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The first extended work of its kind, "Stars as Laboratories for Fundamental Physics" stands at the intersection of two burgeoning fields, astrophysics and particle physics. Georg Raffelt, one of the world's leading researchers in this field, describes what the study of stars reveals about fundamental particle interactions.
Raffelt presents the many uses of stellar astrophysics for research in basic particle physics. He focuses primarily on the properties and nongravitational interactions of elementary particles. Numerous graphs and figures complement the text.
"Stars as Laboratories for Fundamental Physics" is a valuable reference for cosmologists, astrophysicists, and particle physicists.
List of contents
Preface Acknowledgments 1: The Energy-Loss Argument 2: Anomalous Stellar Energy Losses Bounded by Observations 3: Particles Interacting with Electrons and Baryons 4: Processes in a Nuclear Medium 5: Two-Photon Coupling of Low-Mass Bosons 6: Particle Dispersion and Decays in Media 7: Nonstandard Neutrinos 8: Neutrino Oscillations 9: Oscillations of Trapped Neutrinos 10: Solar Neutrinos 11: Supernova Neutrinos 12: Radiative Particle Decays from Distant Sources 13: What Have We Learned from SN 1987A? 14: Axions 15: Miscellaneous Exotica 16: Neutrinos: The Bottom Line App. A. Units and Dimensions App. B. Neutrino Coupling Constants App. C. Numerical Neutrino Energy-Loss Rates App. D. Characteristics of Stellar Plasmas References Acronyms Symbols Subject Index
About the author
Georg G. Raffelt is a staff scientist in the Theory Group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics in Munich, and is a receiving editor for the journal "Astroparticle Physics."
Summary
Describes what the study of stars reveals about fundamental particle interactions, presenting the many uses of stellar astrophysics for research in basic particle physics. The text focuses primarily on the properties and nongravitational interactions of elementary particles.
