The chemically controlled cosmos : astronomical molecules from the big bang to exploding stars
- Title
- The chemically controlled cosmos : astronomical molecules from the big bang to exploding stars / T.W. Hartquist and D.A. Williams ; illustrations by Richard Williams.
- Published by
- Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1995.
- Author
Items in the library and off-site
Displaying 1 item
Status | Format | Access | Call number | Item location |
---|---|---|---|---|
Status | FormatText | AccessUse in library | Call numberQB450 .H37 1995 | Item locationOff-site |
Details
- Additional authors
- Description
- xv, 169 pages : illustrations; 26 cm
- Summary
- Molecules in the early Universe acted as natural temperature regulators, keeping the primordial gas cool and, in turn, allowing galaxies and stars to be born. Even now, simple chemistries continue to control a wide variety of the exotic objects that populate our cosmos. What are the tools of the trade for the cosmic chemist and what can they teach us about the Universe in which we live? There are the questions answered in this engaging and informative guide to The Chemically Controlled Cosmos. In clear, non-technical terms, and without formal mathematics, we learn how to study and understand the behaviour of molecules in a host of astronomical situations. We examine the formation of stars deep within interstellar clouds, the origin of our own Solar System, the cataclysmic deaths of massive stars that explode as supernovae, and the hearts of active galactic nuclei, the most powerful objects in the Universe. We are given an accessible introduction to the wealth of astrophysics and an understanding of how cosmic chemistry allows the investigation of many of the most exciting questions concerning astronomers today.
- Subject
- Contents
- 1: Brief history. Dawn of the field -- New windows on the molecular composition of the cosmos -- 2: Setting the astronomical scene. Timescales -- Distances -- Temperatures and densities -- Astronomical evolution -- 3: Tools of the trade. Atomic energy levels: rules and regulations -- Molecular energy levels: new freedoms -- Vibrations in molecules: more freedom, less choice -- Rotation of molecules -- Molecular energy levels: getting it together -- Introduction to astrochemistry -- Ion-molecule reactions: the fast track for chemistry -- Neural chemistry: change your partners! -- Heterogeneous catalysis -- Heating and cooling -- Electromagnetic spectrum -- 4: Chemistry after the big bang. First chemistry in the universe -- Cooling and collapse: the consequences of chemistry -- Intergalactic shocks -- 5: Interstellar clouds -- the birthplace of stars. Milky way and its nonstellar content -- Interstellar dust: soot and sand -- Direct observations of the gas in the different types of interstellar cloud -- Molecular hydrogen -- the key to interstellar chemistry -- Dark clouds: chemical factories in the interstellar medium -- Diffuse clouds: chemistry by starlights -- Dust: the interstellar catalytic converter -- Intersellar shocks: overcoming the chemical hump -- Chemical influences on cloud temperatures -- Magnetic retardation of cloud collapse in regions of stellar birth -- Ionization in clouds -- the chemical control of magnetically retarded collapse -- Inference of the cosmic ray induced ionization rate in diffuse clouds -- Inference of the ionization rate in dark clouds -- Another way to find the fractional ionization in dark clouds -- Diagnosis of conditions following the big bang using present day molecules -- 6: Star formation. Initial state clumps -- Why are the initial state clumps stable? -- Collapse from the initial state; core cluster formation -- Chemical-dynamical cycling in regions of solar-like star formation -- Infall of a core to form a star -- Regions of massive star formation -- 7: Solar system at birth. Formation of the disk -- Lightning in the proto-solar nebula? -- Where did the comets from? -- Why does the earth have water? -- Sun as a molecular source -- 8: Stellar winds and outflows. T tauri winds -- Cool stellar envelopes -- Planetary nebulae -- Clasical novae -- 9: Astronomical masers near bright stars. Stimulated emission -- Populating the upper level -- pumping the maser -- OH masers near young stars -- H2O masers near young stars -- Masers in stellar outflows -- 10: Supernovae: fairly big bangs. Introduction to supernovae -- What happens in a supernova -- Supernova chemistry: a hydrogen-poor environment -- 11: Molecules in active galaxies. Black holes -- accretion disk model of the central engines -- Starburst galaxies -- Seyfert galaxies -- Megamasers and gigamasers -- Molecular features in quasar spectra -- 12: Epilogue.
- Owning institution
- Princeton University Library
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.