Compact Objects in Astrophysics White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes [Paperback]

Modern comprehensive introduction and overview of the physics of White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes, including all relevant observations.

Contains a basic introduction to General Relativity, including the modern 3+1 split of spacetime and of Einsteins equations. The split is used for the first time to derive the structure equations for rapidly rotating neutron stars and Black Holes.

Detailed discussions and derivations of current theoretical results. In particular also the most recent equations of state for neutron star matter are explained. Topics , such as colour superconductivity are discussed and used for modelling.

A book for graduate students and researchers. Contains exercises and some solutions.

Compact objects are an important class of astronomical objects in current research. Supermassive black holes play an important role in the understanding of the formation of galaxies in the early Universe. Old white dwarfs are nowadays used to calibrate the age of the Universe. Mergers of neutron stars and black holes are the sources of intense gravitational waves which will be measured in the next ten years by gravitational wave detectors.

Camenzind's Compact Objects in Astrophysics gives a comprehensive introduction and up-to-date overview about the physical processes behind these objects, covering the field from the beginning to most recent results, including all relevant observations.

After a presentation of the taxonomy of compact objects, the basic principles of general relativity are given. The author then discusses in detail the physics and observations of white dwarfs and neutron stars (including the most recent equations of state for neutron star matter), the gravitational field of rapidly rotating compact objects, rotating black holes (including ray tracing and black hole magnetospheres), gravitational wl³|