Teaching

ASTR 8030 / 3600 - Stellar Astrophysics

When: Fall 2020, TR 9:35-10:50pm

Where: Zoom link

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 25-27

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/
Zoom recordings: 08/25/2020 - Zoom 08/27/2020 - Zoom


Week 2: September 1-3

Topics: Basic observations of stars, spectral classification, HR diagram
Lecture Slides: AST8030_2_observations.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Zoom recordings: 09/01/2020 - Zoom 09/03/2020 - Zoom


Week 3: September 8-10

Topics: stellar populations, measuring stellar properties
Lecture Slides: AST8030_3_measuringproperties.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Assignment: Problem set #1 due Thursday, September 24: Problem Set 1
For the problem set, you will need these files: cluster.dat BV_filters.dat star1 star2 star10 star12 star13
Zoom recordings: 09/08/2020 - Zoom 09/10/2020 - Zoom


Week 4: September 15-17

Topics: Measuring stellar properties
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Zoom recordings: 09/15/2020 - Zoom 09/17/2020 - Zoom


Week 5: September 24-26

Topics: The Virial Theorem and Applications
Lecture Slides: AST8030_4_virial.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 1
Zoom recordings: 09/22/2020 - Zoom 09/24/2020 - Zoom


Week 6: September 29-October 1

Topics: Equations of State
Lecture Slides: AST8030_5_eqofstate.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 3
Assignment: Problem set #2 due Tuesday, October 13: Problem Set 2
Zoom recordings: 09/29/2020 - Zoom 10/01/2020 - Zoom


Week 7: October 6-8

Topics: Equations of State, Boltzman & Saha Equations
Lecture Slides: AST8030_6_saha.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 3
Zoom recordings: 10/06/2020 - Zoom 10/08/2020 - Zoom


Week 8: October 13-15

Topics: Thermodynamics of gas, Polytropes
Lecture Slides: AST8030_7_thermodynamics.pdf

AST8030_8_polytropes.pdf

Reading: HKT, chapter 7
Assignment: Problem set #3 due Friday, October 30: Problem Set 3
Zoom recordings: 10/13/2020 - Zoom 10/15/2020 - Zoom


Week 9: October 20-22

Topics: Radiative Transfer
Lecture Slides: AST8030_9_radiativetransfer.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 4
Zoom recordings: 10/20/2020 - Zoom 10/22/2020 - Zoom


Week 10: October 27-29

Topics: Opacities, Convection
Lecture Slides: AST8030_10_convection.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 6
Assignment: Problem Set #4 due Monday, November 16: 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
Zoom recordings: 10/27/2020 - Zoom 10/29/2020 - Zoom 10/29/2020 - Zoom (part 2: *first recording got cut off)


Week 11: November 3-5

Topics: Convection, Nuclear energy generation
Lecture Slides: AST8030_11_nuclear.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 5, 6
Zoom recordings: 11/03/2020 - Zoom 11/05/2020 - Zoom


Week 12: November 10-12

Topics: Nuclear energy generation, Nuclear reactions
Reading: HKT, chapter 6, 7
Assignment: Problem Set #5 due Tuesday, December 1: Problem Set 5
Zoom recordings: 11/10/2020 - Zoom 11/12/2020 - Zoom


Week 13: November 17-19

Topics: Nuclear reactions, Stellar models
Lecture Slides: AST8030_12_stellarmodels.pdf
Reading: HKT, chapter 6, 7
Zoom recordings: 11/17/2020 - Zoom


Week 14: December 1-3

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
Zoom recordings: 12/1/2020 - Zoom


Final Project due Friday, December 11: Final Project