History of Stellar Atmospheres


As part of my PhD dissertation, I wrote an introduction to stellar atmospheres and Classical Cepheids and the history of research into both topics. Here, I reproduce the contents of the that work, divided into various subheadings.

The history of the theory of stellar atmospheres is intertwined with the development of solar and stellar spectroscopy, stellar classification, atomic physics, and radiative transfer. It arguably began when Isaac Newton observed the continuous spectrum of the Sun through a glass prism almost 350 years ago. This simple observation sparked the field of stellar spectroscopy, which in turn motivated the development of stellar classification. The spectroscopic observations provided insight into atomic physics such as the discovery of helium, as well as a testbed for the theory of radiative transfer, that formed the basis for the field of stellar atmosphere modelling. Much of this review of stellar atmospheres is from Hearnshaw (1986), Gray & Corbally (2009), Mihalas (1978), and Pecker (1965).


Stellar Spectroscopy and Classification
The Physics of Stellar Atmospheres



History of Cepheid Studies


The historical account of Cepheids spans a long period of time, since the discovery of variability in δ Cephei by John Goodricke in 1784 (Goodricke & Bayer, 1786) and η Aquilae by Edward Pigott. This type of star has been both an enigma and a godsend. The variation of light is a puzzle for stellar physics, stellar structure and stellar evolution but this variation provides an ideal laboratory for theories of stellar physics as well as providing a Period-Luminosity relation (Leavitt Law) that makes them powerful standard candles for extragalactic and cosmological studies. Much of this discussion is based on Hoffleit (1986) and Gautschy (2003).

Introduction
Observations of Cepheids
Statistical Properties
Theoretical Modeling of Cepheids