An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The condition in which the wavefronts arriving from different parts of a region of sky undergo almost identical phase perturbations. See also → isoplanatic patch.

→ isoplanatic; → patch.

An instability that occurs in a → self-gravitating  → interstellar cloud which is in → hydrostatic equilibrium. Density fluctuations caused by a perturbation may condense the material leading to the domination of gravitational force and the cloud collapse. The advent of instability involves a threshold called the → Jeans length or the → Jeans mass.

→ Jeans; → instability.

An → instability raised when there is sufficient velocity difference across the interface between two uniformly moving → incompressible fluid layers, or when velocity → shear is present within a continuous fluid.

→ Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction; → instability.

The angular velocity of a point in a circular orbit around a central mass. It is given by: Ω_K = (GM/r³)^1/2, where G is the → gravitational constant, M is the mass of the gravitating object, and r is the radius of the orbit of the point around the object.

→ Keplerian; → angular; → velocity.

The velocity of an object orbiting another object according to → Kepler's laws.

→ Keplerian; → orbital; → velocity.

The ratio of the → dynamic viscosity (η) to the density (ρ) of a fluid: ν = η/ρ. The unit of kinematic viscosity in the → SI system is m²s^-1. In the → cgs system, cm²s^-1, equal to 10^-4 m²s^-1, is called the → stokes (st).

→ kinematic; → viscosity.

In fluid mechanics, a quantity that describes helical flow. It is defined by the integrated scalar product of the velocity field and the → vorticity: K_K = ∫ dVu . (∇ x u). In the absence of magnetic field, this quantity is conserved by the → Euler equation. See also → magnetic helicity.

→ kinetic; → helicity.

Same as → Kramers' law.

Named after Henrik Kramers (1894-1952); → law.

A quantity, denoted L_d, describing a continuous system in the → Lagrangian formalism, and defined as the → Lagrangian per unit volume. It is related to the Lagrangian L by:
L = ∫∫∫L_d d³V.
Lagrangian density is often called Lagrangian when there is no ambiguity.

→ Lagrangian; → density.

Same as → principle of identity.

→ law; → identity.

A measure of the total effect of an absorption or emission line. The line intensity is equal to the integration of the absorption coefficient over the entire shape of the absorption line.

→ line; → intensity.

The change in the shape of a → spectral line over time. For instance, in → Wolf-Rayet stars the line profile varying on time-scales of minutes to hours is attributed to → microturbulence.

→ line; → profile; → variability.

An instability that can be described (to first-order accuracy) by linear (or tangent linear) equations.

→ linear; → instability.

The rate of change of the position of an object that is traveling along a straight path. In other words, the velocity of an object when its moving direction is not changing. For a given → angular velocity (ω), the linear velocity v of the particle is directly proportional to the distance of the particle from the center of the circular path: v = ω ×r.

→ linear; → velocity.

The property, condition, or state of being linear.
Math.: A relationship between two variables so that when plotted on a graph they yield a straight line.

→ linear; → -ity.

A medium in which chemical elements have abundances smaller than the solar values.

→ low; → metallicity; → environment.

The → total → brightness of a star or other astronomical object. It is expressed in watts and represents the total amount of → energy that the object radiates each → second over all wavelength regions of the → electromagnetic spectrum. Because this quantity is independent of distance, it is an → intrinsic brightness.
See also:
→ absolute luminosity, → anomalous luminosity effect, → bolometric luminosity, → color-luminosity diagram, → Eddington luminosity, → H II region luminosity, → intrinsic luminosity, → luminosity class, → luminosity distance, → luminosity function, → luminosity problem, → luminosity-size relation, → mass-luminosity ratio, → mass-luminosity relation, → peak luminosity, → period-luminosity relation, → solar luminosity, → stellar luminosity, → wind luminosity.

Verbal noun of → luminous.

A classification of stellar spectra according to luminosity for a given → spectral type. The luminosity class is an indication of a star's → surface gravity. It is shown by a Roman numeral as follows: I (→ supergiants), II (bright → giants), III (normal giants), IV (→ subgiants), and V (→ dwarf stars, or → main-sequence stars). Luminosity classes VI (→ subdwarfs) and VII (→ white dwarfs) are rarely used. Subclasses a, b, and c are especially used for supergiants, while the most luminous → hypergiants are assigned luminosity class Ia-0.

→ luminosity; → class.

1) Distance derived by comparison of → observed and → intrinsic luminosities. If an object has a known luminosity L, and the observed flux is S, the luminosity distance is defined by D_L = (L/4πS)^1/2.

2) In cosmology, the → expansion of the Universe results in a diminution of the photon flux and the above equation fails. The reason is that for a homogeneous and isotropic Universe (→ Robertson-Walker metric), the luminosity decreases by a factor (1 + z)⁴. Therefore, the luminosity distance is related to the → angular diameter distance (D_A) by: D_L = (1 + z)².D_A.

→ luminosity; → distance.

Number → distribution of → stars or galaxies (→ galaxy) with respect to their → absolute magnitudes. The luminosity function shows the → number of stars of a given intrinsic luminosity (or the number of galaxies per integrated magnitude band) in a given → volume of space.

→ luminosity; → function.