Stellar Structure and Evolution

This long-awaited second edition of the classical textbook on Stellar Structure and Evolution by Kippenhahn and Weigert is a thoroughly revised version of the original text. Taking into account modern observational constraints as well as additional physical effects such as mass loss and diffusion, Achim Weiss and Rudolf Kippenhahn have succeeded in bringing the book up to the state-of-the-art with respect to both the presentation of stellar physics and the presentation and interpretation of current sophisticated stellar models. The well-received and proven pedagogical approach of the first edition has been retained.The book provides a comprehensive treatment of the physics of the stellar interior and the underlying fundamental processes and parameters. The models developed to explain the stability, dynamics and evolution of the stars are presented and great care is taken to detail the various stages in a star’s life. Just as the first edition, which remained a standard work for more than 20 years after its first publication, the second edition will be of lasting value not only for students but also for active researchers in astronomy and astrophysics.

Rudolf Kippenhahn is author of very successful academic astronomy books as well of a large number of best-selling popular science books on astronomy, atomic physics and cryptology. From 1965-1975 he was professor for astronomy and astrophysics in Gottingen, Germany, and from 1975-1991 he was the director of the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching. He has received several medals and awards including the Eddington medal by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Karl-Schwarzschild medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft. Alfred Weigert was professor for astrophysics at the University of Hamburg, Germany. His research forcussed on the simulation of stellar evolution and on the solution of the set of equations describing the structure of stars. He was not only Rudolf Kippenhahn’s co-author of the first edition of Stellar Structure and Evolution, but also author (with Heinrich J. Wendker) of the successful German introductory textbook “Astronomie und Astrophysik”. He died in 1992. Achim Weiss is an astrophysicist at the Max-Planck Instiute for Astrophysics in Garching and lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. Dr. Weiss’ research interests are on stellar evolution of low- and intermediate mass stars, population synthesis and AGB- and post-AGB evolution.