Faculty of Science

Theoretical Astrophysics
Provider: Faculty of Science

Activity no.: 5893-19-11-31
	Enrollment deadline: 02/09/2019

Place

Niels Bohr Institute

Date and time

02.09.2019, at: 00:00 - 15.11.2019, at: 00:00

Regular seats

ECTS credits

7.50

Contact person

Julie Meier E-mail address: juliemh@nbi.ku.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser

Martin Elias Pessah E-mail address: mpessah@nbi.ku.dk

Semester/Block

Block 1

Scheme group

Exam form

Continuous assessment

Exam form

Written examination, 4 hours under invigilation

Exam aids

Only certain aids allowed

Grading scale

7 point grading scale

Exam re-examination

A 4-hour written exam will count for 2/3 of the final grade. 1/3 of the grade will be based on the weekly assignments that are to be handed in during the course. The assignments cannot be re-submitted. This means that it will only be possible to acheive up to 2/3 of the maximum grade without following the course again, if the assignments were not sumitted.

Course workload

Course workload category	Hours
Lectures	28.00
Exercises	28.00
Preparation	146.00
Exam	4.00

Sum	206.00

Aim and content

This fundamental course provides an overview of some of the most important astrophysical processes that shape the evolution, and observational properties, of astrophysical systems, from planets to stars, and from supermassive black holes to entire galaxies. The course is strongly recommended for all students starting at the M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels in preparation for their further study and research in any area of astrophysics, including planetary sciences and cosmology. We will cover the basic equations, learn how to solve them, and understand their implications. This course will provide students with a wide range of interests in observational, theoretical, or computational astrophysics with a valuable toolkit to become more competent researchers.

The aim of this course is to bring together several key concepts in physics and build upon them in order to understand some of the most important processes in astrophysics. This is crucial in order to understand the formation and evolution of a wide range of astrophysical systems. This is a demanding task that is possible to accomplish by attending the lectures and investing the time in doing the weekly homework assignments. This course has been designed in such a way that lectures and weekly assignments come together to achieve the goals sets forth.

Content: This course gives an introduction to, and builds upon, the following subjects:
•Order of magnitude astrophysics, fundamental concepts and equations
•Radiative processes: basic radiative transfer, absorption, scattering
•Hydrodynamics: fundamental equations, waves, instabilities, shocks
•Magnetohydrodynamics: fundamental equations, waves, instabilities
•Gravity: virial theorem for N-body and gases, self-gravitating fluids
•Astrophysical flows: basic properties of disks, jets, and winds

Formel requirements

Students will benefit from being acquainted with basic concepts in Calculus, Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics. Knowledge about fluid dynamics is welcome but not essential. Students who would like to take the course but could benefit from brushing up their knowledge in these and related subjects are encouraged to contact M. Pessah in advance in order to discuss useful reading material toward this end.

Learning outcome

Skills:
When the course is finished it is expected that the student is able to:
•Identify the physical processes involved in a given astrophysical setting
•Carry out order of magnitude calculations to support physical intuition
•Solve basic problems involving radiative transfer, wave propagation, instabilities, and shocks in hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics.

Knowledge:
When the course is finished it is expected that the student is able to:
•Explain the basic astrophysical processes covered by the course content
•Explain how these processes act together to dictate the dynamics of astrophysical flows such as self-gravitating fluids, disk, winds, and jets.

Competences:
This course will endow the students with a powerful set of tools that will allow them to work more confidently on a wide variety of subjects in astrophysics. The competences acquired in this course are a valuable complement to those obtained in observational and phenomenological astrophysics courses. These competences are an indispensable asset for students wishing to pursue studies in any branch of astrophysics. This course provides the students with the background knowledge to pursue research in this field and is an excellent preparation for a M.Sc. project.

Teaching and learning methods

The lectures will usually be given in the blackboard. There will be a total of 6 or 7 non-mandatory assignemnts, i.e., students that choose not to hand in the assignments can still take the exam. However, investing the time in doing these exercises is considered to be a crucial part of the learning experience for this course and they do carry 1/3 of the final grade. Most of the exercises will be analytical and there could be some computer exercises that could be done using Matlab, Mathematica, Python, or other program or language that the students find useful.

Lecturers

Martin Pessah, 35 32 53 12, Bygning B, 01-1-Bb6
Oliver Gressel
Tobias Heinemann

Workload

Lectures: 28 hours
Exercises: 28 hours
Preparation: 146 hours
Exam: 4 hours

Remarks

Type of assessment: Continuous assessment

Written examination, 4 hours under invigilation

The final grade will be based on two components:
(i) weekly homework assignments (1/3 of the final grade)
(ii) 4-hour written exam (2/3 of the final grade)

Aid: Only certain aids allowed
- Class notes provided by Lecturer in Absalon
- Class notes taken by students in class
- Pocket calculator
- List of physical constants and astronomical data (provided)

7-point grading scale
No external censorship ; several internal examiners

Re-exam:
A 4-hour written exam will count for 2/3 of the final grade. 1/3 of the grade will be based on the weekly assignments that are to be handed in during the course. The assignments cannot be re-submitted. This means that it will only be possible to acheive up to 2/3 of the maximum grade without following the course again, if the assignments were not sumitted.

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