Previous
abstract 
Next
abstract
Session 39 - Curriculum in Crisis: Reinventing Stellar Astrophysics for Today's Graduate Student.
Display session, Tuesday, June 11
Tripp Commons,
In this paper we look ahead to the development of the theory of stellar atmospheres as we prepare to enter the next century. The development of computing technology has enabled the relaxation of many assumptions which characterized investigations of the second half of this century. The ramifications of these developments on the type and scope of problems which can be solved is discussed. The implications for the physical understanding of stars and stellar systems are investigated. Specific areas of distorted atmospheres departing from hydrostatic and local thermodynamic equilibrium are considered. The structure of strongly illuminated stellar atmospheres found in close binary systems and the subsequent interpretation of such systems are examined. Finally the relationships of such problems to improvements in stellar observations are addressed.
