PHYSICS 607

 

ASTROPHYSICS

 

Text:  Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Carroll and Ostlie

 

 

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

 

 

There will be two exams, a mid-term in mid-late October, and a final exam.

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.