Fall 2003
Class Hours: 12:30 - 13:45 Chart Room B&L 4th floor
Prof: Eric Blackman, Bausch &Lomb 417A, 5-0537, blackman@pas.rochester.edu
Course Material and Texts:
This course is meant to sample the subject of High Energy Astrophysics.
In general, the term "High Energy Astrophysics" refers to processes or systems which involve one or more of the following: relativistic phenomena, X-ray emission, Gamma-Ray emission, jet flows, non-thermal particle acceleration, strong magnetic fields, ionized plasmas, compact objects, accretion flows, cosmology of the early universe.
A rough outline of the course (will be subject to adjusment!):
1. Introduction to High Energy Astrophysics
2. Galactic Center
3. Accretion/ Accretion Disks
2. Supernovae
3. Cosmic Rays
4. Solar Corona
6. Active Galactic Nuclei and Galaxy Clusters
7. Gamma-Ray Bursts
This list means both the sources, their physics, and in some cases their influence on their enviroments, e.g. generating turbulence, magnetic fields, their role in cosmology, star formation etc.
The material of the course will mix and match from textbooks and journal literature. I will try to use some journal papers which highlight certain reserach problems as a framework for the material discussed.
The two main textbooks are (on library reserve): High Energy Astrophysics vol 2 (Longair); Exploring the X-ray Universe (Charles and Seward).
Other Books (also on reserve): High Energy Astrophysics vol 1 (Longair); Black Holes, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars (Shapiro and Teukolsky) Active Galactic Nuclei (Krolik)
Other Books not on reserve: Radiative Processes (Rybicki and Lightman); Modern Astrophysics (Carroll and Ostlie)
Other reading will be taken the from literature.
Coursework: I would like this to be an informal and interactive course. There will be some homework problems, class discussions, and also a "six degrees of separation project" which is meant to be an exercise in "big picture thinking". It will involve picking two topics that seem to be unrelated, and giving a presentation on how a connection can be made between them. One of the two endpoints should be your research area/project.
Library Electronic Reserve for this Course
Click on "LOCAL CATALOG", then on "Course Reserve," and then open selection
under instructor "Blackman, E." Click on the PHY/AST 564 entry.
Homework Set 1
Homework Set 2
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Course Topics and Reading:
COMMENTS (relevant for below):
1. Defintion of a "WEEK": a unit, approximately 2-4 lectures (though I can see that units may take longer depending on how things are going and what direction they take)
2. I will fill in the blanks and add links as the course proceeds.
3. In the suggested reading section below, note the codes: CS (Charles and Seward); L2 (Longair volume 2); L1 (Longair volume 1); ST (Shapiro & Teukolsky); K1 (Krolik);
4. Journal papers will be linked directly.
5. My lecture notes will be scanned into the library reserve site for the course.
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WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW; A MYSTERY IN THE GALACTIC CENTER
WEEK 4-5 PHYSICS OF BINARY SYSTEMS
WEEK 6 X-RAY BINARIES/ CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES
WEEK 7 X-RAY BURSTERS AND LOW MASS VS. HIGH MASS X-RAY BINARIES
WEEK 8 MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS
WEEK 9 STELLAR EVOLUTION
WEEK 10 SUPERNOVAE and SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
WEEK 11 SHOCK PHYSICS: PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN SUPERNOVAE AND GAMMA-RAY BURSTS
WEEK 12 WHITE DWARF AND NEUTRON STAR EQUATIONS OF STATE
WEEK 13 BLACK HOLES
WEEK 14 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
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Other Links:
Astronomy picture of the day archive .
Discovery of Spatial and Spectral Structure in the X-Ray Emission from the Crab Nebula