific GCE models and related observational data
9. Origin and evolution of light elements
10. Radioactive cosmochronology
11. Chemical evolution in other sorts of galaxies
12. Cosmic chemical evolution and diffuse background radiation
Appendices
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Astrophysics [PHVB], Cosmology & the universe [PGK], Astronomy, space & time [PG]