In Exploding Superstars, Alain Mazure and Stephane Basa show how
great stellar explosions have become extremely important in recent
years to cosmologists trying to understand the evolution of our
universe since the Big Bang and the scale of that universe.
Recently supernovae and gamma-ray bursters have been used, for
example, as "standard candles," illuminating their immediate
environs like searchlights and allowing us to study the cosmos
between them and us.
In the first three chapters the authors briefly review the great
explosions that will form the subject matter of the book--namely,
supernovae and gamma-ray bursters. They describe the very early
universe, after the Big Bang, and then how "the lights came on all
over the universe as the very first stars began to shine." The
importance of stellar mass in governing not only the lifetime of a
star (the most massive stars live relatively short lives) but also
the way in which a star ends its days is also explained.
Chapter 4 describes the explosion of certain massive stars,
outlining the various stages at the end of these stars' lives,
which result in the cataclysmic explosions known as supernovae. In
Chapter 5 the authors introduce the more exotic and spectacular
forms of stellar explosion known as gamma-ray bursters. Chapter 6
studies the markers used for cosmic surveys and Hubble's
contributions to the field. The penultimate chapter looks at the
very distant, highly luminous sources known as quasars and the
evolution of our universe from the earliest times. The final
chapter shows how observations of distant supernovae have revealed
that the expansion of the universe is in fact accelerating--one of
the most exciting and remarkable discoveries in recent years. It
was this discovery that lead to the idea that 70% of the universe
is made up of mysterious dark energy.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!