Preface -- 1. Observational background -- 1.1. Distances -- 1.2. Stellar brightness and luminosity -- 1.3. Colors -- 1.4. Spectroscopy -- 1.5. Color-magnitude diagrams -- 1.6. Stellar masses -- 1.7. The mass-luminosity relation for main sequence stars -- 1.8. The mass-radius relation for main sequence stars2. The equations of stellar structure : mass conservation and hydrostatic equilibrium -- 2.1. Introduction -- 2.2. The mass conservation equation -- 2.3. The hydrostatic equilibrium equation for a spherical star -- 2.4. The dynamical time scale -- 2.5. The central temperature of the Sun -- 2.6. The central temperatures of main sequence stars -- 2.7. Radiation pressure3. Energy considerations, the source of the Sun's energy, and energy transport -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2. The virial theorem -- 3.3. The virial theorem for stars in hydrostatic equilibrium -- 3.4. The conservation of energy equation for a star in hydrostatic equilibrium -- 3.5. Stars in thermal equilibrium -- 3.6. Energy transport -- 3.7. The equation of radiative transfer -- 3.8. Optical depth and effective temperature -- 3.9. Validity of the diffusion approximation4. Convective energy transport -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. The Schwarzschild criterion for convective instability -- 4.3. Including convective energy transport in stellar models5. The equations of stellar evolution and how to solve them -- 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. The equations of stellar structure -- 5.3. The physical significance of the Eddington luminosity -- 5.4. Equations for composition changes -- 5.5. Solving the equations of stellar evolution -- 5.6. The Newton-Raphson method -- 5.7. Sets of non-linear equations6. Physics of gas and radiation -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. The ideal gas equation of state -- 6.3. The radiation equation of state -- 6.4. The equation of state for a mixture of ideal gas and radiation -- 6.5. The Eddington standard model of stellar structure7. Ionization and recombination -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. The Boltzmann excitation equation -- 7.3. The Saha ionization equation -- 7.4. A difficulty and its resolution -- 7.5. Ionization of hydrogen -- 7.6. The effect of ionization on the adiabatic gradient -- 7.7. The effect of ionization on the specific heat -- 7.8. Pressure ionization -- 7.9. Free energy approach to ionization -- 7.10. A crude model for inclusion of pressure ionization in a thermodynamically consistent way8. The degenerate electron gas -- 8.1. Introduction -- 8.2. Complete electron degeneracy -- 8.3. Limiting forms -- 8.4. The contribution from nuclei at zero temperature -- 8.5. Transition from non-degeneracy to degeneracy -- 8.6. Effects of degeneracy on the adiabatic gradient and the first adiabatic exponent9. Polytropes and the Chandrasekhar mass -- 9.1. Introduction -- 9.2. The Lane-Emden equation -- 9.3. Application to white dwarf stars10. Opacity -- 10.1. Introduction -- 10.2. The Rosseland mean opacity -- 10.3. Opacity mechanisms -- 10.4. Electron scattering opacity -- 10.5. Free-free opacity -- 10.6. Bound-free opacity -- 10.7. Bound-bound opacity -- 10.8. The Rosseland mean opacity for solar composition material11. Nuclear reactions -- 11.1. Introduction -- 11.2. Occurrence of thermonuclear reactions -- 11.3. Cross sections and nuclear reaction rates -- 11.4. The cross section -- 11.5. Evaluation of the reaction rate -- 11.6. Major nuclear burning stages in stars : H burning -- 11.7. Energy generation in the pp-chains and the CNO-cycles -- 11.8. Major nuclear burning stages in stars : He burning -- 11.9. Advanced nuclear burning phases12. Neutrino energy loss processes -- 12.1. Pair annihilation neutrino process (e+ + e- [right arrow] [nu] + [nu][superscript bar]) -- 12.2. Plasma neutrino process ([gramma]plasmon [right arrow] [nu] + [nu][superscript bar]) -- 12.3. Photo-neutrino process ([gamma] + e [right arrow] e + [nu] + [nu][superscript bar]) -- 12.4. Bremsstrahlung neutrino process13. Homology relations -- 13.1. Introduction -- 13.2. Homology of zero age main sequence stars -- 13.3. Sensitivity of stellar structure to nuclear reaction rate -- 13.4. Sensitivity of stellar properties to composition -- 13.5. Stars with convective cores -- 13.6. Stars with convective envelopes14. Hydrogen main sequence stars -- 14.1. Masses of main sequence stars -- 14.2. Lifetimes of main sequence stars -- 14.3. Convection in main sequence stars -- 14.4. Variation of surface properties with mass -- 14.5. Variation of central properties with mass -- 14.6. The theoretical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram15. Helium main sequence stars -- 15.1. Why consider helium main sequence stars? -- 15.2. Homology analysis of helium zero age main sequence stars -- 15.3. Convection in helium main sequence stars -- 15.4. Variation of surface properties with mass -- 15.5. Variation of central properties with mass -- 15.6. The theoretical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram16. The Hayashi line -- 16.1. Introduction -- 16.2. The Hayashi phase17. Star formation -- 17.1. Introduction -- 17.2. The Jeans mass -- 17.3. Fragmentation18. Evolution on the main sequence and beyond -- 18.1. Introduction -- 18.2. Change in luminosity on the main sequence -- 18.3. Evolution of the hydrogen profile -- 18.4. Evolution after hydrogen exhaustion in the core -- 18.5. The Hertzsprung gap19. Evolution on the red giant branch -- 19.1. Introduction -- 19.2. Change in luminosity on the red giant branch -- 19.3. The globular cluster luminosity function bump -- 19.4. The helium core flash -- 19.5. Stability considerations20. Evolution from red giant to white dwarf -- 20.1. Introduction -- 20.2. The horizontal branch -- 20.3. The asymptotic giant branch -- 20.4. The formation of planetary nebulae -- 20.5. The cooling of white dwarfs -- 20.6. The luminosity function of white dwarfs -- 20.7. Masses of white dwarf stars : observational material21. Evolution of massive stars -- 21.1. Introduction -- 21.2. Composition changes in the core -- 21.3. Evolution after the end of core helium burning -- 21.4. Evolution of stars more massive than 8 M[circled dot operator].