Main Page

Much of the astrophysics community's present understanding of the structure, stability, and dynamical evolution of individual stars, short-period binary star systems, and the gaseous disks that are associated with numerous types of stellar systems (including galaxies) are derived from an examination of the behavior of a specific set of coupled, partial differential equations. These equations — most of which also are heavily utilized in studies of continuum flows in terrestrial environments — are thought to govern the underlying physics of all macroscopic fluid systems in astronomy. Although relatively simple in form, they prove to be very rich in nature.

The literature on this subject is enormous, as serious discussions of the structure and dynamical properties of stars and galaxies date back well over a century. The primary purpose of this work is two-fold:

1. To document in an electronically accessible format many of the key physical principles that underlie modern discussions of the structure, stability, and dynamical evolution of astrophysical fluid systems.
2. To take advantage of the added dimensions offered by the hypertext medium — such as color, text/equation linkages, animation, and virtual reality environments — to effectively illustrate many of these physical principles.

We have adopted MediaWiki as the hosting environment of choice most significantly because, after incorporating the proper set of extensions, it facilitates the insertion of complex, LaTeX-formulated mathematical expressions into the text.

If you are interested in learning about, or extending your understanding and appreciation of, the behavior of astrophysical fluids, we recommend that you proceed to the accompanying table of contents, which we have constructed in the form of a Tiled Menu.

Highlights

• Tiled Menu