To develop physical intuition about astrophysical gas and plasma and use it to understand the behaviour of astrophysical systems. A background of undergraduate physics is assumed, but no prior knowledge of fluid dynamics is required. This course is a part of the PHYS 641 to 645 series that gives a comprehensive exposure to graduate level astrophysics.
Tuesday Thursday 1-2.35pm, MAASS 328
First class: Tuesday Sep 4th
Prof. Andrew Cumming
Office: Rutherford Physics Building 310
Office hours: drop by my office, or email me for an appointment
Email: [email protected]
We will focus on one topic per week, with one lecture and one discussion session/paper presentations (26 classes in total).
The topics covered will include (subject to change depending on student interests)
The emphasis will be on understanding the basic physical ideas and applying them to examples from across astrophysics.
During the last three weeks of the course, students will carry out a numerical project, reporting on their progress each week and concluding with an oral presentation during the last week of class.
You will be graded on class participation (10%), in-class presentations (20%), computational exercises (30%), and a numerical project (40%).
I will provide notes for each topic, linked in the schedule below. A textbook is not required, but I recommend you look at Physics of Fluids and Plasmas: An Introduction for Astrophysicists which is a great introduction to the subject at the right level.
Other useful books are listed below. The Pringle and King book is a very clean, concise treatment but somewhat more mathematical than Choudhuri and a more restricted range of topics. The book by Thompson has a good section on numerical methods. Shu’s book is volume 2 of a classic two volume set on the physics of astrophysics.
Week 1 - Introduction to hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics
Week 2 - Cold stars: white dwarfs, neutron stars, and planets
Computational exercise 1: Mass-radius relation for white dwarfs
Week 3 - Hot stars: energy transport, nuclear burning, and stellar evolution
Week 4 - Compressible fluids: sound waves and shocks
Week 5 - Introduction to numerical methods
Computational exercise 2: Steepening
Week 6 - Inflows and outflows
Week 7 - Oscillations and instabilities
Computational exercise 3: Oscillation modes of the Sun
Week 8 - Astrophysical turbulence
Week 9 - Rotating fluids/Planetary atmospheres
Weeks 10, 11, 12 - Class projects
Week 13 - Project presentations (Nov 27 and 29)
Thursday Sep 13
White dwarf mass-radius relation: Chandrasekhar (1931) Maximum mass of white dwarfs and The density of white dwarf stars; Holberg et al. (2012) Observational constraints on the degenerate mass-radius relation
Planet mass-radius relation: Seager et al. (2007) Mass-radius relationships for solid exoplanets
Thursday Sep 20
Cold equation of state: Salpeter (1961) Energy and pressure of a zero temperature plasma
The transition from cold to hot: Deloye and Bildsten (2003) The stellar structure of finite entropy objects
Tuesday Oct 2
Neutron stars: Lattimer and Prakash (2001) Neutron star structure and the equation of state
Formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion: Taylor (1950) Paper 1 Paper 2
Tuesday Oct 9
Tuesday Oct 16
Tuesday Oct 23
Saturn ring seismology: Evidence for stable stratification in the deep interior of Saturn Fuller (2014)
Equatorial Superrotation on Tidally Locked Exoplanets Showman and Polvani (2011)
On the theory of magnetar QPOs Levin (2007)
Tuesday Oct 30
Spreading Layers in Accreting Objects: Role of Acoustic Waves for Angular Momentum Transport, Mixing, and Thermodynamics Philippov et al. (2016)
Supernova Driving. I. The Origin of Molecular Cloud Turbulence Padoan et al. (2016)
Tuesday Nov 6
A suppression of differential rotation in Jupiter’s deep interior Guillot et al. 2018, and Jupiter’s atmospheric jet streams extend thousands of kilometres deep Kaspi et al. (2018)
Global MHD simulations of stratified and turbulent protoplanetary discs. I. Model properties Fromang and Nelson (2006)
Fast core rotation in red-giant stars as revealed by gravity-dominated mixed modes Beck et al. (2011), and Spin down of the core rotation in red giants Mosser et al. (2012)
Thursday Nov 8
Tuesday Nov 13
Numerical models for supernova remnants Mansfield and Salpeter (1974), and The Evolution of Supernova Remnants I. Spherically-symmetric Models Chevalier (1974)
Flow on a tidally-locked terrestrial planet Merlis et al. 2010
On the Maximum Luminosity of Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes: Feedback from Momentum-driven Winds Murray et al. (2005)
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (more information). In accord with McGill University's Charter of Students' Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University's control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. Additional policies governing academic issues which affect students can be found in the McGill Charter of Students' Rights.