User:Tohline/H Book

Preface from the original version of this HyperText Book (H_Book):

November 18, 1994

Much of our present, basic understanding of the structure, stability, and dynamical evolution of individual stars, short-period binary star systems, and the gaseous disks that are associated with numerous types of stellar systems (including galaxies) is derived from an examination of the behavior of a specific set of coupled, partial differential equations. These equations -- most of which also are heavily utilized in studies of continuum flows in terrestrial environments -- are thought to govern the underlying physics of all macroscopic "fluid" systems in astronomy. Although relatively simple in form, they prove to be very rich in nature ...<more>

The literature on this subject is enormous, as serious discussions of the structure and dynamical properties of stars and galaxies date back more than a century. Although a reasonable attempt is made here to review this vast literature and to provide a bridge between discussions that traditionally have focused on stellar structure and those that have focused on galaxy disks, the primary purpose of this work is two-fold:

• To document in an electronically accessible format many of the key physical principles that underlie modern discussions of the structure, stability, and dynamical evolution of astrophysical fluid systems;

• To take advantage of the added dimensions offered by the hypertext medium -- such as color, text/equation linkages, animation, VRML, and access to online computational algorithms-- to effectively illustrate many of these physical principles.

Context

Principal Governing Equations

Supplemental Relations

Virial Equations

Applications

Structure

Stability

Dynamics