AST 242: Astrophysics II
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
(Spring 2012)
Instructor: Alice Quillen, Bausch and Lomb Hall 424, Phone:275-9625, Email:aquillen at pas.rochester.edu
Lectures: Wednesday and Fridays 11:00am-12:20, in Bausch and Lomb 315.
TA (grader): Justin Comparetta jcompare at pas.rochester.edu
Overview:
We will explore topics in astrophysics while introducing
fundamentals of fluid mechanics.
The class is intended for undergraduate juniors and seniors with a general
physics background and some familiarity with astronomy.
Astrophysical fluid dynamics
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Ideal Fluid Mechanics, Conservation Laws, Eulerian and Lagrangian views,
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
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Microphysical basis for fluid continuum equations
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Self-similar flows and spherical blast waves, Bondi accretion
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Astrophysical shocks, Method of characteristics
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Finite Difference numerical methods, Numerical stability, the Riemann problem
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Viscous flow, the Structure of an Accretion disk, Vorticity
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Jeans, Convective, Raleigh-Taylor, Kelvin-Helmholtz, and Field
Instabilities, Internal Gravity Waves
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Ionization fronts, Cooling flows
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Magnetohydrodynamics and Hydromagnetic waves
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Introduction to Cosmology, Inflation, Evolution of Perturbations,
Re-Ionization, Acoustic oscillations and
Cosmic microwave background radiation
Course requirements:
- About 6 problem sets
- 1 numerical project
- 1 in-class midterm
Grading: problem sets 40%, projects 30%, exams 30%.
Textbooks and Reading:
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Cathy Clarke and Bob Carswell, Principles of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics,
QB461 .C59 2007; on reserve at POA library
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James E. Pringle and Andrew King, Astrophysical Flows, QB466.J46 P75 2007; on reserve at POA
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Frank H. Shu, Physics of Astrophysics, Volume II, Gas Dynamics, QB461 .S448 1991; on reserve at POA
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Eleuterio F. Toro,
Riemann solvers and numerical methods for fluid dynamics: a practical introduction, QA911 .T66 1999; on reserve at POA
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Peter Bodenheimer et al. Numerical Methods in Astrophysics: an introduction,
QB462.3 .N86 2007; on reserve at POA
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Thorne and Blandford's on-line text Applications of Classical Physics,
P136