ASTR-5120, Fall 2018

Instructor:	Steven R. Cranmer   (email, web page)
Instructor's Office:	Duane Physics D111 (main campus), LASP/SPSC N218 (east campus)
Course Times:	Fall 2018, Mon./Wed./Fri., 3:00-3:50 pm
Location:	Duane Physics, Room E126
Office Hours:	By appointment or drop in
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

The primary "required readings" are my lecture notes, which will be posted below on this page as the semester progresses. This page contains links to a variety of other online lecture notes that can supplement both my own notes and the suggested textbooks listed in the syllabus.

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 27: 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 2018)
   • Lecture notes (01) for course intro; background math and physics.
   • Homework 1 assigned, due Mon., September 10.

2. Wed., August 29: 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.

3. Fri., August 31: Transport phenomena: Brownian motion; Langevin equation; fluctuation-dissipation theorem.

       [Mon., September 3 is Labor Day, no classes.]

4. Wed., September 5: Transport phenomena: Intro to plasmas; Coulomb collisions.
   • Lecture notes (03) for plasmas, Coulomb collisions, and collision statistics.

5. Fri., September 7: Transport phenomena: Coulomb collisions; mean free paths; collision statistics.

6. Mon., September 10: Transport phenomena: Coulomb collisions; mean free paths; collision statistics.
   • Homework 1 due.
   • Homework 2 assigned, due Mon., September 24.

7. Wed., September 12: 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

8. Fri., September 14: MHD: kinetic theory; Vlasov equation; Boltzmann collision term.

9. Mon., September 17: MHD: kinetic theory; Vlasov equation; Boltzmann collision term; Fokker-Planck equation.

10. Wed., 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.

11. Fri., September 21: MHD: fluid moments of the Boltzmann equation for a plasma.

12. Mon., September 24: MHD: fluid moments of the Boltzmann equation for a plasma; basics of MHD; magnetic pressure and tension.
    • Homework 2 due.
    • Homework 3 assigned, due Mon., October 8.

13. Wed., September 26: MHD: ideal and resistive MHD; magnetic pressure and tension.

14. Fri., 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.

15. Mon., October 1: Ideal MHD applications: potential and force-free fields.

16. Wed., October 3: Ideal MHD applications: potential and force-free fields; MHD waves.

17. Fri., October 5: Ideal MHD applications: MHD waves; MHD instabilities.

18. Mon., October 8: Ideal MHD applications: MHD instabilities.
    • Homework 3 due.

19. Wed., October 10: Resistive MHD: Braginskii transport coefficients.
    • Lecture notes (07) for resistive MHD, reconnection, and plasma physics beyond MHD.

20. Fri., October 12: Resistive MHD: Braginskii transport coefficients; magnetic reconnection.
    • Midterm exam review sheet

21. Mon., October 15: Survey of plasma physics "beyond MHD."

22. Wed., October 17: In-class midterm exam.

23. Fri., October 19: Dynamical processes: work, energy, and the Euler-Lagrange formalism.
    • Lecture notes (08) for Lagrangian dynamics and 2-body Keplerian motion.
    • Homework 4 assigned, due Fri., November 2.

24. Mon., October 22: Dynamical processes: the Euler-Lagrange formalism and Hamilton's principle.

25. Wed., October 24: Dynamical processes: 2-body Keplerian motion.

26. Fri., October 26: Dynamical processes: 2-body Keplerian motion, gas drag & migration.

27. Mon., October 29: Dynamical processes: restricted 3-body problem, Roche lobes.
    • Lecture notes (09) for the 3-body problem, Hill stability, resonances, and tides.

28. Wed., October 31: Dynamical processes: 3-body problem, Hill stability, orbital resonances.

29. Fri., November 2: Dynamical processes: collisions and conservative forces in N-body systems.
    • Lecture notes (10) for N-body stellar dynamics in galaxies and clusters.

30. Mon., November 5: Dynamical processes: collisions and conservative forces in N-body systems.
    • Homework 4 due.
    • Homework 5 assigned, due Mon., November 26.

31. Wed., November 7: Dynamical processes: collisionless orbits in large-scale potentials.

32. Fri., November 9: Dynamical processes: Boltzmann stellar dynamics; tensor & scalar

33. Mon., November 12: Dynamical processes: Boltzmann stellar dynamics; tensor & scalar virial theorem.

34. Wed., November 14: Radiation processes: defining the radiation field; equation of radiative transfer.
    • Lecture notes (11) for radiation processes: definitions, transfer, and gray atmospheres.

35. Fri., November 16: Radiation processes: defining the radiation field; equation of radiative transfer.

        [November 19-23: Fall Break, no classes.]

36. Mon., November 26: Radiation processes: solutions in useful limits; gray and irradiated atmospheres.
    • Homework 5 due.
    • Homework 6 assigned, due Fri., December 7.

37. Wed., November 28: Radiation processes: solutions in useful limits; gray and irradiated atmospheres.
    • Cranmer on travel (Columbia U. colloquium); Guest lecturer: A. Kowalski.

38. Fri., November 30: Radiation processes: beyond the gray atmosphere: non-LTE, non-gray, non-Eddington effects.
    • Lecture notes (12) for radiation processes: non-gray, non-LTE, spectral lines, ionization balance, irradiated atmospheres.

39. Mon., December 3: Radiation processes: beyond the gray atmosphere: non-LTE, non-gray, non-Eddington effects.
    • Final exam review sheet

40. Wed., December 5: Radiation processes: spectral line formation.

41. Fri., December 7: Radiation processes: nebular radiation fields & H II regions.
    • Homework 6 due.

42. Mon., December 10: Radiation processes: irradiated atmospheres & comets.
    • Cranmer on travel (Fall AGU Meeting); Guest lecturer: B. Brown.

43. Wed., December 12: In-class final exam.

        [December 14: Reading Day, December 15-19: Final Exam Week.]