Luca Ciotti is Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Bologna, where he has also served for many years as Director of the Collegio Superiore. Since 1992 he has been a long-term visitor of the Princeton University Observatory. His work developed in several fields of theoretical astrophysics, with main interests in stellar dynamics, fluid dynamics, and black hole accretion. This is his second book in the field, having previously written Lecture Notes on Stellar Dynamics (2001) based on the lectures given at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.
Part I. Potential Theory: 1. The gravitational field
2. The gravitational potential
3. Tidal fields
4. The two-body problem
5. Quasi-circular orbits
Part II. Systems of Particles: 6. The N-body problem and the virial theorem
7. Relaxation 1: Two-body relaxation
8. Relaxation 2: Dynamical friction
Part III. Collisionless Systems: 9. The collisionless Boltzmann equation and the Jeans theorem
10. The Jeans equations and the Tensor virial theorem
11. Projected dynamics
12. Modeling techniques 1: Phase-space approach
13. Modeling techniques 2: Moments approach
14. Modeling techniques 3: from ¿ to f. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.
