Coralie Neiner - Böcker

IAU Symposium 272 presents an overview of the latest research into active OB stars. These massive, volatile objects serve as test beds for extreme conditions, and research into them has entered a new era with the advent of new space and round-based instrumentation. In this volume, renowned experts discuss the cutting-edge observations, state-of-the-art modeling and recently developed techniques such as asteroseismology, interferometry and spectropolarimetry that have improved our understanding of these extreme objects. Asteroseismology allows us to infer the internal structure of massive stars and their rotation; high-resolution spectropolarimetry provides clues about magnetic fields and the confinement of their circumstellar environments; and interferometry probes the shape of these environments and investigates differential rotation. Written for researchers and graduate students, this volume will appeal to all those interested in extreme physical processes as tools to study structure evolution and mass loss of active OB stars.

The mapping of the surface of stars requires diverse skills, analysis techniques and advanced modeling, i.e. the collaboration of scientists in various specialties. This volume gives insights into new techniques allowing for the first time to obtain resolved images of stars. It takes stock of what has been achieved so far in Chile, on the ESO VLTI instrument or, in the States, on the CHARA instrument. In recent times interferometry, combined with adaptive optics has allowed to reconstruct images of stars. Besides the Sun (of course) by now five stars have been resolved in detail. In addition to interferometry, this book highlights techniques used for mapping the surfaces of stars using photometry made by space observatories; Zeeman- and Doppler Imaging; mapping the surface element abundances via spectroscopy. This book will also take stock of the best images of the  solar surface, made by connecting the differential rotation to the underlying physical parameters derived from helioseismology. Recent measurements of flattening of the solar surface by SDO showed that the Sun’s shape is linked to the rotation of the core. It is shown how such a result is generalizable to the stars.

This volume of lecture notes brings together the knowledge on pulsations of the Sun and the stars, with a particular emphasis on recent observations and modelling, and on the influence of pulsations of other physical processes. The book begins with an extensive introduction to helioseismology. The solar cycle and gravity modes are discussed before the focus is widened from helioseismology to asteroseismology which is detailed in a series of specific chapters. Based on courses given at a graduate school, these tutorial lecture notes will be of interest and useful to a rather broad audience of scientists and students.

Based on lectures given at a CNRS summer school in France, this book covers many aspects of stellar environments (both observational and theoretical) and offers a broad overview of the field. More specifically, Part I of the book focuses on the Sun, the properties of the ejected plasma, of the solar wind and on space weather. The second part deals with tides in planetary systems and in binary stellar systems, as well as with interactions in massive binary stars as seen by interferometry. Finally the chapters of Part III discuss the environments of young or evolved stars, stellar winds, agnetic fields and disks. With its broad approach the book will provide advanced students as well as researchers with a good overview of the environments of the Sun and the stars.