Accretion Processes in Astrophysics: The State of Art

Abstract

In this review paper we will discuss about the accretion processes that regulates the growth and evolution of all objects in the Universe. We will make a short cruise discussing the accretion in Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), in Planets (Pts), in White Dwarfs (WDs), in Neutron Stars (NSs), and in Black Holes (BHs) independent of their masses. In this way we will mark the borders of the arguments discussed during this workshop on Accretion Processes in Cosmic Sources: Young Stellar Objects, Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects, X-ray Binary Systems, Active Galactic Nuclei. This paper gets information from updated versions of the book The Impact of the Space Experiments on Our Knowledge of the Physics of the Universe published in 2004 by the Kluwer Academic Publishers, reprinted from the review paper by Giovannelli, F. & Sabau-Graziati, L.: 2004, Space Sci. Rev. 112, 1-443 (GSG2004), and subsequent considered lucubrations. The review is a source of a huge amount of references. Thus, who wants to enter in details in one of the discussed arguments can find an almost exhaustive list of specific references.