ASTR 5420 - Stellar Evolution and Interiors
Prof. Hannah Jang-Condell
Spring 2016
The life cycle of stars forms the basis for this course, including
formation and early evolution, hydrostatic structure, and late stages
of evolution. In addition, energy generation and transport are
presented. Prerequisite: graduate standing in astrophysics.
Syllabus
Reading Assignments
- Week 1:
- Week 2:
- Week 3:
- Week 4:
- For 2/17/16: Read these notes
- For 2/19/16: Read HKT 1.1-1.4
- Week 5:
- For 2/24/16: Read HKT 1.5-1.8
- For 2/26/16: Read HKT 3.1-3.4
- Week 6:
- For 3/2/16: Read HKT 3.5-3.7, review HKT 4.2, 4.5.
- For 3/4/16: Read HKT 5.1-5.3
- Week 7:
- For 3/9/16: Read HKT 6.1-6.4 (gravitational energy & hydrogen burning)
- For 3/11/16: Mid Term Exam
- Week 8:
- 3/23/16 = snow day
- For 3/25/16: Read HKT 6.5-6.8 (nucleosynthesis)
- Week 9:
- For 3/30/16: Read HKT Chapter 7.1-2 (polytropes).
You only need to skim sections 7.2.3-6.
- For 4/1/16: Read HKT Chapter 7.3 (stellar modeling)
- Week 10:
- For 4/6/16: Read HKT 2.14, 2.1-2.2. (Young Stellar Objects)
lecture notes
- For 4/8/16: Read HKT 2.3-2.5 (post-MS evolution)
- Week 11:
- For 4/13/16: Read HKT 2.6-2.8, 2.12 (stellar deaths)
- For 4/15/16: Read HKT 2.9-2.11, 2.13 (variable stars and binaries)
- Week 12:
- Week 13:
- Week 14:
- Friday, May 6: Final Projects Due. In-class presentations.
Problem Sets
- Problem Set 1 due January 24, 2014.
PDF
and
LaTeX source.
- Code for setting up an adaptive time step Runge-Kutta code is
here.
Miscellaneous