When: Fall 2009, MWF 2:10-3pm
Where: 6638 Stevenson
Textbook: "Stellar Interiors" by Hansen, Kawaler, & Trimble (Springer - second edition)
| Other helpful books: | "Stellar Structure and Evolution" by Kippenhahn & Weigert (Springer). |
| "Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis" by Clayton (Chicago Press) |
Syllabus and Course Info: syllabus
Preprint Archive: http://arXiv.org/list/astro-ph/recent
Lecture Slides: slides
Week 1: August 26-28
| Topics: | The equations of stellar structure |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 1 |
Week 2: August 31 - September 4
*** No class on Friday, September 4 ***
| Topics: | Spectral Classification, Stellar Populations, Hertzprung-Russell diagram, measuring stellar properties. |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 1 |
| Assignment: |
Problem set #1 due Friday, September 18: Problem Set 1
|
Week 3: September 7-11
*** No class on Monday, September 7 ***
| Topics: | Measuring stellar properties |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 1 |
Week 4: September 14-18
| Topics: | The Virial Theorem and applications |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 3 |
Week 5: September 21-25
| Topics: | Equations of State. |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 3 |
Week 6: September 28 - October 2
| Topics: | Equations of State |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 3 |
| Assignment: | Problem set #2 due Friday, October 9: Problem Set 2 |
Week 7: October 5-9
| Topics: | Boltzmann and Saha |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 3 |
Week 8: October 12-16
| Topics: | Thermodynamics of gas; Polytropes |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 3 & 7 |
| Assignment: | Problem set #3 due Friday, October 30: Problem Set 3 |
Week 9: October 19-21
| Topics: | Polytropes |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 7 |
Week 10: October 26-30
| Topics: | Radiative transfer, Opacity sources, Opacity Tables |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 4 |
| Assignment: |
Problem Set #4 due Monday, November 9: Problem Set 4
For this problem set, you will need the OPAL opacity tables here: ftp://adg.llnl.gov/pub/opal/type1data/GN93/ascii/GN93hz, as well as this file: stellar_profile.dat |
Week 11: November 2-6
| Topics: | Convection |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 5 |
Week 12: November 9-13
| Topics: | Nuclear reactions |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 6 |
| Assignment: | Problem Set #5 due Wednesday, December 2: Problem Set 5 |
Week 13: November 16-20
| Topics: | Nuclear reactions |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 6 |
| Assignment: | Final Project due Friday, December 18: Final Project |
Week 14: November 30 - December 4
| Topics: | Stellar models |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 7 |
Week 13: December 7-9
| Topics: | Stellar evolution |
| Reading: | HKT, chapter 2 |