Cool Stars Stellar Systems And The Sun

The series of ‘Cool Star’ meetings concentrates on the astrophysics of low-mass stars (with masses similar to that of the Sun and lower), including the Sun. The meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland, was the 15th in this series, and focused in particular on the origin of low-mass stars and their planets, as well as the properties of their atmospheres. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the science presented by the 350 participants of this meeting. The book is suitable for researchers and graduate students interested in the astrophysics of cool stars and the Sun.

Recent research on the solar-stellar system has been triggered by a host of recent observational data, in particular from space based observations. For this conference the major topics selected centered on new measurement capabilities (magnetic fields and infrared, with specific emphasis on the new IRAS results), important classes of stars (F stars, M dwarfs and giants, and pre-main sequence stars), and interesting unanswered questions (the nature of nonthermal phenomena, heating processes, angular momentum evolution, and the existence and cause of the corona/wind dividing line). Each section is opened by two or more invited lectures aimed at a wide audience, including graduate students, and continues with some research papers. The proceedings also record the two general discussions on the role of magnetic fields in cool star atmospheres and the role of monitoring programs for studies of cool stars (see also Lecture Notes in Physics Vol. 292).