Astronomy 320: Spring 2017

Theoretical Astrophysics

1st galaxies: gas density (Ricotti, Parry & Gnedin 2016) 

Modern astronomy has its roots firmly grounded in the fundamental principles of physics (both classical and quantum). Furthermore, many branches of physics as we know them today trace their origins to the search for universal physical laws to explain natural phenomena discovered and analyzed by astronomers.

The goal of theoretical astrophysics is to provide physical and conceptual understanding of the diverse systems that represent our universe. Introductory astronomy courses are often organized by scale (planets, stars, galaxies and the universe as a whole) and observational astronomy courses are often organized by wavelength because of the different technologies. To emphasize the different approach needed for developing a theoretical framework, this course is organized into themes of governing physical principles. For each of the three main themes (gravity, gas physics and quantum physics), we start with fundamental principles and then discuss applications in various astronomical contexts. We will also discuss systems in which several principles interact synergistically and demonstrate how astrophysical theories are developed by successive model refinements and confrontation with data. We will show how application of simple physical laws can explain the observed properties of an astounding range of astronomical objects!

I will assume a basic knowledge of astronomical concepts (up to the ASTR120/ASTR121 level) as well as basic physics (up to the PHYS270/PHYS271/PHYS273 level)

Schedule

    Instructor:  		Massimo Ricotti
    Class:       		CSS 2416
    Lectures:    		Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00pm to 12:15pm
    First class: 		Thu Jan 26 
    Last  class: 		Thu May 11 
    TA:		 		Blake Hartley 
    Reading session (w/Blake):	Wednesday from 2:00pm to 2:50pm
    First reading session: 	Wed Jan 25

What's New?

Jan 26: First class
Jan 25: Reading session (introduction of Blake Hartley)

Contact info and Notes

Course Outline

The Syllabus is available on ELMS and here PDF format.

DateLecture

GRAVITY (notes)
#1Jan 26 Introduction; Recap of Newton’s laws and the conservation of momentum
#2Jan 31 Newtonian gravity
#3Feb 2 One body problem - conservation laws and constants of motion
#4Feb 7 One body problem - solving the equation of motion
#5Feb 9 Discovery of Gravitational Waves
#6Feb 14 One body problem - cont.
#7Feb 16 One body problem - derivation of Kepler's Laws
#8Feb 21 Two-body problems and binary systems (notes)
#9Feb 23 Two + one (restricted three) body problem - Lagrange points and effective potential
#10Feb 28 N-body dynamics - the virial theorem
#11Mar 2 N-body dynamics - applications of the virial theorem
#12Mar 7 N-body dynamics - two body relaxation
- Mar 9 MIDTERM (in class)
GAS PHYSICS (notes)
#13Mar 14 Pressure and the concept of hydrostatic equilibrium
#14Mar 16 Atmospheres in an external gravitational field
- Mar 21 SPRING BREACK
- Mar 23 SPRING BREACK
#15Mar 28 Self-gravitating atmospheres
#16Mar 30 Introduction to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
#17Apr 4 Statistical mechanics of ideal gas
#18Apr 6 Radiation gases
#19Apr 11 Radiation gases (cont) and applications to Cosmology
#20Apr 13 Brief introduction to hydrodynamics
QUANTUM PHYSICS (notes)
#21Apr 18 The Bohr model of the atom
#22Apr 20 Particle wave duality and particle in a box
#23Apr 25 Fermions and bosons; Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics
#24Apr 27 Degeneracy pressure and while dwarf
#25May 2 Type-1a supernovae and neutron stars
#26May 4 Schrodinger’s approach to Quantum Mechanics
#27May 9 The structure of the hydrogen atom
#28May 11 Review
-May 13 Final exam (in class, Saturday 8:00am-10:00am)

Textbooks

There are no required textbooks
Texts Recommended for this course are:
  • Astrophysics for Physicists, by Arnab Rai Choudhuri,
    (Cambridge University Press, 2010) ISBN-13: 978-0521815536
  • Astrophysics in a Nutshell, by Dan Maoz,
    (Princeton University Press, 2007) ISBN-13: 978-0691125848

Course Grading

  • Class participation 10%
  • Homework 30%
  • Midterm exam 25%
  • Final exam 35%
Letter grades will be assigned guided by the following scheme.
  • A 100% - 90%
  • B 89.9% - 80%
  • C 79.9% - 70%
  • D 69.9% - 60%
  • F below 60%
I will also adopt the finer division of the letter grades using pluses and minuses.

Homework

Homework will be assigned every week or every other week (total of 6 homework). Their due dates will be announced at the time they are assigned. On the due date the students will be expected to turn in their homework in class. The homework turned in will be graded and returned to the students. I will provide solutions and discuss them in class.

I will post the HOMEWORK and solutions on ELMS/i>

Wiki pages related to class's discussions

Class #1
Class #2
Discussion Section #7
Class #8
Class #9
Class #24 and #25