Understanding Stellar
Evolution is based on a series of graduate-level courses taught at the
University of Washington since 2004, and is written for physics and astronomy students and for anyone with a physics
background who is interested in stars. It describes the structure and evolution of stars, with emphasis on the
basic physical principles and the interplay between the different processes
inside stars, such as nuclear reactions, energy transport, chemical mixing,
pulsation, mass loss and rotation. Based on these principles, the evolution of
low- and high-mass stars is explained from their formation to their death. In addition to homework exercises for each
chapter, the text contains a large number of questions that are meant to stimulate
the understanding of the physical principles. An extensive set of accompanying
lecture slides is available for teachers in both Keynote® and PowerPoint® formats.