PHYSICS 607
ASTROPHYSICS
Syllabus
General Syllabus:
1. celestial mechanics (3 lectures)
2. celestial coordinates (1 lecture)
3. solar, stellar properties, including spectra, H-R diagram (3 lectures)
4. stellar structure (5 lectures)
5. stellar evolution (2 lectures)
6. end points of stellar evolution: white dwarfs,
neutron stars (3 lectures)
7. general relativity and black holes (4 lectures)
8. milky way galaxy; galaxies (3 lectures)
9. cosmology (5 lectures)
“Detailed” syllabus (there may be some conflict with the above)
Preliminary r eading: Chapters 1-6 in the textbook. Mostly background, generally elementary.
Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 Brief survey of celestial mechanics
Week 3 Chapters 7-8; binary systems, stellar spectra
Weeks 4-6 Chapters 9-11; stellar structure, the Sun
Weeks 7,8 Chapters 12-13; stellar evolution
Weeks 9, 10 (part) Chapter 14 (part), 15
Week 12 Chapters 22-24; milky way, galaxies
Weeks 13-15 Chapters 25-28; cosmology
Some classic sources I will refer to are Schwarzschild's "Structure and Evolution of the Stars" and Chadresekhar's "An Introductio to the Study of Stellar Structure." The library has a reasonable holding of useful modern works, which I will note later.