3 ECTS — Semester 1 — (part of a) Major, or Elective
Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that utilizes the principles of physics and chemistry to understand the properties and behavior of celestial objects such as stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe as a whole. By studying the light emitted by stars, their spectra, and their movements, astrophysicists can determine various characteristics such as temperature, composition, mass, and age. This field helps us unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, including the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the overall structure of the universe.
Syllabus
A) Star formation and evolution
I- Star formation in the Galaxy: The interstellar medium: composition, physical conditions – Heating and cooling of clouds, opacity – Rate of star formation and initial mass function
II- Cloud collapse and contraction: Stability of a uniform cloud, the Jeans criteria and fragmentation – Hydrostatic and virial equilibria – Free fall and quasistatic evolution – Star formation sequence, the first and second hydrostatic cores
III- A star on the main sequence: Properties of a star on the main sequence – The and CNO cycles – Energy transport within the star – The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
B) Introduction to cosmology
I- The distant Universe: Objects and distances – Evidence of dark matter – Cosmological principle – Expansion law and recent acceleration – Large scale space-time metric
II- Evolution of the Universe: Observational pilars of the Big Bang model – Energy content of the Universe – Friedmann equations
III- Onset of structure formation
Suggested bibliography
- Stahler, S. W. & Palla, F. The formation of stars. Wiley.
- Lequeux, J. The interstellar medium. Springer.
- Bodenheimer, P. H. Principles of star formation. Springer.
- Ryden, B. Introduction to cosmology. CUP.
- Liddle, A. An introduction to modern cosmology. Wiley
Prerequisites
- classical mechanics
- basics in statistical physics
- quantum mechanics
- special relativity
- classical electrodynamics