ASTROPHYSICS II (Physics 822)

& INTRODUCTION TO ASTROPHYSICS II (Physics 522)

Winter 2007 (Revised January 18)

Instructor: Dr. Michael L. Sitko

Office: 446 Geology-Physics

Hours: M@10-11, Th @ 11-Noon, or by appointment

Phone: 556-0642 Email: sitko@physics.uc.edu

Class Notes: http://www.physics.uc.edu/~sitko/home.html

This course is designed to provide a basic foundation in stellar astrophysics. The main topics will include: Basic Observed properties of Stars, the Physics of Stellar Atmospheres, and Stellar Structure and Evolution.

This class will include both graduate students and qualified undergraduates, and the requirements will be slightly different for the two groups. Both graduates and undergraduates will be required to understand the material at the level presented in the textbook An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution by Prialnik and to do homework problems assigned by me at the level of that book. Graduate students will also be given some additional problems to work on. All homework problems will be due 1 week from the time that they are assigned.

All students will be responsible for knowing the material presented orally in class.

Graduate students will also be required to understand all the material at the level of the lecture notes (some of which will only be glossed over briefly in class). The lecture notes will be posted at my web page at http://www.physics.uc.edu/~sitko/home.html.

I am also considering, time permitting, having each graduate student present a short (15 minute) talk on some aspect of stellar astrophysics, based on reading one or two recent articles. I will keep you informed about this.

Grades will be determined by the cumulative scores on your homework, final exam and for graduate students your presentations (if we actually do this). Approximately half of your grade will be from the homework exercises, and half from the exam (and presentation). However, this weighting is subject to modification at a later time, as I see fit.

I can almost always be reached via email at sitko@physics.uc.edu or amazons@fuse.net, The latter address is one that I can usually access more easily from any location with a high-speed internet connection.

PHONE: 556-0642 (office) 871-4169 (home)

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND TEXTBOOK READING

(Approximate)

Week	Subject	Textbook Readings	Lecture Notes
1	Basic Observed Properties of Stars	Ch. 1	1, 2, 3
2	Equilibrium, Equation of State		4, 5, 6
	The Radiation Field
3	Equation of Transfer, Atomic Processes		7, 8, 9, 10, 11
	Gray Atmosphere, Spectral Lines		12, 13, (14), (15)
4	Equations of Stellar Structure	Ch. 2 & 3	16, 17
5	Simple Models, Energy Production	Ch. 4 & 5 & 6	18, 19, 20
	Energy Transport
6	The Sun, Solar Neutrinos	7 & 8.3	21, 22, 23
	More on Stellar Structure
7	Star Formation and Pre-Main Sequence Evolution	8.1	24
8	Main Sequence and Post-Main Sequence Evolution	8.2, 8.4-8.7, 8.9	25, 26
9	Stellar Remnants	8.8, 8.10, 9.1-9.6	27
10	Comparison of Theory & Observations (detailed), Brown Dwarfs		28, 29

Mon. March 12 1:30-3:30 PM Final Exam

Much of the lecture material in Week 1 will be a review of topics covered at the beginning of the Fall quarter, and the lecture notes will look quite familiar!

I want to cover some basics of stellar atmospheres & spectral line formation in Weeks 2 & 3. This is not covered in your textbook, however, so you will have to rely on the class notes alone for this.