Teaching

ASTR 8030 - Stellar Astrophysics

When: Fall 2015, TR 9:35-10:50pm

Where: Stevenson 2212

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


Lecture Slides: slides


Week 1: August 27

Topics: Introduction to the Sun
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Links: Solar Dynamic Observatory movies: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/


Week 2: September 1 - 3

Topics: The equations of stellar structure, basic observations of stars, spectral classification.
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Assignment: Problem set #1 due Thursday, September 17: Problem Set 1
For the problem set, you will need these files: cluster.dat BV_filters.dat star1 star2 star10 star12 star13


Week 3: September 8-10

Topics: HR diagram, stellar populations
Reading: HKT, chapter 1


Week 4: September 15-17

Topics: Measuring stellar properties
Reading: HKT, chapter 1


Week 5: September 22-24

Topics: The Virial Theorem and Applications, Equations of State
Reading: HKT, chapter 3
Assignment: Problem set #2 due Thursday, October 8: Problem Set 2


Week 6: October 1

Topics: Equations of State.
Reading: HKT, chapter 3


Week 7: October 6-8

Topics: Equations of State, Boltzmann & Saha Equations, thermodynamics of gas.
Reading: HKT, chapter 3


Week 8: October 13

Topics: Polytropes
Reading: HKT, chapter 7, 4
Assignment: Problem set #3 due Tuesday, October 27: Problem Set 3


Week 9: October 20-22

Topics: Radiative Transfer, The Eddington limit, Opacity sources
Reading: HKT, chapter 4


Week 10: October 27-29

Topics: Convection, Nuclear Energy Generation
Reading: HKT, chapter 6
Assignment: Problem Set #4 due Thursday, October 31: Problem Set 4
For this problem set, you will need the OPAL opacity table for X=0.7,Y=0.28: OPAL_X0.7_Y0.28, as well as this file: stellar_profile.dat


Week 11: November 3-5

Topics: Nuclear energy generation, Nuclear reactions
Reading: HKT, chapter 5, 6


Week 12: November 10-12

Topics: Nuclear reactions, Summary, Stellar models
Reading: HKT, chapter 6, 7
Assignment: Problem Set #5 due Tuesday, December 1: Problem Set 5


Week 13: November 17-19

Topics: Stellar models, star formation, and stellar evolution
Reading: HKT, chapter 2
Links: Movies of star formation simulations can be found at Matthew Bate's website


Week 14: December 1-3

Topics: Stellar spectra, supernovae, massive stars
Reading:


Week 15: December 8-10

Topics: Stellar evolution
Reading: HKT, chapter 2


Final Project due Friday, December 18: Final Project