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Astrophysics I >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Textbooks


Amazon logo Hansen, Carl J., Steven D. Kawaler, and Virginia Trimble. Stellar Interiors: Physical Principles, Structure and Evolution. New York, NY: Springer, 2004. ISBN: 9780387200897.

Amazon logo Carroll, Bradley W., and Dale A. Ostlie. An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub., 1995. ISBN: 9780201547306.

Amazon logo Kippenhahn, Rudolf, and Alfred Weigert. Stellar Structure and Evolution. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1990. ISBN: 9780387502113.

Amazon logo Shapiro, Stuart L., and Saul A. Teukolsky. Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars. New York, NY: Wiley, 1983. ISBN: 9780471873167.



Readings by Session



SES #TOPICSREADINGS
1IntroductionHansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1. You may also find Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7 useful for background on stellar binaries.
2Kepler Problem

Binaries
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1.

Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7.
3Stellar Distances

Coordinates

Magnitudes
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1.

Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7.
4Color-color Diagrams

Spectral/Luminosity Classes
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3, especially section 3.4. You may also find it useful to read chapter 8 in Carroll and Ostlie. Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. If you are interested in additional reading about the Saha Equation, you may also consult chapter 14 of Stellar Structure and Evolution by R. Kippenhahn and A. Weigert (1990, Springer).
5Saha EquationHansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3.

Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 8.

Kippenhahn and Weigert, chapter 14.
6Radiation

Opacity

Radiative Diffusion
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3.

Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 8.

Kippenhahn and Weigert, chapter 14.
7Equations of Stellar Structure

Convection
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 4 (including section 4.8). You should also at least look through chapter 5 on Convection.
8Convection (cont.)

Modeling

Polytropes

Energy Sources
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 4 and 5.
9Nuclear Reaction Rates

Hydrogen Burning: pp, CNO
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 6, chapter 7 (sections 7.1-7.2). (I encourage you to at least skim through the rest of chapter 7 as well.) We will also start covering the material in chapter 2 (sections 2.1-2.5), although homework problems on this material will be on Problem Set 5. (You should still do this reading prior to the midterm exam, however.)
10H/He Burning

Nucleosynthesis

Low-M Stars
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
11Stellar Evolution: Lower Main Sequence

Cluster H-R
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
12S-C Limit

Solar Neutrinos

Degenerate Matter
Finish reading the first part of chapter 2 (sections 2.1-2.6) on Stellar Evolution in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, and also read section 9.3 on the Solar Neutrino Problem. You may also find it useful to review sections 3.5-3.6 on Degenerate Equations of State. For a deeper discussion, you can consult chapters 2-3 of Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars by Shapiro and Teukolsky.
13Midterm examHansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 2, sections 3.5-3.6, and section 9.3.

Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 2 and 3.
14Degenerate Matter

Chandra Mass

White Dwarfs
Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 2, sections 3.5-3.6 and 9.3.

Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 2 and 3.
15White Dwarf Cooling

Intrinsically Variable Stars
Finish reading the rest of chapter 2 (sections 2.7-2.15) on Stellar Evolution in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble. You can also read more about White Dwarf Properties, Cooling, and Crystallization Physics in chapter 10 of Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, as well as in chapters 3-4 of Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars by Shapiro and Teukolsky.
16Upper Main Sequence: Evolution of Massive StarsHansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, sections 2.7-2.15 and chapter 10.

Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 3 and 4.
17Supernovae

Collapsars

GRBs
Read Heger, et al. "How Massive Stars End Their Life." Astrophys J 591, no. 288 (2003). You will also find it useful to read Sections 2.6-2.8 and 2.11.2 in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, as well as chapters 5, 12, and 18 in Shapiro and Teukolsky.
18Neutron Stars

Pulsars (Guest Lecturer: David Kaplan)
Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
19Sun as a Star (Guest Lecturer: Justin Kasper)Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
20Gravitational Radiation (Guest Lecturer: Ryan Lang)Read chapter 13 on Compact X-ray Sources in Shapiro and Teukolsky. (Note that the observational details are very dated, but the theoretical description is good.) You may also find it instructive to skim through chapters 14 (Accretion onto Black Holes), 15 (Accretion onto Neutron Stars and White Dwarfs), and 16 (Gravitational Radiation).
21Close Binaries

Accretion Disks
Chapter 13 on Compact X-ray Sources in Shapiro and Teukolsky, and skim through chapters 14 (Accretion onto Black Holes), 15 (Accretion onto Neutron Stars and White Dwarfs), and 16 (Gravitational Radiation).
22Cepheid Variables

X-ray Binaries
You may find chapter 12 of Carroll and Ostlie (Introduction to Modern Astrophysics) helpful for background reading on star formation.
23Black Holes

Interstellar Medium

Dust Extinction
Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
24Star Formation

Jeans Criterion

IMF

Brown Dwarfs
Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
25Gas in the Interstellar Medium

Heating and Cooling

21 cm and CO
Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
26Shocks

Supernova Remnants
Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.

 








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