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HIGH-ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS
Course introduction
This course is about the structure, formation, and astrophysics of
compact objects - white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.
Most of our attention will be focused on neutron stars and black
holes; these objects are responsible for some of the most exotic and
powerful phenomena in the universe. Their physics is extreme,
requiring an understanding of the interaction of matter and
high-energy radiation, as well as gravitational fields so strong that
General Relativity is a must. The course will survey both our
theoretical understanding of these objects and the modern
observational view.
There is no single book that covers all, of even a substantial part,
of modern day high-energy astrophysics. Instead, I will recommend
relevant review articles and book chapters as we proceed through the
course.
Click here for the full syllabus, including class schedule and grading
policy.
List of lectures:
- Lecture 1 - Course Introduction
- Lecture 2 - Electron degeneracy and white dwarfs
- Lecture 3 - The Chandrasekhar mass and white dwarf collapse
- Lecture 4 - Collapse to nuclear densities and neutron stars
- Lecture 5 - Pulsars
- Lecture 6 - Introduction to General Relativity
- Lecture 7 - More about GR
- Lecture 8 - Introduction to Schwarzschild black holes
- Lecture 9 - Basic properties of Schwarzschild spacetime
- Lecture 10 - The Kruskal manifold
- Lecture 11 - Evidence for the existence of black holes
- Lecture 12 - Orbital dynamics around black holes
- Lecture 13 - More black hole orbital dynamics
- Lecture 14 - Spinning black holes and the Kerr metric
- Lecture 15 - MIDTERM EXAM
- Lecture 16 - Introduction to accretion
- Lecture 17 - Standard accretion disk theory
- Lecture 18 - High-energy radiative processes
- Lecture 19 - Accreting white dwarf systems
- Lecture 20 - X-ray binaries with neutron stars
- Lecture 21 - X-ray binaries with black holes
- Lecture 22 - Active galactic nuclei
- Lecture 23 - Seyfert galaxies
- Lecture 24 - Supermassive black holes and galaxy formation
- Lecture 25 - Gamma-ray bursts: basics and the firebal model
- Lecture 26 - Central engines of Gamma-Ray Bursts
- Lecture 27 - X-ray observatories
- Lecture 28 - X-ray astronomy in the far future
Homeworks
Suggested references
- Basic structure of white dwarfs and neutron stars
- Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron stars , Shapario & Teukolsky (Wiley publishing)
- Pulsar and plerion physics
- A model for the moving wisps in the crab nebula, M.C.Begelman, 1999, ApJ, 512, 755
- Magnetohydrodynamic model of Crab nebula radiation, C.F.Kennel and F.V.Coroniti, 1984, ApJ, 283, 710
- Pulsar electrodynamics, P.Goldreich, W.H.Julian, 1969, ApJ, 157, 869
- General relativity theory (general)
- A first course in general relativity, Bernard Schutz (Cambridge Univ. Press)
- Gravitation, C.Misner, K.Thorne, J.Wheeler (Freeman)
- The large scale structure of space-time, S.Hawking and G.Ellis (Cambridge Univ. Press) - A classic and truly awesome book, but only for those who are comfortable with a very formal and mathematical approach.
- Schwarzschild black holes
- Shapiro & Teukolsky, chapter 12
- Schutz, chapters 10-11
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