The aim of
the course “Advanced Astrophysics” is to introduce a selection of current research fields in astrophysics and prepare the participants
for research in this field.
Dynamics of Astrophysical
Fluids and Plasmas (Magnetohydrodynamic
approximation, Spherical Flows: Sedov Problem, Bondi Problem, stellar winds; Rotating Flows:
astrophysical disks, fluid instabilities: Rayleigh-Taylor instability,
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability,
rotational instability ),
Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (Radiative transfer, Bremsstrahlung,
synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering)
Astrophysics of Neutron Stars (Radio Pulsars, X-Ray Pulsars, Magnetars, Star-Disk Interaction, Disk-Magnetosphere Interaction)
Astrophysics of Black Holes (Accretion onto black holes, Active
Galactic Nuclei, Microquasars, X-ray binaries, Ultraluminous X-ray Sources)
1- Astrophysical fluids
and plasmas: Knudsen number and the validity of the fluid approximation,
conservation laws, barotropic flow, compressibility,
sound velocity, hydrostatic equilibrium.
2- Fundamentals concepts
of plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamic approximation,
astrophysical dynamos and the induction equation, Alfvén
waves.
3- Spherically symmetric
flows: Sedov problem and application to supernova
remnants, Bondi problem, stellar winds.
4- Fluid instabilities:
Rayleigh-Taylor instability, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, rotational
instability
5- Accretion disks, Shakura-Sunyaev solution, dwarf novae and thermal instability,
star-disk interaction and boundary layer, modeling the disk spectrum.
6- Self-gravitating disks,
galactic dynamics, spiral density waves
7- Radiative
transfer and stellar atmospheres
8- Radiative
processes in astrophysics: Bremsstrahlung, synchrotron
radiation,
9- Rotationally Powered
Pulsars
10- Gravitationally
Powered Pulsars
11- Young neutron star
families and the magnetar hypothesis
12- Accretion disks around
black holes: stellar mass black holes in our galaxy, microquasars
13- Active Galactic
Nuclei: Quasars and the black hole at the center of the Galaxy.
14- Gamma Ray Bursts:History, models
and their association with supernovae.
No single book
covers all the course material.
1) Astrophysical Flows, J. E. Pringle, A. King, Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (May 21, 2007)
2) Principles of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, C. Clarke,
B. Carswell, Cambridge University
Press; 1st edition (April
30, 2007)
3) Astrophysical Hydrodynamics: An Introduction, S. N. Shore, Publisher: Wiley-VCH; 2nd edition (September 17, 2007)
4) Accretion Power in Astrophysics, J.
Frank, A. King, D. Raine,
Cambridge University Press,
3rd edition (February 11, 2002)
5) Rotation and Accretion
Powered Pulsars, P. Ghosh, World Scientific
Publishing Company; 1st edition (April 17, 2007)
6) Radiative Processes in Astrophysics, G. B. Rybicki, A. P. Lightman, Wiley-Interscience; New Ed edition (March 26, 1985)
7) Pulsar Astronomy, A. G. Lyne, F. Graham-Smith, Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition (March 20, 2006)
8) Compact Objects in Astrophysics:
White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars And
Black Holes, M. Camenzind, Springer (2007)
9) Introduction to High-Energy Astrophysics, Rosswog, Bruggen
1) High Energy Astrophysics,
Fulvio Melia, Princeton Series in Astrophysics; 1st edition (2009)
2) Foundations of High-Energy Astrophysics, Mario Vietri, University
of Chicago Press; (2007)
3) Theoretical Astrophysics, VOL I: Astrophysical Processes, Padmanabhan
4) Theoretical Astrophysics, VOL II: Stars and Stellar
Systems, Padmanabhan
These books are classic
references though some of them a bit outdated
Classical Electrodynamics,
Jackson
Fluid Mechanics, Landau & Lifschitz
Physics of Astrophysics, VOL I: Radiation, F. Shu
Physics of Astrophysics, VOL II: Gas Dynamics, F. Shu
Black Holes, White
Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects, Shapiro & Teukolski
High Energy Astrophysics:
Volume 1, Particles, Photons and their
Detection, Longair
High Energy Astrophysics:
Volume 2, Stars, the Galaxy and
the Interstellar Medium, Longair
The following
links should be sufficient if you
do not want to buy any books
Elements of Astrophysics, Nick Keiser
High Energy Astrophysics,
Miller
Neutron Stars, Verbunt
Applications of Classical Physics,
Thorne & Blandford
Lecture Notes in High
Energy Astrophysics,
Fransson
High Energy Astrophysics,
Cumming
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Pijpers
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Ogilvie
Accretion Disks, Ogilvie
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Bicknell
High Energy Astrophysics,
Bicknell
Geophysical and Astrophysical
Fluid Dynamics, Tobias
Astrophysical Plasmas, Schwartz et al.
Astrophysical Fluids, Cumming
Radiative Processes, Parsons
Radiative Processes, Blackman
Radiative Processes, UC Berkeley
Radiative Processes, Cumming
Radiative Processes, Tolstoy
Radiative Processes, Pisano
Astrophysical Dynamics, Hahn
Radiative Transfer, Rutten
Radiative Transfer & Stellar Atmospheres, Kudritzki
Astrophysial MHD, Achterberg
Advanced MHD, Goedbloed
MHD lectures, Keppens
Theoretical Astrophysics, Klessen
Theoretical Astrophysics, Bartelmann
Radiative Processes & Relativistic Flows, Markoff
Black Hole Astrophysics, Cumming
Notes by Poutanen
Homeworks
HW1 due 16th Feb
HW2 due 2nd March
High Energy
Astrophysics: slides
Slides on rotationally powered pulsars
All about accretion disks sufficient for this course
is this reference by Spruit.
The slides
are here.
Slides on the
Stability of Fluids
Some notes
on the stability of fluids by Bestehorn
FUN LINKS
High Energy Astrophysics
Picture of the Week
When a pulsar is created
in a supernova explosion,
it is born spinning, but slows down over
millions of years. Yet if the pulsar is in a binary system, then it can pull in, or accrete, material
from its companion star. This influx of material can eventually spin up the
pulsar to the millisecond range, rotating hundreds of revolutions per second.
Accretion Spins Pulsar to Millisecond Range Movie (NASA courtesy)
Accretion Spins Pulsar to Millisecond Range -- A View From Above
Movie (NASA courtesy)
Material accumulating on the pulsar surface can sometimes ignite, causing thermonuclear flashes that emit
bursts of X-ray light. These thermonuclear flames spread across
the surface of the pulsar in a few seconds. The team
established that "burst oscillations", a kind of flickering, during these X-ray bursts provide a direct measure of the pulsar's spin
rate. Thus, these bright bursts can be used to determine
pulsar spin rates throughout the galaxy. This animation
is a slow-motion depiction of a thermonuclear flash or X-ray burst spreading across a rotating pulsar. The pulsar would actually be rotating hundreds of revolutions per second.
Nuclear Explosions on Pulsar Surface Help Scientists
Determine Spin Rate Movie (NASA courtesy)
As the pulsar picks up speed through
accretion, it becomes distorted from a perfect sphere due to subtle
changes in the crust, depicted here by an equatorial
bulge. Such slight distortion is enough to produce
gravitational waves. Material flowing onto the pulsar surface from its
companion star tends to quicken
the spin, but loss of energy released as gravitational radiation tends to slow the
spin due to the principle
of conservation of energy. This competition may reach an equilibrium,
setting a natural speed limit for millisecond pulsars beyond which they
cannot be spun up.
Emitted Gravitational Radiation Halts Pulsar's Spin Up
Movie (NASA courtesy)
Train Yourself
for the Course
Order of Magnitude Physics,
Sanjoy
Order of Magnitude Physics,
Parsons
Order of Magnitude Physics,
Chiang
Theoretical Astrophysics, (Learn a little bit of stellar astrophysics)
Computational Astrophysics, Ricotti
Numerical Techniques in Astronomy,
Brown