Teaching

ASTR 8030 / 3600 - Stellar Astrophysics

When: Fall 2016, 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


Complete Lecture Slides: slides


Week 1: August 30 - September 1

Topics: Introduction to the Sun, the equations of stellar structure
Lecture Slides: AST8030_1_intro.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Links: Solar Dynamic Observatory movies: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/


Week 2: September 6 - 8

Topics: Basic observations of stars, spectral classification.
Lecture Slides: AST8030_2_observations.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1


Week 3: September 13-15

Topics: HR diagram, stellar populations, measuring stellar properties
Lecture Slides: AST8030_3_measuringproperties.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Assignment: Problem set #1 due Tuesday, September 27: Problem Set 1
For the problem set, you will need these files: cluster.dat BV_filters.dat star1 star2 star10 star12 star13


Week 4: September 20-22

Topics: Measuring stellar properties, The Virial Theorem
Lecture Slides: AST8030_4_virial.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1


Week 5: September 27-29

Topics: The Virial Theorem and Applications, Equations of State
Lecture Slides: AST8030_5_eqofstate.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 3
Assignment: Problem set #2 due Tuesday, October 11: Problem Set 2


Week 6: October 4-6

Topics: Equations of State, Boltzman & Saha Equations
Lecture Slides: AST8030_6_saha.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 3


Week 7: October 11

Topics: Boltzmann & Saha Equations, thermodynamics of gas.
Lecture Slides: AST8030_7_thermodynamics.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 3


Week 8: October 20

Topics: Thermodynamics of gas
Reading: HKT, chapter 3


Week 9: October 25-27

Topics: Polytropes, Radiative Transfer
Lecture Slides: AST8030_8_polytropes.pdf
AST8030_9_radiativetransfer.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 7, 4
Assignment: Problem set #3 due Thursday, November 3: Problem Set 3


Week 10: November 1-3

Topics: Radiative Transport, Opacities, Convection
Lecture Slides: AST8030_10_convection.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 6
Assignment: Problem Set #4 due Tuesday, November 15: 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 8-10

Topics: Convection, Nuclear energy generation
Lecture Slides: AST8030_11_nuclear.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 5, 6


Week 12: November 15-17

Topics: Nuclear energy generation, Nuclear reactions
Reading: HKT, chapter 6, 7
Assignment: Problem Set #5 due Thursday, December 1: Problem Set 5


Week 13: November 29 - December 1

Topics: Nuclear reactions, Stellar models
Lecture Slides: AST8030_12_stellarmodels.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 6, 7


Week 14: December 6-8

Topics: Star formation, stellar evolution
Lecture Slides: AST8030_13_formationevolution.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 2
Links: Movies of star formation simulations can be found at Matthew Bate's website


Final Project due Friday, December 16: Final Project