Astron 400: Astrophysics I

Physics 903: Stellar Astrophysics

Fall 2016, David Kaplan

Lectures: Tues/Thur 8:00am-9:15am, Kenwood 1130 Attendance and participation at lectures is required.

Lecturer: Prof. David Kaplan

Office: KIRC 4075
Office hours: Tues 10am-11am; Wed 10am-1aam or by appointment
Email: kaplan@uwm.edu
Phone: 414-229-4971

Office hours: All undergraduates are required to attend office hours at least twice per semester (once before and once after the midterm).

Course Description: This is a general course intended to introduce quantitative astronomy and astrophysics to students with a physical-sciences background. A background in calculus-based physics is required. This semester is focused on core concepts in stellar structure and evolution including:

Hydrostatic equilibrium, pressure support, gravitational collapse
Virial theorem
Nuclear fusion, energy generation in the Sun
Radiation, interaction of radiation and matter
Stellar evolution, on and off the main sequence
Stellar remnants
Explosions
Star formation
The following semester (Astron 401) will extend this discussion beyond the Milky Way.

Course Website: http://www.gravity.uwm.edu/~kaplan/astron400.html
Lecture notes, reading assignments, and problem sets will be posted there.

Course Textbook:
The Physics of Stars , 2nd edition, by A. C. Phillips (Second Edition, Wiley, 1999)
ISBN 978-0471987987
$54.60

Evaluation:

Problem sets (weekly): 50%; grade will be best 10 of 11 problem sets
Midterm exam: 20%
Final exam: 30%
You are encouraged to discuss the problem sets with each other but are not allowed to copy each other.
The mid-term will be an in-class, closed-book exam of 1 hour duration (only calculator allowed).
The final exam will be a closed-book exam of 2 hours duration (only calculator allowed). It will be at 7:30am on Thursday, Dec. 22
For both exams, formula/constant sheets will be provided.

Graduate Component: Students registered for Physics 903 will have an extra numerical problem on each problem set. This is required for graduate students. The result will need to be emailed separate to kaplan@uwm.edu, with the email containing the source code (C, Matlab, or python) and the resulting plot(s). For undergraduates this problem will be extra credit.

Python/programming references:

Prerequisites:Physics 309(P), Physics 317 is preferred. Astron 103, 211 or permission of instructor.

News:

Midterm exam will be Thursday, Oct 13.
Final exam will be Thursday, Dec 22, 7:30am, Kenwood 1130.

Handouts:

Syllabus
Constants and Conversions Reference
Lecture Notes (Updated Dec 5, 2016)
Black hole effective potentials for l=4.3GM/c, l=3.8GM/c, and l=sqrt(12)GM/c. To plot in Wolfram Alpha, try something like:
```
      -1/x + y^2/2/x^2 - y^2/x^3 where y=4.3
      
```
.
Final review material

Problem Sets:

PS1 (Sep 8, 2016; due Sep 15, 2016)
PS2 (Sep 15, 2016; due Sep 22, 2016)
PS3 (Sep 22, 2016; due Sep 29, 2016)
PS4 (Sep 29, 2016; due Oct 13, 2016)
PS5 (Oct 13, 2016; due Oct 20, 2016)
- Data Set A
- Data Set B
PS6 (Oct 20, 2016; due Oct 27, 2016)
- EZ-Web summary for 1.0 Msun star: summary_M1.0_Z0.02.txt
- EZ-Web summary for 15.0 Msun star: summary_M15.0_Z0.02.txt
- EZ-Web structure for 0.3 Msun star: structure_M0.3_Z0.02_00001.txt
- EZ-Web structure for 1.0 Msun star: structure_M1.0_Z0.02_00001.txt
- EZ-Web structure for 15.0 Msun star: structure_M15.0_Z0.02_00001.txt
PS7 (Oct 27, 2016; due Nov 3, 2016)
PS8 (Nov 3, 2016; due Nov 10, 2016)
PS9 (Nov 10, 2016; due Nov 17, 2016)
PS10 (Nov 22, 2016; due Dec 1, 2016)
PS11 (Dec 1, 2016; due Dec 13, 2016)

Links: