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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Both a textbook and a status report for every facet of research into the formation of stars and planets, this book brings together 167 authors who report on the most significant advances in the field since the publication of the previous volume in 1993. The book also reflects improvements in observational techniques, and the availability of new facilities such as the Infrared Space Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the 10-m Keck telescopes. Advances in computer technology and modeling methods have benefited theoretical studies of molecular clouds, star formation, and jets ands disks, while recent analyses of meteorites yield important insights into conditions and processes within our Sun's early protoplanetary disk.

The 49 chapters describe context and progress for observational and theoretical studies of the structure, chemistry, and dynamics of meolecular clouds; the collapse of cores and the formation of protostars; the formation and properties of young binary stars; the properties of winds, jets, and molecular outflows from young stellar objects; the evolution of circumstellar envelopes and disks; grain growth in disks and the formation of planets; and the properties of the early Solar nebula. It is also the first book to include chapters describing the discoveries of extrasolar planets, brown dwarfs, and Edgeworth-Kuiper objects, and the first to include high-resolution optical and near-infrared images of protoplanetary disks. It is an unsurpassed reference not only for established researchers but also for younger scientists whose imagination and work will lead to tomorrow's discoveries.

(Extracted from the press release).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-Dedication.

-Collaborating Authors.

-Preface.

-Part I - Molecular Clouds and Star Formation.

-Compressible MHD Turbulence: Implications for Molecular Cloud and Star Formation.
-Chemical Evolution of Protostellar Matter.
-From Prestellar Cores to Protostars: The Initial Conditions of Star Formation.
-The Structure and Evolution of Molecular Clouds: From Clumps to Cores to the IMF.
-The Stellar Initial Mass Function: Constraints from Young Clusters, and Theoretical Perspectives.
-The Formation of Stellar Clusters.
-Observations and Theory of Star Cluster Formation.
-Observations of Infall in Star-Forming Regions.
-Polarized Light from Star-Forming Regions.
-The Low-Mass Stellar Population of the Orion OB1 Association, and Implications of the Formation of Low-Mass Stars.
-Hot Molecular Cores and the Earliest Phases of High-Mass Star Formation.
-The Formation of Massive Stars.

-Part II - Circumstellar Envelopes and Disks.

-The Structure and Evolution of Envelopes and Disks in Young Stellar Systems.
-Evolution of Disk Accretion.
-Disk Dispersal Around Young Stars.
-Effects of Energetic Radiation in Young Stellar Objects.
-Spectroscopy of Inner Protoplanetary Disks and the Star-Disk Interface.
-High-Resolution Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging of Young Circumstellar Disks.
-Subarcsecond Millimeter and Submillimeter Observations of Circumstellar Disks.
-Dust Properties and Assembly of Large Particles in Protoplanetary Disks.
-Properties and Evolution of Disks Around Pre-Main-Sequence Stars of Intermediate Mass.
-Transport Processes in Protostellar Disks.
-Infalling Planetesimals in Pre-Main-Sequence Stellar Systems.
-Planetary Material Around Main-Sequence Stars.

-Part III - Young Binaries.

-Multiple Fragmentation of Protostars.
-Young Binary Stars and Associated Disks.
-Interactions of Young Binaries With Disks.

-Part IV - Jet and Outflows.

-Disk Winds and the Accretion-Outflow Connection.
-X-Winds: Theory and Observations.
-Collimation and Propagation of Stellar Jets.
-Shock Structures and Momentum Transfer in Herbig-Haro Jets.
-Molecular Outflows from Young Stellar Objects.

-Part V - Early Solar System and Planet Formation.

-The Fu Orionis Phenomenon and Solar Nebula Material.
-Formation of Chondrules and CAIs: Theory vs. Observation.
-Extint Radionuclides and the Origin of the Solar System.
-Timescales of Accretion and Differentiation in the Early Solar System: The Meteoritic Evidence.
-Meteoritical and Astrophysical Constraints on the Oxidation State of the Solar System.
-The Outer Solar System: Chemical Constraints at Low Temperatures on Planet Formation.
-Giant Planet Formation.
-Orbital Evolution and Planet-Star Tidal Interaction.
-Disk-Planet Interactions and the Formation of Planetary Systems.

-Part VI - Comets and the Kuiper Belt.

-Comets: A Link Between Interstellar and Nebular Chemistry.
-Physical Nature of the Kuiper Belt.
-Dynamics of the Kuiper Belt.
-Formation and Collisional Evolution of the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt.

-Part VII - Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs.

-Extrasolar Planets Around Main-Sequence Stars.
-Brown Dwarfs.
-New Ideas in the Theory of Extrasolar Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs.

-Part VIII - Initial Conditions for Astrobiology.

-Planetary Habitability and the Origins of Life.

-Glossary.

-Color Section.

-Index.