Galaxies & The early Universe - Dr P Ferreira
Michaelmas Term Monday & Tuesday weeks 1-5.
1)
Introduction: how big is the Universe?
-The Milky Way (size, Mass, number of stars)
-The Local Group (what is it, distances)
-Galaxies (Types of galaxies, distances, where they sit)
-Surveys of Galaxies (Sheets, voids and filaments)
-The recession of galaxies (Hubbles law, the age of the Universe)
2)
Review of Cosmology:
-Newtonian Gravity
-Newtonian Cosmology
-Conservation of Energy
-Types of Cosmology (types of matter, geometry)
-Review of redshift
-General Relativistic version (schematic)
3)
Relic abundances and the material component of the Universe:
-Statistical mechanics in an Expanding Universe (Boltzman eqn)
-Relativistic and non-relativistic particles
-The concept of freeze-out
-Recombination with Saha's equations.
-An analytic derivation of BBN
4)
Beyond Smoothness (fluctuations and growth of perturbations)
-Newtonian perturbation theory and Eulerian Mechanics
-Solutions
-Expanding Universe
-General Relativistic version (schematic)
5)
Large Scale Structure:
-The various components
-Evolution of matter and radiation
-Anisotropies in the CMB
-Power Spectra
-Comparison with Observations
6)
Close to home again: The Milky Way
-More detailed description of the Milky Way
-Galactic Coordinates
-The rotation Curve
7)
Models for galaxies
-equilibria of Collisionless Systems
-Newton/Boltzman system for a few special cases
8)
Types of Galaxies
-The Hubble Diagram
-Spiral Galaxies
-Elliptical Galaxies
-Galaxy formation and evolution
9)
Clusters of galaxies
10) Gravitational Lensing
High Energy Astrophysics
- Dr G Cotter
Michaelmas Term Wed &
Thur weeks 1-4, Tue & Thur Week 6, Mon & Tue Week 7
Topics marked within asterisks are
non-examinable and will be covered as time permits.
1) Introduction & overview. Direct and indirect detection of
high-energy particles. Radio, X-ray, gamma ray, Cerenkov. Brightness and flux.
2)
Accretion. Eddington limit for SMBH accretion. Accretion disc models.
3)
Shocks. Accretion onto white dwarves and neutron stars: X-ray binaries.
*Binary pulsar spin-down*
4)
Microquasars. Jets from SMBHs; observational properties of quasars and
radiogalaxies. Theories of jet production *and triggering*
5)
Synchrotron emission I: spectrum from individual particles,
polarization. Minimum energy/equipartition arguments.
6)
Synchrotron emission II: Hotspots, Fermi acceleration. Synchrotron
spectrum from power-law energy distribution. *Optical synchrotron*
7)
Synchrotron emission III: Synchrotron inverse-Compton and
self-absorbtion. Spectral aging.
8)
Superluminal motion; orientation as a basis for quasar/radiogalaxy
unification. *Radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy*
9)
X-ray background. Quasar energy budget over cosmic history, remnant
black holes.
10) Clusters of galaxies: Thermal
bremsstrahlung, Faraday rotation, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.
11) Direct detection of high-energy
particles. Gamma-ray bursts.
12) Revision and examples.
Stellar Populations in Galaxies
- Dr S Yi
Michaelmas Term (Thursday week 5,
Monday week 6)
1) Early-type Galaxy Evolution: Formation history of early-type galaxies,
star formation
history,
initial mass function, stellar evolution, isochrones.
2) Population Synthesis techniques: integrated
galaxy properties based on combinations of stars of different age, mass,
abundances and evolutionary state.
Recent Results in Astrophysics
- Prof R Davies
Michaelmas Term (Thursday week 7)
Some
recent developments in astrophysics will be presented to illustrate some of the
topics that are being studied in this course.
Our knowledge in many branches of Astrophysics is changing rapidly and
this lecture will bring you up to date with some recent results.
Advanced Stellar Evolution
- Dr P Podsiadlowski
Michaelmas Term (Monday, Tues, Thur week 8)
1) The
evolution of massive stars; supernovae: explosion mechanisms, classification,
Type Ia supernovae and their use as cosmological candles
2) The
formation of compact objects; core collapse and the formation of neutron stars
and black holes, radio pulsars, supernova kicks
3)
Hypernovae and gamma-ray bursts; history and observations; the fireball
model, the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts
4)
Star formation: observations; molecular clouds and gravitational
collapse (Jeans instability), pre-main-sequence evolution
5)
Simulations of star formation: in clusters, binary formation, the first
stars, planet formation
6) The
origin of elements: summary of nucleosynthesis in stars, the s- and r-process,
explosive nucleosynthesis, Fe production,
unsolved problems
7)
Big-bang nucleosynthesis, observational constraints on big-bang
parameters, chemical evolution of the Universe
8)
Compact binaries: the formation of compact binaries (dynamical mass
transfer, common-envelope evolution), the Eddington limit, Roche-lobe overflow
and wind accretion, accretion onto black holes
9)
Classification of X-ray binaries, the origin of binary and single
millisecond pulsars; black-hole binaries and X-ray transients, micro-quasars:
the AGN connection, ultraluminous X-ray sources in external galaxies
1) Sources of emission lines. Ionization and
recombination under non-LTE conditions.
Photoionized
sources (e.g. planetary nebulae). Radiative recombination.
2)
Collisionally ionized sources (e.g. stellar coronae). Di-electronic
recombination.
Formation of emission lines under non-LTE conditions
(simple 2-level atom).
3) Information from emission line fluxes
(e.g. emission measures, element abundances).
3-level atoms. Methods of measuring electron temperatures and densities
from emission line flux ratios. Applications
to planetary nebulae.
4) Applications to chromosphere-corona
transition regions and coronae. Overview of chromospheres and coronae in
context of stellar structure and evolution.
5) Heating of stellar
transition regions and coronae. The role
of magnetic fields. Trends in coronal properties. Overview of mass-loss to the interstellar
medium (ISM).
6) The ISM.
Abundances (including deuterium/hydrogen ratio). Local ISM structure.
The intergalactic medium (IGM).