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FFYS4346 Astrophysics II

Spring Term 2005


Week 1: General Introduction

From the Big Bang to Stars and Galaxies
Properties of Galaxies
Star Formation
Properties of Stars

and ... a quick guide to GNUPLOT

Lecture 1 in | html | pdf |

Black body radiation

The electromagnetic spectrum
Space based astronomy
Black body radiation

Lecture 2 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |


Week 2 : Bremsstrahlung radiation

Radiation from accelerated charges in electric fields
Bremsstrahlung radiation
Bremsstrahlung cooling
Case study, NGC 1275 in the Perseus cluster

Lecture 3 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

Synchrotron radiation

Radiation from accelerated charges in magnetic fields
Synchrotron beaming and the synchrotron spectrum
Synchrotron cooling
Case study : the Crab nebula

Lecture 4 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

Week 3 : Hearts of darkness

This week's lectures were about an X-ray source, GRO J1655-40, discovered by NASA's Gamma Ray Observatory, which we followed up in detail and turns out to be a good low-mass black hole candidate.

Lecture 4A in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

Here is a link to the paper we discussed , showing a basic model for the source

Here are some links on evidence for black holes you might be interested in looking into:

Evidence for black hole event horizons

Radio observations of Jets very close to a black hole

Hubble images of optical emission near a black hole

Massive black holes now can be found in the cores of most galaxies

Evidence for a black hole in the core of M87


Week 4 : Radiative case studies

This week we look at a bunch of sources emitting synchrotron, bremsstrahlung and/or blackbody. The sources include supernova remnants, the giant planets, nearly normal galaxies and HII regions. In the second lecture this week we went through the answers to the questions from Week 3.

Lecture 4B in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |


Week 5 : Accretion disks

This week we look at the basics of accretion; and look at a few case studies to show their usefulness! Recent X-ray observations of the inner edges of accretion disks may offer new tests for very strong gravity near black holes.

N.B. There is no demonstration this Wednesday!

You are very welcome to come and hear our guest at Tuorla speak on Thursday about dark matter candidates.

Lecture 6 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |


Week 6 : Midterm exam

The exam is on Monday 7th March, 10:00 am to 12:00 am.

Lecture materials, calculators, reference books etc are permitted.

In the second lecture this week we'll go through the exam results and catch up on answers to exercises from week 4 (lecture 4B), and week 5 (if we get that far)!


Week 7 : Photon scattering

This week we look at Thomson and Compton scattering.

Lecture 7 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

In the second of this week's lectures look at some examples of comptonisation in detail. We look at the re-heating of the Universe, radio lobes of Galaxies and the comptonisation of cosmic background photons.

Lecture 8 in | html | pdf | gzipped ps |


Week 8 : Pulsars

This week we looked at pulsars. The notes are from the excellent book by Kraus on radio astronomy; if you need a copy ask me in class.

Here are some links of interest

Basic info from the Goddard space flight center

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html

The sounds of Pulsars

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~pulsar/Education/Sounds/sounds.html

Tutorial on Radio Pulsars, in much more detail than covered in the lecture

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~pulsar/tutorial/tut/tut.html

An essay by S. Jocelyn Bell Burnell

http://www.bigear.org/vol1no1/burnell.htm


Week 9 : Items from an astro grab-bag

This week we look at anti-matter, gravitational waves and the big bang. Here are the lectures:

Anti-matter in astrophysics | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

The second lecture this week is on gravitational radiation: sources thereof and the exciting possibility that it will be detected directly in the near future...

Gravity waves and their detection | html | pdf | gzipped ps |

... and we looked at the Big Bang, including the microwave background, the production of the light elements, dark matter and inflation...

The Big Bang | html | pdf | gzipped ps |


Week 10 : Endings

This week we wrap up the course and have the final exam. We'll review the course material in the first lecture, and have the final exam in the second. If we have time, we might take a look at the fate of the Universe.