Physics of Star Formation in Galaxies

The book begins with a historical introduction, "Star Formation: The Early History", that presents new material of interest for students and historians of science. This is followed by two long articles on "Pre-Main-Sequence Evolution of Stars and Young Clusters" and "Observations of Young Stellar Objects". These articles on the fascinating problem of star formation from interstellar matter give a thorough overview of present-day theories and observations. The articles contain material so far unpublished in the astronomical literature. The book addresses graduate students and can be used as a textbook for advanced courses in stellar astrophysics.

Contents

Historical Introduction. Star Formation: the Early History (G. Herbig)
Pre-Main-Sequence Evolution of Stars and Young Clusters (F. Palla)
  I. Initial Conditions of Pre-Main-Sequence Evolution
  II. Pre-Main-Sequence Evolution
  III. Physical Processes in PMS Stars
  IV. PMS Evolution of Clusters and Associations
Observations of Young Stellar Objects (YSO) (H. Zinnecker)
  I. Introduction
  II. Disks, Jets and Protostars
  III. Young Binaries
  IV. Low-Mass Stellar Content of Young Star Clusters and Associations
Index.