Polyteknisk Boghandel

Since it was first published in 1987,Galactic Dynamicshas become the most widely used advanced textbook on the structure and dynamics of galaxies and one of the most cited references in astrophysics. Now, in this extensively revised and updated edition, James Binney and Scott Tremaine describe the dramatic recent advances in this subject, makingGalactic Dynamicsthe most authoritative introduction to galactic astrophysics available to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers. Every part of the book has been thoroughly overhauled, and many sections have been completely rewritten. Many new topics are covered, including N-body simulation methods, black holes in stellar systems, linear stability and response theory, and galaxy formation in the cosmological context. Binney and Tremaine, two of the world's leading astrophysicists, use the tools of theoretical physics to describe how galaxies and other stellar systems work, succinctly and lucidly explaining theoretical principles and their applications to observational phenomena. They provide readers with an understanding of stellar dynamics at the level needed to reach the frontiers of the subject. This new edition of the classic text is the definitive introduction to the field.

Preface xiii
Chapter
1. Introduction
1
1.1 An overview of the observations
5
1.2 Collisionless systems and the relaxation time
33 The relaxation time
34
1.3 The cosmological context
37
Chapter
2. Potential Theory
55
2.1 General results
56 The potential-energy tensor
59
2.2 Spherical systems
60
2.3 Potential-density pairs for attened systems
72
2.4 Multipole expansion
78
2.5 The potentials of spheroidal and ellipsoidal systems
83
2.6 The potentials of disks
96
2.7 The potential of our Galaxy
110
2.8 Potentials from functional expansions
118
2.9 Poisson solvers for N-body codes
122
Chapter
3. The Orbits of Stars
142
3.1 Orbits in static spherical potentials
143
3.2 Orbits in axisymmetric potentials
159
3.3 Orbits in planar non-axisymmetric potentials
171
3.4 Numerical orbit integration
196
3.5 Angle-action variables
211
3.6 Slowly varying potentials
237
3.7 Perturbations and chaos
243
3.8 Orbits in elliptical galaxies
262
Chapter
4. Equilibria of Collisionless Systems
274
4.1 The collisionless Boltzmann equation
275
4.2 Jeans theorems
283
4.3 DFs for spherical systems
287
4.4 DFs for axisymmetric density distributions
312
4.5 DFs for razor-thin disks
329
4.6 Using actions as arguments of the DF
333
4.7 Particle-based and orbit-based models
338
4.8 The Jeans and virial equations
347
4.9 Stellar kinematics as a mass detector
365
4.10 The choice of equilibrium
376
Chapter
5. Stability of Collisionless Systems
394
5.1 Introduction
394
5.2 The response of homogeneous systems
401
5.3 General theory of the response of stellar systems
417
5.4 The energy principle and secular stability
423
5.5 The response of spherical systems
432
5.6 The stability of uniformly rotating systems
439
Chapter
6. Disk Dynamics and Spiral Structure
456
6.1 Fundamentals of spiral structure
458
6.2 Wave mechanics of differentially rotating disks
481
6.3 Global stability of differentially rotating disks
505
6.4 Damping and excitation of spiral structure
518
6.5 Bars
528
6.6 Warping and buckling of disks
539
Chapter
7. Kinetic Theory
554
7.1 Relaxation processes
555
7.2 General results
559
7.3 The thermodynamics of self-gravitating systems
567
7.4 The Fokker Planck approximation
573
7.5 The evolution of spherical stellar systems
596
7.6 Summary
633
Chapter
8. Collisions and Encounters of Stellar Systems
639
8.1 Dynamical friction
643
8.2 High-speed encounters
655
8.3 Tides
674
8.4 Encounters in stellar disks
685
8.5 Mergers
695
Chapter
9. Galaxy Formation
716
9.1 Linear structure formation
717
9.2 Nonlinear structure formation
733
9.3 N-body simulations of clustering
751
9.4 Star formation and feedback
760
9.5 Conclusions
765 Appendices A. Useful numbers
770 B. Mathematical background
771 C. Special functions
785 D. Mechanics
792 E. Delaunay variables for Kepler orbits
805 F. Fluid mechanics
807 G. Discrete Fourier transforms
818 H. The Antonov Lebovitz theorem
822 I. The Doremus Feix Baumann theorem
823 J. Angular-momentum transport in disks
825 K. Derivation of the reduction factor
830 L. The diffusion coefficients
833 M. The distribution of binary energies
838 References
842 Index
857