ASTR-5120, Fall 2016

Instructor:	Steven R. Cranmer   (email, web page)
Instructor's Office:	Duane Physics D-111 (campus), SPSC N-218 (research park)
Course Times:	Fall 2016, Mon./Wed./Fri., 3:00-3:50 pm
Location:	Duane Physics, Room E-126
Office Hours:	By appointment or drop in (usually at LASP MWF before lunch, Tu/Th all day)
Syllabus:	See the most up-to-date PDF version.

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Summary

This course is an introduction to radiative and dynamical (R&D) processes aimed at graduate students in astrophysics, space physics, and planetary science. R&D is intended to cover a handful of topics that are central to much of astrophysical and planetary sciences, but are rarely encountered at the undergraduate level. We will cover particle collisions and transport phenomena, magnetohydrodynamics, gravitational dynamics (applied to both planetary orbits and N-body systems in galaxies), and a macroscopic treatment of radiation fields. This is a core required course for APS graduate students.

Course Material

This page has links to more information about textbooks and online lecture notes.

Lectures

Below is a detailed schedule that will list the material to be covered in each class session, links to electronic copies of any handouts and problem sets, and various course deadlines.

1. Mon., August 22: Introductory lecture. Overview of course syllabus, and some review of necessary background math and physics.
   • Handout: syllabus
   • Handout: list of useful math/physics formulae & constants (new for fall 2016)
   • Homework 1 assigned, due Wed., September 7.

2. Wed., August 24: Finish review of necessary background math and physics.
   • Lecture notes (01) for course intro; background math and physics.

3. Fri., August 26: Transport phenomena: random walks & advection-diffusion equations.
   • Lecture notes (02) for transport phenomena, random walks, and the Langevin equation.
   • Excerpts from the Pathria & Beale stat mech book about the Langevin equation.

4. Mon., August 29: Transport phenomena: Brownian motion; Langevin equation; fluctuation-dissipation theorem

5. Wed., August 31: Transport phenomena: Intro to plasmas; Coulomb collisions
   • Lecture notes (03) for intro to plasmas; Coulomb collisions, collision statistics.

6. Fri., September 2: Transport phenomena: Coulomb collisions; mean free paths; collision statistics

       [Mon., September 5 is Labor Day, no classes.]

7. Wed., September 7: Transport phenomena: Coulomb collisions; mean free paths; collision statistics
   • Homework 1 due.
   • Homework 2 assigned, due Mon., September 19.

8. Fri., September 9: MHD: kinetic theory; Vlasov equation; Boltzmann collision term
   • Lecture notes (04) for kinetic theory and the Vlasov, Boltzmann, Fokker-Planck equations
   • Supplemental notes on Liouville's theorem and the derivation of the Vlasov equation

9. Mon., September 12: MHD: kinetic theory; Vlasov equation; Boltzmann collision term

10. Wed., September 14: MHD: Boltzmann collision term; Fokker-Planck equation

11. Fri., September 16: MHD: Boltzmann collision term; Fokker-Planck equation

12. Mon., September 19: MHD: fluid moments of the Boltzmann equation for a plasma
    • Lecture notes (05) for fluid moments of the Boltzmann equation; ideal & resistive MHD.
    • Homework 2 due.
    • Homework 3 assigned, due Mon., October 3.

13. Wed., September 21: MHD: fluid moments of the Boltzmann equation for a plasma; basics of MHD; magnetic pressure and tension

14. Fri., September 23: MHD: ideal and resistive MHD; magnetic pressure and tension

15. Mon., September 26: MHD: ideal and resistive MHD; magnetic pressure and tension

16. Wed., September 28: Ideal MHD applications: potential and force-free fields
    • Lecture notes (06) for ideal MHD applications: force-free fields, MHD waves, and MHD instabilities.

17. Fri., September 30: Ideal MHD applications: potential and force-free fields; MHD waves

18. Mon., October 3: Ideal MHD applications: MHD waves; MHD instabilities
    • Homework 3 due.

19. Wed., October 5: Ideal MHD applications: MHD waves; MHD instabilities

20. Fri., October 7: Resistive MHD: Braginskii transport coefficients
    • Lecture notes (07) for resistive MHD, reconnection, and plasma physics beyond MHD.

21. Mon., October 10: Resistive MHD: Braginskii transport coefficients; magnetic reconnection

22. Wed., October 12: Resistive MHD: magnetic reconnection; survey of plasma physics "beyond MHD"

23. Fri., October 14: In-class midterm exam.

24. Mon., October 17: Survey of plasma physics "beyond MHD"
    • Homework 4 assigned, due Mon., October 31.

25. Wed., October 19: Dynamical processes: the Euler-Lagrange formalism and Hamilton's principle
    • Lecture notes (08) for Lagrangian dynamics and 2-body Keplerian motion

26. Fri., October 21: Dynamical processes: 2-body Keplerian motion

27. Mon., October 24: Dynamical processes: 2-body Keplerian motion, gas drag & migration

28. Wed., October 26: Dynamical processes: restricted 3-body problem, Roche lobes
    • Lecture notes (09) for the 3-body problem, Hill stability, resonances, and tides

29. Fri., October 28: Dynamical processes: 3-body problem, Hill stability, orbital resonances

30. Mon., October 31: Dynamical processes: 3-body problem, Hill stability, orbital resonances
    • Homework 4 due.
    • Homework 5 assigned, due Mon., November 14.

31. Wed., November 2: Dynamical processes: resonances & tidal distortion

32. Fri., November 4: Dynamical processes: collisions and conservative forces in N-body systems
    • Lecture notes (10) for N-body stellar dynamics in galaxies and clusters

33. Mon., November 7: Dynamical processes: collisions and conservative forces in N-body systems

34. Wed., November 9: Dynamical processes: Boltzmann stellar dynamics; tensor & scalar virial theorem

35. Fri., November 11: Dynamical processes: Boltzmann stellar dynamics; tensor & scalar virial theorem

36. Mon., November 14: Dynamical processes: Boltzmann stellar dynamics; tensor & scalar virial theorem
    • Homework 5 due.
    • Homework 6 assigned, due Fri., December 2.

37. Wed., November 16: Radiation processes: defining the radiation field; equation of radiative transfer
    • Lecture notes (11) for radiation processes: definitions, transfer, & the gray atmosphere

38. Fri., November 18: Radiation processes: defining the radiation field; equation of radiative transfer

        [November 21-25: Fall Break, no classes.]

39. Mon., November 28: Radiation processes: solutions in useful limits; gray and irradiated atmospheres

40. Wed., November 30: Radiation processes: solutions in useful limits; gray and irradiated atmospheres

41. Fri., December 2: Radiation processes: solutions in useful limits; gray and irradiated atmospheres
    • Lecture notes (12) for radiation processes: non-gray, non-LTE, irradiated atmospheres; spectral lines.
    • Homework 6 due.

42. Mon., December 5: Radiation processes: beyond the gray atmosphere: non-LTE, non-gray, non-Eddington effects.

43. Wed., December 7: Radiation processes: irradiated atmospheres; spectral line formation.

44. Fri., December 9: In-class final exam.