Related papers: Six Hot Topics in Planetary Astronomy
Despite their paucity, massive hot stars are real cosmic engines of fundamental importance in shaping our Universe, from its very early stages up to its current appearance. Understanding the physics of massive stars is then a key issue for…
For two decades the hot big-bang model has been referred to as the standard cosmology -- and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not addressed by the standard cosmology and…
In these lecture notes I briefly discuss the present day situation and new discoveries in astrophysics of neutron stars focusing on isolated objects. The latter include soft gamma repeaters, anomalous X-ray pulsars, central compact objects…
A collection of modern, field-theoretical equations of state is applied to the investigation of cooling properties of compact stars. These comprise neutron stars as well as hypothetical strange matter stars, made up of absolutely stable…
In its 16 years of scientific measurements, the Spitzer Space Telescope performed a number of ground-breaking infrared measurements of Solar System objects. In this second of two papers, we describe results from Spitzer observations of…
For centuries, our knowledge of planetary systems and ideas about planet formation were based on a single example, our solar system. During the last thirteen years, the discovery of ~170 planetary systems has ushered in a new era for…
For two decades the hot big-bang model as been referred to as the standard cosmology -- and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not answered by the standard cosmology and…
The general features of the cosmic-ray spectrum have been known for a long time. Although the basic approaches to understanding cosmic-ray propagation and acceleration have also been well understood for many years, there are several…
I review three problems in astrophysics of compacts stars: (i) the phase diagram of warm pair-correlated nuclear matter a sub-saturation densities at finite isospin asymmtery; (ii) the Standard Model neutrino emission from superfluid phases…
This article relates two topics of central importance in modern astronomy - the discovery some fifteen years ago of the first planets around other stars (exoplanets), and the centuries-old problem of understanding the origin of our own…
I discuss three topics in physics of massive (two solar-mass and larger) neutron stars containing deconfined quark matter: (i) the equation of state of deconfined dense quark matter and its color superconducting phases, (ii) the thermal…
Topical problems in the physics of and basic facts about neutron stars are reviewed. The observational manifestations of neutron stars, their core and envelope structure, magnetic fields, thermal evolution, and masses and radii are briefly…
Neutron stars provide a fertile environment for exploring superfluidity under extreme conditions. It is not surprising that Cooper pairing occurs in dense matter since nucleon pairing is observed in nuclei as energy differences between…
The physics of compact objects is one of the very actively developing branches of theoretical investigations, since the careful analysis of different models for the internal structure of these objects, their evolutionary characteristics and…
The current state of cosmology is easy to summarize: a very successful standard model -- the hot big-bang cosmology -- that accounts for the evolution of the Universe from 10^{-2} sec until the present; bold ideas based upon early-Universe…
With the increasing number of detected exoplanet samples, the statistical properties of planetary systems have become much clearer. In this review, we summarize the major statistics that have been revealed mainly by radial velocity and…
After giving an overview of the history and idea of neutron stars, I shall introduce, in part one of my lectures, a representative collection of models for the equation of state of superdense neutron star matter, which account for various…
In these notes we present a selection of topics, each section approximately amounting to one lecture. We begin with a brief recapitulation of General Relativity, and the Standard Model of Cosmology. This is followed by lectures on important…
The cooling of a compact star depends very sensitively on the state of dense matter at supranuclear densities, which essentially controls the neutrino emission, as well as on the structure of the stellar outer layers which control the…
For two decades the hot big-bang model as been referred to as the standard cosmology -- and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not answered by the standard cosmology and…