The accretion process is thought to play a key role in the Universe. This book explains, in a form intelligible to graduate students, its relation to the formation of new stars, to the energy release in compact objects and to the formation of black holes.The monographdescribes howaccretion processes are related to the presence of jets in stellar objects and active galactic nuclei and to jet formation. The authors treat theoretical work as well as current observational facts. This volume of the highly esteemed Les Houches series is meant as an advanced text thatcan serve to attract students to exciting new research work in astrophysics.

The accretion process is thought to play a key role in the Universe. This book explains, in a form intelligible to graduate students, its relation to the formation of new stars, to the energy release in compact objects and to the formation of black holes. The monograph describes how accretion processes are related to the presence of jets in stellar objects and active galactic nuclei and to jet formation. The authors treat theoretical work as well as current observational facts. This volume of the highly esteemed Les Houches series is meant as an advanced text that can serve to attract students to exciting new research work in astrophysics.

High-energy astrophysics involves the study of exceedingly dynamic and energetic phenomena occurring near the most extreme celestial objects known to exist, such as black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, and supernova remnants. High-Energy Astrophysics provides graduate and advanced undergraduate students with the most complete, self-contained introduction to the subject available. This textbook covers all the essentials, weaving together the latest theory with the experimental techniques, instrumentation, and observational methods astronomers use to study high-energy radiation from space. Fulvio Melia introduces topics at the forefront of today's research, including relativistic particles, energetic radiation, and accretion disk theory. No other textbook offers such a thorough yet concise treatment of the key aspects of high-energy astrophysics--both theoretical and observational--or delves as deeply into modern detection techniques, satellite systems, and analytical and numerical modeling used by theoreticians. Amply illustrated, High-Energy Astrophysics is also ideal for researchers interested in the application of fundamental physical laws to understand how matter and radiation behave in regions of the universe where physical conditions are most extreme. Uniquely weaves together the theoretical and experimental aspects of this important branch of astronomy Features stunning images of the high-energy sky Fully describes the principal classes of high-energy sources, with an in-depth study of many archetypal objects within them Provides an excellent, self-contained resource for the classroom, written by a preeminent researcher and teacher in the field

This book reviews the phenomenology displayed by relativistic jets as well as the most recent theoretical efforts to understand the physical mechanisms at their origin. Relativistic jets have been observed and studied in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) for about half a century and are believed to be fueled by accretion onto a supermassive black hole at the center of the host galaxy. Since the first discovery of relativistic jets associated with so-called "micro-quasars" much more recently, it has seemed clear that much of the physics governing the relativistic outflows in stellar X-ray binaries harboring black holes and in AGN must be common, but acting on very different spatial and temporal scales. With new observational and theoretical results piling up every day, this book attempts to synthesize a consistent, unified physical picture of the formation and disruption of jets in accreting black-hole systems. The chapters in this book offer overviews accessible not only to specialists but also to graduate students and astrophysicists working in other areas. Covered topics comprise Relativistic jets in stellar systems Launching of AGN jets Parsec-scale AGN jets Kiloparsec-scale AGN jets Black hole magnetospheres Theory of relativistic jets The structure and dynamics of the inner accretion disk The origin of the jet magnetic field X-ray observations, phenomenology, and connection with theory

The first comprehensive and up-to-date review of our new understanding of accretion disks around black holes - with chapters from experts from around the world.

The ubiquity of jet phenomena in young stellar objects, active galactic nuclei, symbiotic stars, planetary nebulae and x-ray binaries has driven a broad literature on the astrophysics of collimated mass ejection. One of the fundamental open problems in star formation is the understanding of the physical mechanisms by which mass is ejected from the protostellar system and collimated into jets. Locally, jets will regulate the system's angular momentum and therefore its evolution during the first few million years. At large scale, jets inject momentum into the cloud thus affecting its star formation efficiency and evolution.Many recent advances over the last years in the star-formation research (both theory and observations) together with the increasing availability of computational resources, provided an excellent opportunity to organise a workshop. This volume presents the results of the workshop discussions on the jet phenomenon on different astrophysical scales and covers interdisciplinary areassuch as steady state winds, time-dependent winds/jets, jet energetics and jet/wind propagation.

In order to bring the scientific events of the meetings of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (AG) to the attention of the worldwide astronomical community, an annual publication, Reviews in Modern Astronomy, was established. It is devoted exclusively to . the invited reviews, the Karl Schwarz schild lectures, and the high light contributions from leading scientists reporting on recent progress and scientific achievements at their respective institutes. This third volume continues the yearbook series of publications of the society. It comprises the complete set of contributions presented during the spring meeting of the AG at Berlin in March 1990, which was dedicated to the topic "Accretion and Winds". In addition four latecomers (two review and two highlight papers) delivered at the fall meeting at Graz, Austria in September 1989 close this volume. Heidelberg, September 1990 G: Klare Contents Some New Elements in Accretion Disk Theory By F. Meyer (With 5 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mass Transfer and Evolution in Close Binaries By A. R. King (With 4 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Radiation Hydrodynamics of the Boundary Layer of Accretion Disks in Cataclysmic Variables By W. Kley (With 6 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Curious Observations of Cataclysmic Variables By F. V. Hessman (With 10 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Accretion in AM Herculis Stars 44 By A. D. Schwope (With 12 Figures) X-ray Diagnostics of Accretion Disks By G. Hasinger (With 12 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Accretion Phenomena at Neutron Stars By A. Rebetzky, H. Herold, U. Kraus, H. -P. Nollert, and H. Ruder (With 13 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .