Fall 2007
Class Hours: 14:00 - 15:15 B&L 208B
Prof: Eric Blackman, Bausch &Lomb 417, 5-0537, blackman@pas.rochester.edu
Course Material and Texts:
This course is meant to sample the subject of High Energy Astrophysics.
Typically "High Energy Astrophysics" refers to processes or systems which involve one or more of the following: relativistic phenomena, X-ray emission, Gamma-Ray emission, jet flows, non-thermal particle acceleration, strong magnetic fields, ionized plasmas, compact objects, accretion flows, cosmology of the early universe.
1. Introduction to High Energy Astrophysics (X-ray, Gamma-Ray, and radio source detection)
2. Aspects of Stellar Evolution Relating to Compact Objects
3. Supernovae
4. Compact Objects (Black Holes, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars)
5. Galactic Center
6. Accretion/ Accretion Disks
7. Accretion in Binary Systems
8. Shocks
9. Cosmic Rays
10. Gamma-Ray Bursts
11. Solar Corona
12. Active Galactic Nuclei and Galaxy Clusters
This list means both the sources, their physics, and in some cases their influence on their enviroments, e.g. generating turbulence, magnetic fields, their role in cosmology, star formation etc.
Frontiers of High Energy Astrophysics (A. Fabian, K. Pounds, Blandford) (A good broad overview, collection of essays/articles of the sub fields of x-ray astronomy and high energy astrophysics from experts)
High Energy Astrophysics vol 1 and 2 (M. Longair) (out of date observatioanlly but good in terms of physical principles)
Exploring the X-ray Universe (P. Charles and F. Seward) (strong on X-ray binary phenomenology, weak on theoretical foundations)
Accretion Power in Astrophysics (J. Frank, A. King, D. Raine) (good book on theory of accretion disks)
OTHER BOOKS :
Radiative Processes (Rybicki and Lightman) (basic widely used text on radiative processes)
Modern Astrophysics (Carroll and Ostlie) (very good comprehensive survey of astrophysics intended for undergradates but useful at any level)
Active Galactic Nuclei (Krolik) (fills a niche not covered by other books)
Stellar Structure and Evolution (Kippenhahn and Weigert) (a standard text in stellar structure. good despite the font)
Theoretical Astrophysics (Padmanabhan) (3 volumes) (comprehensive theoretical treatment of many topics)
Black Holes, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars (S. Shapiro and S. Teukolsky) (a theoretically oriented book on some of the more high energy physics aspects of compact objects)
Coursework: This will be an informal and interactive course. It is important that you study the lecture notes to facilitate your immersion in the material and in class discussions. There will be some suggested homework problems and an end of term project in which you are to give a 1/2 hour or so presentation on a research problem in high energy astrophysics. The project should focus on a specific unsolved puzzle and address: (1) What is the puzzle? (2) What has been done on this problem? (3) How might his problem be solved?
The course is graded pass-fail.
EXAMPLE POSSIBLE PROJECT TOPICS
1. What might account for one or more of the X-ray mysteries of the Galactic center
2. What determines pulsar breaking index deviations from n=3?
3. What are "Fallback Accretion Disks" and why are they important?
4. What are Ultra Luminous X-ray Sources and why are they important?
5. What causes a supernova explosion and what is the role of angular momentum?
6. How do white dwarfs cool?
7. What have we learned from X-ray observations of Young Stellar Objects tell us?
8. Relativistic X-ray Iron line observations in Active Galactic Nuclei: what have we learned from them? 9..
Some Interesting Links:
On-Line Textbook by Katz on High Energy Astrophysics
Comparison of X-ray Telescopes Past and Future
Astronomy picture of the day archive .
Discovery of Spatial and Spectral Structure in the X-Ray Emission from the Crab Nebula !->y