An Introduction to Waves and Oscillations in the Sun (Astronomy and Astrophysics Library) - Softcover

Narayanan, A. Satya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 148999596X ISBN 13: 9781489995964

Publisher: Springer, 2014

Synopsis

“An Introduction to Waves and Oscillations in the Sun” is intended for students and researchers who work in the area of solar and astrophysics. This book contains an introduction to the Sun, basics of electrodynamics, magneto-hydrodynamics for force-free and current-free fields. It deals with waves in uniform media with relevance to sound waves and Alfven waves, and with waves in non-uniform media like surface waves or waves in a slab and cylindrical geometry. It also touches on instabilities in fluids and observational signatures of oscillations. Finally, there is an introduction to the area of helio-seismology, which deals with the internal structure of the Sun.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. A. Satya Narayanan is a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1982. He was one of the Mathematicians selected for the prestigious Research Scientist position by the UGC, India, in the year 1984. He joined the Indian Institute of Astrophysics as a visiting fellow in 1990 and is presently an Associate Professor.

Dr. Narayanan has published many papers in reputed and refereed journals (both national as well as international). He has visited many countries in Europe, the U. K., Japan, and Singapore to attend meetings as well as to deliver lectures. He is one of the editors of the conference proceedings for a spectroscopy meeting held at Kodaikanal, India, in 2009, published by Springer-Verlag.

From the Back Cover

Astrophysicists and others studying the Sun will find this expansive coverage of what we know about waves and oscillations in our nearest star an informative introduction to a hot contemporary topic. After a section summarizing the Sun's physical characteristics, the volume moves on to explore the basics of electrodynamics, which in turn facilitate a discussion of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The material also details the often complex nature of waves and oscillations in uniform and non-uniform media, before categorizing the observational signatures of oscillations and exploring the instabilities in fluid, dealing with a range of known forms. Lastly, a section on helioseismology explores our growing familiarity with the internal structure of the Sun.

This book is a unified portal to a thorough grounding in solar waves that includes a wealth of explanatory vignettes demystifying concepts such as flux tubes, current-free and force-free magnetic fields, the prominences, and the relationship between the vorticity and the induction equation. It also sets out the elegant Parker solution describing the phenomenon of solar wind. The volume will inspire readers with the unbridled enthusiasm of astrophysicists who view the Sun as a giant natural plasma laboratory, in interstellar terms located right on our doorstep, in which they can apply and then verify experimental and theoretical studies on plasma through their own observation

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 148999596X
• ISBN 13: 9781489995964
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 234