Rotating Relativistic Stars

John L. Friedman · Nikolaos Stergioulas

Feb 2013 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

The masses of neutron stars are limited by an instability to gravitational collapse and an instability driven by gravitational waves limits their spin. Their oscillations are relevant to x-ray observations of accreting binaries and to gravitational wave observations of neutron stars formed during the coalescence of double neutron-star systems. This volume includes more than forty years of research to provide graduate students and researchers in astrophysics, gravitational physics and astronomy with the first self-contained treatment of the structure, stability and oscillations of rotating neutron stars. This monograph treats the equations of stellar equilibrium; key approximations, including slow rotation and perturbations of spherical and rotating stars; stability theory and its applications, from convective stability to the r-mode instability; and numerical methods for computing equilibrium configurations and the nonlinear evolution of their oscillations. The presentation of fundamental equations, results and applications is accessible to readers who do not need the detailed derivations.

About the author

John Friedman is a University Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. A Fellow of the American Physical Society, he recently served as Chair of its gravitational physics section. He has been on the editorial boards of Classical and Quantum Gravity and Physical Review D, and was a divisional associate editor of Physical Review Letters. His awards include the Telegdi Prize and the Marc Perry Galler Award.

Nikolaos Stergioulas is an Assistant Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has published more than 35 refereed papers in relativistic astrophysics, and has released a widely used public domain code for constructing numerical models of rotating relativistic stars. He has also served on the governing council of the Hellenic Astronomical Society and was a member of the selection committee for the Basilis Xanthopoulos International Award.