This book is an introduction to pulsars, a key area in high energy astrophysics with continuing potential for fundamental discoveries. Throughout the book runs the unifying thread of the evolutionary link between rotation-powered pulsars and accretion-powered pulsars OCo a milestone of modern astrophysics. Early textbooks on pulsars dealt almost entirely with rotation-powered ones, while accounts of pulsars in volumes on X-ray binaries focused almost exclusively on accretion-powered ones. This is the first textbook to treat these two kinds of pulsars simultaneously with equal importance, stressing the fact that both are rotating, magnetic neutron stars, operating under different conditions during different parts of their lives. It describes the observational properties of both kinds of pulsars, summarizes our physical understanding of these properties, and pays detailed attention to the physics of superdense matter which neutron stars are composed of, as well as to the superfluidity which is expected to occur in neutron stars. Evolution from rotation-power to accretion-power, and vice versa, are carefully described. The effects of the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars on themselves, their emission properties, and their environments are discussed, as are the origin and evolution of such magnetic fields. Also treated is the superbly accurate verification of Einstein''s theory of general relativity through timing studies of binary pulsars, which led to the award of the Nobel Prize to Hulse and Taylor in 1993. On each topic, the book starts with simple, basic physical concepts, and builds up the exposition to the point where the latest and most exciting developments become accessible to the reader."

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

In this paper the following items will be treated: The present status of dense nuclear matter calculations and constraints on the behavior of the associated equation of state at high densities from data on rapidly rotating pulsars. Recent finding of the likely existence of a mixed phase of baryons and quarks forming a coulomb lattice in the dense cores of neutron stars. Review of important findings of recently performed calculations of rapidly rotating compact stars. These are constructed in the framework of general relativity theory for a representative collection of realistic nuclear equations of state. Establish the minimum-possible rotational periods of gravitationally bound neutron stars and self-bound strange stars. Its knowledge is of fundamental importance for the decision between pulsars that can be understood as rotating neutron stars and those that cannot (signature of hypothetical self-bound matter of which strange stars are the likely stellar candidates. Investigate the properties of sequences of strange stars. Specifically, we answer the question whether such objects can give rise to the observed phenomena of pulsar glitches, which is at the present time the only astrophysical test of the strange-quark-matter hypothesis.

Study Edition

A detailed review of the key models of nuclear structure and dynamics.