ASTROPHYSICS
Academic Year 2016/2017 - 3° YearCredit Value: 6
Scientific field: FIS/05 - Astronomy and astrophysics
Taught classes: 48 hours
Term / Semester: 1°
Learning Objectives
This course is devoted to give a fairly deep panoramic view of the phenomena occurring in our Universe.
Particular attention will be given to the description of the physical mechanisms that explain the occurrence of such phenomena.
Due to the intrinsic interdisciplinary nature of Astrophysics, when necessary, some concepts will be introduced in heuristic way; such consepts will be treated in depth subsequently in other courses.
Detailed Course Content
1 – Introduction
Metodology of scientific investigation in Astrophysics – Distance ladder and units – Instrumentation – Astronomical coordinates.
2 – The stars
Fundamental quantities - Magnitude systems – Spectral classes – The Hertzprung-Russell diagram.
– Stellar Atmospheres
Radiation transport – Temperature versus depth – Line formation – Boltzmann and Saha equations* – Einstein's coefficients – Mechanisms of line widening – Abundance analysis.
– Internal Structure
Equations of the internal structure of stars – Mass-Luminosity relation – Nuclear Fusion – Energy transport – Schwarzschild's criterion for convection.
– Stellar Evolution
Pre- and post-sequence stellar evolution – Pulsating stars – Planetary nebulae, novae and supernovae – Degenerate Fermi-gas* - White dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.
3 – The Sun: a main sequence star
Atmosphere: photosphere, cromosphere, corona – Convection zone – Differential rotation – Magnetic Fields – Alfvèn's theorem* - Solar activity (sunspots, facolae, prominences, flares) - The neutrino problem.
4 – The interstellar medium
Interstellar clouds – Gas and dust – Chemistry in the gas phase and on the surface of dust grains – The Virial theorem* - Jeans criterion for gravitational collapse and star formation.
5 – Our Galaxy
Morfology and dynamics – Globular and open clusters – Stellar populations – The galactic nucleus – Dark matter – Cosmic rays.
6 – External galaxies
Hubble's morphological classification – Physical properties and formation processes of elliptical and disk galaxies – Cluster and supercluster of galaxies – Quasars and the other Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
7 – Cosmology
Observational evidences: Hubble's Law of the espanding Universe, the Cosmic Background – Cosmologic principle - Newtonian Cosmology - Friedmann's equation - Fluid equation – Inflation and primordial fluctuations – Radiation dominated and matter dominated Universe – Cosmological models - Dark matter and dark energy - The cosmological constant - Thermal history of the Universe.
N.B.: The detailed quantitative description of subjects marked with * may be omitted.
Textbook Information
H. Karttunen et al.: Fundamental Astronomy, 5th ed, Springer Verlag, Berlin (2007)
G.B. Rybicki & A.P. Lightman: Radiative processes in Astrophysics, Wiley-VCH, New York (2004)