CSI 661 / ASTR 530

1
Astrophysics
Review
Jie Zhang
CSI 661 / ASTR 530 Spring, 2009
2
Objectives

1. Understand the structure of stars from physical
   laws
2. Understand the evolution of stars from physical
   laws
3. Understand the stellar atmosphere and the
   observations

3
Content

• Ch01 Basic Physical Principles
• Virial Theorem
• Constant Density Model
• Molecular Weight and Abundance
• Dimensional Analysis
• Ch02 Overview of Stellar Evolution
• Pre-main Sequence Evolution
• Zero-age Main Sequence Star (ZAMS)
• Red Giants and Supergiants
• Helium Flash
• White Dwarfs and Supernovae

4
Content

• Ch03 Equations of State
• Distribution Function
• Blackbody Radiation
• Ideal Monatomic Gas
• Degenerate Gas
• Adiabatic Exponents and their Derivatives
• Mixtures of Ideal Gases and Radiation
• Ch04 Radiative and Conductive Heat Transfer
• Radiative Transfer Equation
• Radiation Diffusion Equation
• Opacity Sources Absorption coefficients
• Simple Atmosphere
• Eddington Luminosity or Eddington Limit

5
Content

• Ch05 Heat Transfer by Convection
• Mixing Length Theory
• Criteria for Convection
• Equation of Motion
• Convective Flux
• Ch06 Stellar Energy Sources
• Gravitational Energy Sources
• Thermonuclear Energy Source
• Thermonuclear Cross Sections and Reaction Rates
• PP Chains
• CNO Cycles

6
Content

• Ch07 Stellar Modeling
• Equations of Stellar Structures
• Polytropic Equations of State and Polytropes
• Ch09 Structure and Evolution of the Sun
• Evolution from the ZAMS
• Garys Photosphere (see handout)
• Observations
• Spectral Lines
• Line Absorption Coefficient