05-21-4323-vl Introduction to Astrophysics

Instructors: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Robert Roth

Event type: Lecture

Org-unit: Dept. 05 – Physics

Displayed in timetable as: 05-21-4323-vl

Subject:

Crediting for:

Hours per week: 3

Language of instruction: Englisch

Min. | Max. participants: - | -

Digital Teaching:
 
The lecture and exercise classes will be offered in digital form. The lecture material will be presented in a series of videos that are provided on a weekly basis. Once every week (in the lecture/exercise slot on Wednesday) there will be an interactive session, which includes a discussion of the material covered in the lecture, short presentations by the participants on selected topics, interactive computational sessions, or live observations using the TURM Observatory.

Please visit the following web-page for more information:

https://theorie.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de/tnp/index.php?doc=astro_mat

Course Contents:
 
This introductory lecture gives an overview of modern astrophysics and the underlying theoretical concepts. It covers different aspects of the physics of stars, the interstellar medium, and galaxies as well as selected questions from cosmology.

The planned program includes:

• The Big Picture: Astronomy vs. Astrophysics, Objects and Scales, Messengers and Detectors
  
• Astrophysical Observables: Distance, Temperatures, Spectra, Luminosity, Radius, Mass
  
• Electromagnetic Radiation and Matter: Black-Body Radiation, Formation of Spectral Lines, Boltzmann and Saha Equations, Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
  
• Stellar Atmospheres: Radiation Field, Stellar Opacity, Transfer Equation
  
• The Sun: Solar Interior, Solar Atmosphere, Solar Cycle
  
• Stellar Interiors: Hydrostatic Equilibrium, Equation of State, Stellar Energy Sources, Energy Transport, Stellar Model Building
  
• Stellar Evolution: Main Sequence and Evolution, Late Stages of Stellar Evolution, Evolution of Massive Stars, Supernovae
  
• Stellar Remnants: White Dwarfs, Degenerate Matter, Neutron Stars, Pulsars, Black Holes
  
• Interstellar Medium and Star Formation: Components of the Interstellar Medium, Cloud Collapse and Star Formation
  
• Galaxies: The Milky Way Galaxy, Nature of Galaxies, Galactic Evolution
  
• Universe at Larger Scales: Olbers' Paradox, Extragalactic Distance Scales, Hubble's Law 
  
• Big-Bang Cosmology: Newtonian Cosmology, Microwave Background, Early Universe
  

Literature:
 
The lecture in mainly based on selected chapters of the following textbook:

• An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, B. W. Carroll and D. A. Ostlie (Cambridge University Press)
  

Preconditions:
 
Courses in classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and statistical physics at the Bachelor level.

Expected Number of Participants:

25

Online Offerings:
 
All lecture videos and materials, as well as additional information are available on the web-page:

https://theorie.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de/tnp/index.php?doc=astro_mat