Cosmic catastrophes: exploding stars, black holes, and mapping the Universe

J. Craig Wheeler0521857147, 9780521857147

From supernovae and gamma-ray bursts to the accelerating Universe, this is an exploration of the intellectual threads that lead to some of the most exciting ideas in modern astrophysics and cosmology. This fully updated second edition incorporates new material on binary stars, black holes, gamma-ray bursts, worm-holes, quantum gravity and string theory. It covers the origins of stars and their evolution, the mechanisms responsible for supernovae, and their progeny, neutron stars and black holes. It examines the theoretical ideas behind black holes and their manifestation in observational astronomy and presents neutron stars in all their variety known today. This book also covers the physics of the twentieth century, discussing quantum theory and Einstein’s gravity, how these two theories collide, and the prospects for their reconciliation in the twenty-first century. This will be essential reading for undergraduate students in astronomy and astrophysics, and an excellent, accessible introduction for a wider audience.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
Contents……Page 9
Preface……Page 13
Preface to the second edition……Page 17
1.1 Introduction……Page 21
1.2.1 The basic forces of Nature……Page 22
1.2.2 Conservation laws……Page 24
1.2.3 The energy of stellar contraction……Page 30
1.2.4 Quantum theory……Page 31
1.3.1 Birth……Page 36
1.3.2 The main sequence……Page 37
1.3.3 The solar-neutrino problem……Page 41
2.1 Red giants……Page 47
2.2 Stellar winds……Page 52
2.3 Quantum deregulation……Page 55
2.4 Core collapse……Page 57
2.5 Transfiguration……Page 59
3.1 Multiple stars……Page 62
3.2 Stellar orbits……Page 63
3.3 Roche lobes: the cult symbol……Page 64
3.4 The first stage of binary evolution: the Algol paradox……Page 66
3.5 Mass transfer……Page 67
3.7 Small separation……Page 70
3.8 Evolution of the second star……Page 71
3.9 Common-envelope phase……Page 72
3.10 Gravitational radiation……Page 74
4.1 The third object……Page 75
4.2 How a disk forms……Page 76
4.4 A source of friction……Page 78
4.5 A life of its own……Page 81
4.6 Fat centers? The DAF zoo……Page 85
5.1 Single white dwarfs……Page 88
5.2 Cataclysmic variables……Page 89
5.3 The origin of cataclysmic variables……Page 92
5.4 The final evolution of cataclysmic variables……Page 95
6.1 Observations……Page 99
6.2 The fate of massive stars……Page 104
6.3 Element factories……Page 107
6.4 Collapse and explosion……Page 108
6.5 Polarization and jets: new observations and new concepts……Page 113
6.6 Type Ia supernovae: the peculiar breed……Page 122
6.7 Light curves: radioactive nickel……Page 131
7.1 The Large Magellanic Cloud awakes……Page 138
7.2 The onset……Page 140
7.3 Lessons from the progenitor……Page 148
7.4 Neutrinos!……Page 152
7.5 Neutron star?……Page 153
7.6 The light curve……Page 154
7.7 This cow’s not spherical……Page 155
7.8 Rings and jets……Page 156
7.9 Other firsts……Page 159
8.1 History – theory leads, for once……Page 161
8.2 The nature of pulsars – not little green men……Page 163
8.3 Pulsars and supernovae – a game of hide and seek……Page 167
8.4 Neutron star structure – iron skin and superfluid guts……Page 168
8.5 Binary pulsars – “tango por dos”……Page 172
8.6 X-rays from neutron stars – hints of a violent Universe……Page 176
8.7 X-ray flares – a story retold……Page 182
8.8 The Rapid Burster – none of the above……Page 185
8.9 Millisecond pulsars……Page 187
8.10 Soft gamma-ray repeaters – reach out and touch someone……Page 190
8.11 Geminga……Page 194
9.1 Why black holes?……Page 196
9.2 The event horizon……Page 199
9.3 Singularity……Page 200
9.4 Being a treatise on the general nature of death within a black hole……Page 202
9.5.1 Curved space and black holes……Page 203
9.5.2 Black holes and the nature of time……Page 213
9.6.1 Quantum event horizons……Page 215
9.6.2 A two-way street……Page 216
9.6.4 White holes……Page 217
9.7 Fundamental properties of black holes……Page 218
9.8 Inside black holes……Page 219
9.8.2 Schwarzschild black holes……Page 220
9.8.3 Kerr black holes……Page 221
10.1 The Search for black holes……Page 227
10.2 Cygnus X-1……Page 229
10.3 Other suspects……Page 231
10.4 Black-hole X-ray novae……Page 233
10.5 The nature of the outburst……Page 235
10.6 Lessons from the X-rays……Page 236
10.7 SS 433……Page 239
10.8 Miniquasars……Page 241
10.9 Giants among us……Page 243
10.10 The middle ground……Page 247
11.1 Gamma-ray bursts: yet another cosmic mystery……Page 249
11.2 The revolution……Page 253
11.3 The shape of things……Page 259
11.4 The supernova and gamma-ray-burst connection……Page 266
11.5 The possibilities: Birth pangs of black holes?……Page 271
11.6 The short hard bursts……Page 275
11.7 The future……Page 278
11.8 The past in our future: the Dark Ages……Page 279
12.1 Our expanding Universe……Page 283
12.2 The shape of the Universe……Page 284
12.3 The age of the Universe……Page 286
12.4 The fate of the Universe……Page 289
12.5 Dark matter……Page 290
12.6 Vacuum energy – Einstein’s blunder that wasn’t……Page 292
12.7 Type Ia supernovae as calibrated candles and understood candles……Page 293
12.8 Supernovae and cosmology……Page 295
12.9 Acceleration!……Page 298
12.10 The shape of the Universe revisited……Page 301
12.11 Dark energy……Page 302
12.12 The fate of the Universe revisited……Page 304
13.2 Wormholes……Page 306
13.3 Time machines……Page 312
14 Beyond: the frontiers……Page 317
14.1 Quantum gravity……Page 319
14.2 When the singularity is not a singularity……Page 322
14.3 Hyperspace perspectives……Page 328
14.4 String theory……Page 330
14.5 Brane worlds……Page 337
14.6 A holographic Universe?……Page 342
14.7 Coda……Page 346
Index……Page 348