Dieses Lehrbuch gibt eine vollständige Darstellung der Physik der Sternatmosphäre, deren physikalische Prozesse und Größen. Behandelt werden die Sternmodelle, die die Stabilität, Dynamik, und Entwicklung von Sternen beschreiben, und die verschiedenen Lebensstadien eines Sterns. Das Buch bietet Studenten und Wissenschaftlern einen einzigartigen Überblick über das Forschungsgebiet.

The attempt to understand the physics of the structure of stars and their change in time - their evolution - has been bothering many physicists and astronomers ever since the last century. This long chain of successful research is well documented not only by numerous papers in the corresponding journals but also by a series of books. Some of them are so excellently written that despite their age they can still be recommended, and not only as documents of the state of the art at that time. A few outstanding examples are the books of R. Emden (1907), A. S. Eddington (1926), S. Chandrasekhar (1939), and M. Schwarzschild (1958). But our science has rapidly expanded in the last few decades, and new aspects have emerged which could not even be anticipated, say, 30 years ago and which today have to be carefully explored. This does not mean, however, that our ambition is to present a complete account of the latest and most refined numerical results. This can well be left to the large and growing number of excellent review articles. The present book is intended rather to be a textbook that will help students and teachers to understand these results as far as possible and present them in a simple and clear manner. We know how difficult this is since we ourselves have tried for the largest part of our scientific career to understand "how the stars work" - and then to make others believe it.

Autorentext
Rudolf Kippenhahn, geboren 1926 in Bärringen/Tschechoslowakei, studierte Mathematik, war u. a. Mitarbeiter der Bamberger Sternwarte, Professor für Astronomie in Göttingen, zuletzt Direktor des Max-Planck-Instituts für Astrophysik in Garching. Rudolf Kippenhahn lebt in Göttingen.

Zusammenfassung
From the reviews
"... many excellent volumes on this subject have been written. In my opinion, this one is the best."
D.L. Faulkner in: Australian & New Zealand Physicist, 1995

"Will clearly be the standard text in the subject."
N.H. Baker, Columbia University

"Kippenhahn and Weigert's work compares favorably with the few similar works, many of which are now out of date. It is superior to some others in eschewing elegance of mathematical analysis in favor of a comprehensive understanding of the observed and deduced properties of stars, from their initial formation to their final collapse."
CHOICE

Inhalt
I The Basic Equations.- 1. Coordinates, Mass Distribution, and Gravitational Field in Spherical Stars.- 2. Conservation of Momentum.- 3. The Virial Theorem.- 4. Conservation of Energy.- 5. Transport of Energy by Radiation and Conduction.- 6. Stability Against Local, Non-spherical Perturbations.- 7. Transport of Energy by Convection.- 8. The Chemical Composition.- II The Overall Problem.- 9. The Differential Equations of Stellar Evolution.- 10. Boundary Conditions.- 11. Numerical Procedure.- 12. Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions.- III Properties of Stellar Matter.- 13. The Ideal Gas with Radiation.- 14. Ionization.- 15. The Degenerate Electron Gas.- 16. The Equation of State of Stellar Matter.- 17. Opacity.- 18. Nuclear Energy Production.- IV Simple Stellar Models.- 19. Polytropic Gaseous Spheres.- 20. Homology Relations.- 21. Simple Models in the U-V Plane.- 22. The Main Sequence.- 23. Other Main Sequences.- 24. The Hayashi Line.- 25. Stability Considerations.- V Early Stellar Evolution.- 26. The Onset of Star Formation.- 27. The Formation of Protostars.- 28. Pre-Main-Sequence Contraction.- 29. From the Initial to the Present Sun.- 30. Chemical Evolution on the Main Sequence.- VI Post-Main-Sequence Evolution.- 31. Evolution Through Helium Burning Massive Stars.- 32. Evolution Through Helium Burning Low-Mass Stars.- 33. Later Phases.- 34. Final Explosions and Collapse.- VII Compact Objects.- 35. White Dwarfs.- 36. Neutron Stars.- 37. Black Holes.- VIII Pulsating Stars.- 38. Adiabatic Spherical Pulsations.- 39. Non-adiabatic Spherical Pulsations.- 40. Non-radial Stellar Oscillations.- IX Stellar Rotation.- 41. The Mechanics of Rotating Stellar Models.- 42. The Thermodynamics of Rotating Stellar Models.- 43. The Angular-Velocity Distribution in Stars.-References.