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| AST 383D · Stellar Structure and Evolution |
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COURSE CONTENTS:
- Basic Properties of Stars
- Overview of stellar structure and evolution
- Equation of hydrostatic equilibrium; virial theorem
READ: HKT, Ch. 1 + 2
- Basic Equations
- Structure equations
- Equation of state
- Thermodynamic properties
- Ionization; Saha equation
READ: HKT, Ch. 3
- Heat Transport: Radiation
- Radiative transfer
- Opacities
READ: HKT, Ch. 4
- Heat Transport: Convection
- Schwarzschild criterion
- Mixing-length theory
READ: HKT, Ch. 5
- Stellar Stability and Pulsations
- Pulsational instability
- Instability strip
- Kappa-mechanism
READ: HKT, Ch. 8.1-2
- Nuclear Energy Generation
- Basic nuclear physics
- Hydrogen burning; triple-alpha process
- Advanced stages of burning (s-process, r-process)
- neutrino losses
READ: HKT, Ch. 6
- Stellar Models
- Polytropes; Lane-Emden equations
- Numerical methods
READ: HKT, Ch. 7
- Detailed Structure and Evolution
- Low-mass stars: life and death of the Sun
- High-mass stars
READ: HKT, Ch. 9
- Stellar Rotation and Magnetic Fields
- Meridional circulation; Eddington-Sweet timescale
- Stellar dynamos
READ: references given in class
- Violent Deaths
- Stellar winds; eta Carinae
- Supernova explosions
READ: HKT, CH. 2.3+11; and references given in class
- Physics of Star Formation
- Jeans instability; opacity limited fragmentation
- Angular momentum problem
- Protostellar collapse and accretion
READ: HKT, CH. 2.14; and references given in class
- The First Stars
- Cosmological initial conditions
- Formation physics
- Structure and evolution
- Impact on cosmology
READ: references given in class
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