Understanding stellar evolution / created by Henny J. G. L. M. Lamers and Emily Levesque.

1. Stars : setting the stage
1.1. The sun : our star
1.2. The chemical composition of the sun and stars
1.3. The structure of stars
1.4. Stellar evolution in a nutshell
1.5. Summary. 2. Observations of stellar parameters
2.1. The distance of stars
2.2. The mass of stars
2.3. The luminosity of stars
2.4. Magnitude, color, and temperature
2.5. The mass-luminosity relation
2.6. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the color-magnitude diagram
2.7. Nomenclature of regions in the HRD and CMD
2.8. Summary. 3. Hydrostatic equilibrium and its consequences
3.1. Conservation of mass : the mass continuity equation
3.2. Hydrostatic equilibrium
3.3. The virial theorem : a consequence of HE
3.4. Summary. 4. Gas physics of stars
4.1. Mean particle mass
4.2. A general expression for the pressure
4.3. Radiation pressure
4.4. Pressure of an ideal gas
4.5. Electron Degeneracy
4.6. The equation of state (EoS) for electron gas
4.7. Neutron degeneracy
4.8. Polytropic gas
4.9. Summary. 5. Opacities in stars
5.1. The Rosseland-mean opacity
5.2. Electron scattering : [sigma]e
5.3. Free-free absorption : [kappa]ff
5.4. Bound-freE absorption : [Kappa]BF
5.5. BOUND-bound absorption : [kappa]bb
5.6. Total Rosseland-mean opacity : [kappa]r
5.7. The mean-free path of photons : l
5.8. Summary. 6. Radiative energy transport
6.1. Eddington's equation for radiative equilibrium
6.2. Mass-luminosity relation for stars in HE and RE
6.3. The Eddington limit : the maximum luminosity and the maximum mass
6.4. Summary. 7. Convective energy transport
7.1. The Schwarzschild criterion for convection
7.2. Convection in a layer with a [mu]-gradient : Ledoux criterion
7.3. The mixing length : how far does a convective cell rise before it dissolves
7.4. The efficiency of convective energy transport
7.5. The convective velocity
7.6. Typical values of convective velocity and the timescale
7.7. The super-adiabatic temperature gradient in convection zones
7.8. Convective overshooting
7.9. Convection : where and why?
7.10. Chemical mixing by convection and its consequences
7.11. Summary. 9. Stellar timescales
9.1. The dynamical timescale
9.2. The thermal timescale or Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale
9.3. The nuclear timescale
9.4. The convection timescale
9.5. Comparison of timescales
9.6. Summary. 10. Calculating stellar evolution
10.1. Assumptions for computing stellar evolution
10.2. The equations of stellar structure
10.3. Boundary conditions
10.4. Solving the structure equations
10.5. Principles of stellar evolution calculations
10.6. Summary. 11. Polytropic stars
11.1. The structure of polytropic stars : P = K[rho][gamma]
11.2. Stellar parameters of polytropic models
11.3. The mass-radius relation of polytropic stars
11.4. Summary. 12. Star formation
12.1. The interstellar medium
12.2. The Jeans mass for gravitational contraction
12.3. The collapse of molecular clouds
12.4. Fragmentation of molecular clouds
12.5. The minimum mass of stars
12.6. The end of the free-fall phase
12.7. The contraction of a convective protostar : the descent along the Hayashi track
12.8. The contraction of a radiative pre-main- sequence star : from the Hayashi track to the main sequence
12.9. T Tauri stars and Herbig Ae-Be stars
12.10. The destruction of lithium and deuterium
12.11. Stars that do not reach H-fusion : brown dwarfs with M <0.08 M[sun]
12.12. The stellar initial mass function
12.13. Star formation in the early universe
12.14. Summary. 13. H-fusion in the core : the main-sequence phase
13.1. The zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) : homology relations
13.2. The influence of abundances on the ZAMS
13.3. Evolution during the main-sequence phase
13.4. The end of the MS phase : the TAMS
13.5. The MS Lifetime
13.6. Summary. 14. Principles of post-main-sequence evolution
14.1. Isothermal cores : the Schönberg-Chandrasekhar limit
14.2. The mirror principle of stars with shell fusion
14.3. The Hayashi line of fully convective stars
14.4. Summary. 15. Stellar winds and mass loss
15.1. Types of winds
15.2. Line-driven winds of hot stars
15.3. Dust-driven winds of cool stars
15.4. Mass-loss formulae for stellar evolution
15.5. Summary. 16. Shell H-fusion in low- and intermediate-mass stars : red giants
16.1. The start of the H-shell fusion
16.2. The H-shell fusion phase of low-mass stars of 0.8-2M[sun]
16.3. The H-shell fusion phase of intermediate-mass stars of 2-8 M[sun]
16.4. The Mcore-L relation for red giants
16.5. Metallicity dependence of the red giant branch
16.6. Mass loss during the red giant phase
16.7. Summary. 17. Helium fusion in low-mass stars : horizontal branch stars
17.1. The ignition of helium fusion in low-mass stars
17.2. Helium fusion in the core : horizontal branch stars
17.3. Evolution on the horizontal branch
17.4. The observed HB of globular clusters
17.5. Summary. 18. Double shell fusion : asymptotic giant branch stars
18.1. The start of the AGB phase
18.2. The Mcore-L relation of AGB stars
18.3. The second dredge-up at the beginning of the AGB phase
18.4. The thermal pulsing AGB phase (TP-AGB)
18.5. The third dredge-up
18.6. Summary of the dredge-up phases
18.7. The evolution speed during the AGB phase
18.8. Mass loss and the end of the AGB evolution
18.9. Summary. 19. Post-AGB evolution and planetary nebulae
19.1. The post-AGB phase
19.2. Born-again AGB stars
19.3. Planetary nebulae
19.4. Fading to the white dwarf phase
19.5. Summary. 20. White dwarfs and neutron stars
20.1. Stars that become white dwarfs
20.2. The structure of white dwarfs
20.3. The Chandrasekhar mass limit for white dwarfs
20.4. The cooling of white dwarfs
20.5. Neutron stars
20.6. Summary. 21. Pulsating stars
21.1. Classical Radial Pulsators
21.2. Pulsation periods of classical radial pulsators
21.3. The [kappa]-mechanism of classical radial pulsators
21.4. An example : the pulsation of [delta] Cephei
21.5. Nonradial pulsations and asteroseismology
21.6. Summary. 22. Observations of massive stars : evidence for evolution with mass loss
22.1. The observed upper limit in the HRD
22.2. The atmospheric Eddington limit
22.3. Luminous blue variables and the atmospheric Eddington limit
22.4. Wolf-Rayet stars
22.5. The dependence of massive star evolution on metallicity
22.6. Summary. 23. Evolution of massive stars of 8-25M[sun]
23.1. Predicted evolutionary tracks
23.2. The internal evolution during the post-MS phase of stars of 8 to 25M[sun]
23.3. Stellar pulsation during blue loops
23.4. Summary. 24. The evolution of massive stars of 25-120M[sun] : dominated by mass loss
24.1. The effect of mass loss during the main-sequence phase
24.2. Predicted evolution tracks with mass loss
24.3. The evolution of a 60M[sun] star with mass loss
24.4. The Conti scenario
24.5. Summary. 25. Rotation and stellar evolution
25.1. The critical velocity of rotating stars
25.2. The Von Zeipel effect
25.3. nonspherical mass loss of rapidly rotating stars
25.4. Mixing by meridional circulation
25.5. The effect of rotation on the evolution of massive stars
25.6. Homogeneous evolution
25.7. Summary. 26. Late evolution stages of massive stars
26.1. Late fusion phases
26.2. The internal evolution
26.3. Pre-supernovae
26.4. Summary. 27. Supernovae
27.1. Light curves of supernovae
27.2. Core collapse
27.3. The core collapse supernova explosion
27.4. Energetics of core collapse supernovae of massive stars
27.5. Observed types of supernovae
27.6. The case of Supernova 1987A
27.7. The remnants of stellar evolution
27.8. Summary. 28. Principles of close binary evolution
28.1. Periods and angular momentum
28.2. Equipotential surfaces of binaries
28.3. Contact phases
28.4. Changes in period and separation during mass transfer
28.5. Stable and runaway mass transfer
28.6. Summary. 29. Close binaries : examples of evolution with mass transfer
29.1. Algol systems : conservative case A mass transfer
29.2. Massive interacting binaries : conservative case B mass transfer
29.3. Common envelope stars : case C mass transfer
29.4. The formation of high-mass X-ray binaries
29.5. The formation of low-mass X-ray binaries
29.6. Novae : WDs in semi-detached systems
29.7. Summary. 30. Chemical yields : products of stellar evolution
30.1. A summary of the evolution of single stars
30.2. Chemical yields of single stars
30.3. The main producers of various elements
30.4. Summary. Appendices. A. Physical and astronomical constants
B. Stellar parameters
C. Solar model
D. Main sequence from ZAMS to TAMS
E. Acronyms. 8. Nuclear fusion
8.1. Reaction rates and energy production
8.2. Thermonuclear reaction rates and the Gamow peak
8.3. Abundance changes
8.4. H[right arrow]He fusion
8.5. He[right arrow]C fusion : the triple-α process
8.6. C-fusion, O-fusion, and Ne-photodisintegration
8.7. Photodisintegration and the formation of heavy elements
8.8. Summary of major nuclear reactions in stars
8.9. Formation of heavy elements by neutron capture
8.10. The minimum core mass for igniting fusion reactions
8.11. Fusion phases of stars in the ([rho]c, Tc) plane
8.12. Summary

Understanding Stellar Evolution' is based on a series of graduate-level courses taught at the University of Washington since 2004, and is written for physics and astronomy students and for anyone with a physics background who is interested in stars. It describes the structure and evolution of stars, with emphasis on the basic physical principles and the interplay between the different processes inside stars such as nuclear reactions, energy transport, chemical mixing, pulsation, mass loss, and rotation. Based on these principles, the evolution of low- and high-mass stars is explained from their formation to their death. In addition to homework exercises for each chapter, the text contains a large number of questions that are meant to stimulate the understanding of the physical principles. An extensive set of accompanying lecture slides is available for teachers in both Keynote® and PowerPoint® formats