Magnetohydrodynamics of the Sun by Eric Priest (PDF)

Description

Magnetohydrodynamics of the Sun is a completely new up-to-date rewrite from scratch of the 1982 book Solar Magnetohydrodynamics, taking account of enormous advances in understanding since that date. It describes the subtle and complex interaction between the Sun’s plasma atmosphere and its magnetic field, which is responsible for many fascinating dynamic phenomena. Chapters cover the generation of the Sun’s magnetic field by dynamo action, magnetoconvection and the nature of photospheric flux tubes such as sunspots, the heating of the outer atmosphere by waves or reconnection, the structure of prominences, the nature of eruptive instability and magnetic reconnection in solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and the acceleration of the solar wind by reconnection or wave-turbulence. It is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in solar physics and related fields of astronomy, plasma physics and fluid dynamics. Problem sets and other resources are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521854719.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is an update of the previous textbook Solar MHD by the same author. The book contains a rigorous analytical description of many theoretical models of the solar corona, solar flares, hydrodynamics, and magneto-hydrodynamics. It is very useful for students, post-Docs, and researchers. I use this textbook almost on a daily basis, and I cite it frequently in my research publications.

⭐This book is packed with information and the author seems truly expert. Unfortunately, it seems like he has no clue about proper pedagogy. In particular, the author does not seem to appreciate that an introduction is a place to introduce instead of exhibit every bit of minutia that you know.The first chapter, for example, is descriptive material about the solar atmosphere. Time after time, however, the author goes on an on about topics that need conceptual and theoretical introduction, leading the reader to wander through a forest of leaves wondering where the trees are. In my opinion, it would have been far better to first introduce the elements of theory and then discuss the most important phenomena in the context of the already outlined theory. More detailed descriptions could be saved for the later more specialized chapters.The second chapter, which develops the elements of magnetohydrodynamics starts by stating the fundamental equations. Once again, though, the author is quickly distracted by all sorts of details, whichare neither derived nor explained (for example, details of the relationship between conduction and molecular processes, the only explanation of which is a bare equation). He states several versions of the perfect gas law, most of which should be familiar to physics undergrads and then jumps to a claim that a certain equation follows from another equation without any explanation of the fact that almost none of the variables are common to the two equations.The besetting sin of the book’s pedagogy, I think, is a persistent failure to distinguish between the fundamental and the kind of detail that can await discussion of specific topics. The result is an opaque presentation that often obscures more than it illuminates.I can imagine that this book could be a useful addition to the semi-expert’s bookshelf. For the student, it is an often frustratingly dense jungle.

⭐I wish it was more detailed.

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