Astrophysics I

Readings

Textbooks

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

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

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

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 #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1. You may also find Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7 useful for background on stellar binaries.
2	Kepler Problem Binaries	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1. Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7.
3	Stellar Distances Coordinates Magnitudes	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1. Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7.
4	Color-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).
5	Saha Equation	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3. Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 8. Kippenhahn and Weigert, chapter 14.
6	Radiation Opacity Radiative Diffusion	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3. Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 8. Kippenhahn and Weigert, chapter 14.
7	Equations 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.
8	Convection (cont.) Modeling Polytropes Energy Sources	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 4 and 5.
9	Nuclear 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.)
10	H/He Burning Nucleosynthesis Low-M Stars	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
11	Stellar Evolution: Lower Main Sequence Cluster H-R	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
12	S-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.
13	Midterm exam	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 2, sections 3.5-3.6, and section 9.3. Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 2 and 3.
14	Degenerate 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.
15	White 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.
16	Upper Main Sequence: Evolution of Massive Stars	Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, sections 2.7-2.15 and chapter 10. Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 3 and 4.
17	Supernovae 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.
18	Neutron Stars Pulsars (Guest Lecturer: David Kaplan)	Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
19	Sun as a Star (Guest Lecturer: Justin Kasper)	Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
20	Gravitational 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).
21	Close 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).
22	Cepheid Variables X-ray Binaries	You may find chapter 12 of Carroll and Ostlie (Introduction to Modern Astrophysics) helpful for background reading on star formation.
23	Black Holes Interstellar Medium Dust Extinction	Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
24	Star Formation Jeans Criterion IMF Brown Dwarfs	Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
25	Gas in the Interstellar Medium Heating and Cooling 21 cm and CO	Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
26	Shocks Supernova Remnants	Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.