Oxford Physics: Third-Year Astrophysics (B3)

Stellar Structure and Evolution

(Dr Ph. Podsiadlowski)

• Textbooks and outline of lectures MT 2006 (pdf file)
  
• Problem Set 2006 (pdf file)
  
 

• Complete Lecture Notes (pdf file)


• Note on Finals Exam (pdf file)
  
 

• Lecture 1: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  Introduction, observable properties of stars, magnitudes, stellar classification



• Lecture 2: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  Stellar properties, H-R (CM) diagrams, star clusters, stellar populations, brown dwarfs, planets



• Lectures 3/4 : (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  Equations of stellar structure: hydrostatic equilibrium, virial theorem, stellar timescales, energy transport by radiation and convection



• Lecture 5: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  The mathematical problem, equations of state, opacities



• Lecture 6: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  Nuclear reactions: nuclear binding energy, the Coulomb barrier, non-resonant reaction rates, hydrogen burning (pp chains, CN cycle), helium burning
  
  (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  The Sun: helioseismology, the solar neutrino problem

• Lectures 7/8: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  The structure of main-sequence stars, ages in open clusters, star formation,  The evolution of low-mass stars: the red-giant phase, the helium flash, the horizontal branch, the asymptotic giant branch, planetary nebulae, white dwarfs, the Chandrasekhar mass



• Lecture 9: (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  The evolution of massive stars, supernova types: core collapse and thermonuclear explosions, supernova classification, SN 1987A, neutron stars, black holes, gamma-ray bursts
  (pdf files: B/W, colour)
  
  Binary stars: classification, the mass function, the Roche potential, mass transfer, the Algol paradox, binaries with compact components

• Appendices (pdf files B/W, colour)
  

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