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
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Black body radiation
The electromagnetic spectrum
Space based astronomy
Black body radiation
Lecture 2 in
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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... and we looked at the Big Bang, including the
microwave background, the production of the light
elements, dark matter and inflation...
The Big Bang
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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.