PHY 521: Stars

Spring 2010

Instructor: James Lattimer lattimer@astro.sunysb.edu

Office: ESS 461; Office Hours: TBD

Class meets MW 3:50 -- 5:10, ESS450

First meeting: February 1, 2010. Approximately 5 classes will have to be rescheduled, so bring your class schedules with you so we can determine feasible make-up class time periods.

Text: I will assign readings from a variety of sources, and will distribute copies of readings from sources not easily accessible. Some basics are described in the online texts
The Fundamentals of Stellar Astrophysics, by G. Collins II, also available in published form (Freeman: New York), 1989
Radiative Transfer in Stellar Atmospheres by R.J. Rutten.
In addition, the standard texts
Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis, by D.D. Clayton (McGraw-Hill: New York), 1968 and later,
Stellar Atmospheres, D. Mihalas (various editions), Advanced Stellar Astrophysics, by W.K. Rose (Cambridge: Cambridge), 1998,
Stellar Structure and Evolution, By R. Kippenhahn and A. Weigert (Springer-Verlag: Berlin), 1991 and
Stellar Interiors, by C.J. Hansen and S.D. Kawaler (Springer-Verlag: Berlin), 1994 are useful

Syllabus: Summaries of lectures are presented as postscript files linked below. These will be updated in a continuous fashion throughout the semester. If you have trouble accessing these pages, please let me know. Because of schedule rearrangements, the topics are not keyed to specific class meetings, but the order of presentation will be followed. The syllabus is optimistic, some topics will have to be eliminated due to time pressures.
Major Topics

Statistics, thermodynamics and the virial theorem
Hydrostatic equilibrium, polytropes, stellar systematics
Stellar equations of state
Energy transport (radiative and convective) in stellar interiors
Nuclear energy sources in stars
Radiative transfer in the atmosphere
Stellar opacities
Formation of spectral lines
Stellar evolution: pre-main sequence, main sequence and advanced stages
Evolution in binary systems
Supernovae: mechanisms and light curves
Nucleosynthesis
Compact objects: structure and evolution of white dwarfs and neutron stars

FINAL GRADE

The final grade will be assessed from a mid-term and a final exam, together with weekly homework assignments and 3 computer exercises. Extra help sessions in connection with the computer exercises will be scheduled if required. I prefer if you write the codes in Fortran, but this is not necessary.
HOMEWORKS
Homework 1 Solutions to Homework 1 Homework 2 Solutions to Homework 2 Homework 3 Solutions to Homework 3 Homework 4 Solutions to Homework 4 Take-Home Exam 1 Take-Home Exam 1 Solutions Homework 5 Homework 6 Take-Home Exam 2 Solutions to Take-Home Exam 2
COURSE NOTES

General Introduction: Stellar Magnitude and Distance Scales, the H-R Diagram, Stellar Structure and Evolution, Stellar Types and Populations
Stellar Equations of State; Statistical Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Fermions, Bosons;
Stellar Structure, Polytropes, Standard Stellar Model, Scaling Relations for Main Sequence Stars.
Radiative Transfer and Luminosity, Convection.
Nuclear Systematics and Energy
Nuclear States and Reactions; Weak Interactions and Neutrinos, Nuclear Resonances.
Major Nuclear Burning Stages. Advanced Nuclear Burning Stages and Nuclear Statistical Equilibrium
The Henyey Method for Stellar Evolution
The Jean's Mass and Stellar Birth; Self-Similar Gravitational Collapse; The Hayashi Track; The Henyey Track and MS Evolution; Red Giants ,
Mass-Radius Relation of Degenerate Configurations; White Dwarf Cooling
Stellar Atmosphere Theory, The Gray Atmosphere, Method of Discrete Ordinates, Emergent Flux, Stimulated Emission, Formation and Shape of Spectral Lines.
Feautrier Method for Solving Stellar Atmospheres
Binary Stars & Binary Evolution
Explosions: Supernovae & Novae and Their Light Curves
Nucleosynthesis: the s-, r- and p- processes
Supernova Neutrinos and Proto-Neutron Stars
Supernova 1987A Neutrinos
Galactic Chemical Evolution, Observations;
General Relativity: TOV Equation and Analytic Solutions; Neutron Star Maximum Mass and Maximum Spin Rate; Observations of Neutron Stars: Comparison to Theory; Black Holes: Theory and Observations; Gravitational Waves
A full copy of the lecture notes is available here in a smaller font and with a table of contents. But beware, the notes are continuously corrected and updated, so this copy may not reflect the latest version and it probably makes little sense to print out a complete copy all at once.

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