The tai chi in star formation /

---

"Version: 20171001"--Title page verso."A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics"--Title page verso.Includes bibliographical references.1. Introduction -- 1.1. Magnetic fields -- 1.2. Turbulence -- 1.3. Turbulence versus B-fields -- 1.4. OK, so what about tai chi?2. Magnetic fields -- 2.1. Magnetic flux freezing approximation -- 2.2. Magnetic critical mass -- 2.3. The tai chi between magnetic fields and gravity -- 2.4. Ambipolar diffusion--decoupling between gas and fields3. Observations of magnetic fields -- 3.1. Field morphologies -- 3.2. Field strength4. Observations of turbulence -- 4.1. Why we think clouds are turbulent -- 4.2. Turbulent critical mass -- 4.3. The tai chi between turbulence and gravity5. Tai chi between gravity, turbulence, and the B-field -- 5.1. Critical densities -- 5.2. Cloud shapes and star formation rates -- 5.3. Turbulence ambipolar diffusion -- 5.4. Turbulent anisotropy -- 5.5. Summary.Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art developed based on the laws of nature, emphasises how 'to conquer the unyielding with the yielding'. The recent observation of star formation shows that stars result from the interaction between gravity, turbulence and magnetic fields. This interaction again follows the nature rules that inspired Tai Chi. For example, if self-gravity is the force that dominates, the molecular cloud will collapse isotropically, which compresses magnetic field lines. The density of the yielding field lines increases until magnetic pressure reaches the critical value to support the cloud against the gravitational force in directions perpendicular to the field lines (Lorentz force). Then gravity gives way to Lorentz force, accumulating gas only along the field lines till the gas density achieves the critical value to again compress the field lines. The Tai Chi goes on in a self-similar way.Also available in print.Mode of access: World Wide Web.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.Hua-bai Li was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1974. He received the Ph.D. degree in astrophysics from Northwestern University in 2006. Afterwards, he worked in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. In August 2013, he started his professorship in the Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research group studies how magnetic fields and turbulence regulate star formation; they use various novel methods in observations, numerical simulations and instrumentation.Title from PDF title page (viewed on November 18, 2017).

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

-

Call Number

-

Publisher

: .,

Collation

1 online resource (various pagings) :illustrations (some color).

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781681742939

Classification

523.8/8

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

-

Subject(s)

SCIENCE / Astronomy.
Stars
Popular astronomy and space.
Tai chi.

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

Hua-bai Li.

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment