Astronomy 406: Fall 2020

Stellar Structure and Evolution

Star forming molecular clod: gas density (He, Ricotti, & Geen 2019)

The goal of this course is to give students a “physical understanding” of stellar structure, star formation and evolution. We will try to explain basic concepts in simple, sometimes intuitive, physical terms. In the lectures, we will cover many topics about stars in general (not on “solar physics”), including:

global properties (energetics and timescales)
micro-physics (EOS, nuclear reactions, energy transport and opacity)
equations of internal structure
evolution as a function of stellar mass
end states (white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes)
binary interactions

This course is designed for Astronomy and Physics majors. You must have completed ASTR320 (Theoretical Astrophysics) or obtained permission from the Astronomy Department.

Schedule

    Instructor:  		Massimo Ricotti
    Class:       		ATL 2324
    Lectures:    		Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30pm to 13:45pm
    First class: 		Tue Sep 1 
    Last  class: 		Thu Dec 10

What's New?

Sep 1: First class on zoom (check ELMS)

Contact info and Notes

Office: Physical Sciences Complex (PSC) 1156
E-mail: ricotti "at" umd "dot" edu
Phone: (301) 405 5097
Office hours: Friday 10:00am-11:00am or by appointment
Class web page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/~ricotti/NEWWEB/teaching/ASTR406_20.html

Course Outline

The Syllabus is available on ELMS and here PDF format.

	Date	Lecture

Basic Principles
#1	Sep 1	Course Introduction; observations of stellar parameters, H-R diagram
#2	Sep 3	Hydrostatic equilibrium and virial theorem
#3	Sep 8	Gas physics: EOS
#4	Sep 10	Opacities in stars
#5	Sep 15	Radiative transport
#6	Sep 17	Convective transport
#7	Sep 22	Nuclear fusion; the s- and r-processes
#8	Sep 24	Summary: stellar timescales
#9	Sep 29	Equations of stellar structure, polytrophs, Lane-Emden equation
#10	Oct 1	Calculating stellar evolution, the MESA code
-	Oct 6	MIDTERM EXAM
Star Formation and Stellar Evolution
#11	Oct 8	Star formation
#12	Oct 15	The main sequence
#13	Oct 20	Post main sequence evolution
#14	Oct 22	Stellar winds mass loss
#15	Oct 27	Red giant phase
#16	Oct 29	Horizontal branch stars
#17	Nov 3	Asymptotic giant branch stars
Late evolution and stellar remnants
#18	Nov 5	Post-AGB and Planetary nebulae
#19	Nov 10	White dwarfs and neutron stars
#20	Nov 12	Pulsating stars
#21	Nov 17	Observational evidence of mass loss
#22	Nov 19	Evolution of massive stars 8-25 Msun
#23	Nov 24	Evolution of massive stars >25 Msun
-	Nov 26	THANKSGIVING (no class)
#24	Dec 1	Supernovae
#25	Dec 3	Close binaries and mass transfer (X-ray binaries, novae, CVs)
#26	Dec 8	Chemical yields
#27	Dec 10	Review session
-	Dec 21	FINAL EXAM (official date/time: 1:30pm-3:30pm; format and time TBD)

Textbooks

Required textbook:
This is a free book available in pdf, ePub and Kindle formats. Slides and exercises are also available from the same publisher. I will rely mainly on this ebook and the accompanying slides in addition to other material, mainly from Max Pettini’s lectures at IoA Cambridge (that I will make available on ELMS).