Astronomy 498: High Energy AstrophysicsInstructor:Professor: Cole Miller, CSS 1239, (301) 405-1037, miller at astro.umd.eduOffice hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00 to 3:00 PM or by appointment.Class web page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/∼miller/teaching/astr498I will post lecture notes a few days before each class, and assume you have read thembefore the actual lecture.Schedule:Lectures on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 1:45, CSS 2428.Textbooks:Required: Introduction to High-Energy Astrophysics by Rosswog and Br¨uggen.Potentially useful: my notes from graduate high-energy astrophysics,http://www.astro.umd.edu/∼miller/teaching/astr680/andhttp://www.astro.umd.edu/∼miller/teaching/astr688m/Course GradingHomework 30%Midterm Exam 25%Final Exam 40%Class Participation 5%Feel free to discuss homework with other students, but you must work out and write upthe solutions yourself. Each problem in the homework and in the exams will be graded on afour-point scale. Approximately half of the credit will be for demonstrated understandingof the physical issues and/or equations associated with each problem, and half for correctsolution of the problems. If you come up with an answer that is obviously incorrect(e.g., a velocity 1000 times the speed of light!), but correctly say why it is incorrect andapproximately what the right answer is, you will get partial credit. For some of theproblems (which will be marked clearly), to get full credit you will also need to showthat your answer has the correct limits, symmetry, etc. as dictated by the problem. Themidterm and final will both be in-class, and we can negotiate whether they are open-bookor closed-book. The final exam will be cumulative.Homework will be assigned approximately every two weeks, on Thursdays. The home-work will be due at the beginning of class two Thursdays later, and I will return the so-lutions and graded homework to you by the following Tuesday. The reason I want you toturn in your homework at the beginning of class is so that you can absorb the content ofthat lecture instead of worrying about the problems! I will therefore enforce this policystrictly, and will take off points for, e.g., homework turned in at the end of class.Class participation will be determined by attendance and by participation duringclasses; I will ask many questions during class, and although I don’t expect you to get the“right” answer every time I do want you to try.Letter GradesI will guarantee that you will receive no worse than the following letter grades for a givenpercentage of the total available points:85%–100% A70%–85% B55%–70% C40%–55% DI may grade on a curve if the class average is significantly lower than suggested by thetable. There will be no extra credit.Late Policy and Make-Up PolicyPartial credit for late homework assignments may be given if you give me a validand documented reason by the Tuesday before the assignment is due. No credit will begiven for homework turned in after the beginning of the following class on Tuesday, becausesolutions and graded homeworks will be handed out then. If you cannot make the midtermor the final exam, then we can arrange a different time if you tell me at least a week beforethe exam (to be fair to other students, the alternate time should be before the scheduledtime).Tentative Course OutlineJan 29: Overview, astrophysical problem solving.Jan 31–Feb 5: Special relativity (book, chapter 1).Feb 7–12: Radiation particle processes (book, chapter 3).Feb 14: Homework #1 dueFeb 14–19: Cosmic rays.Feb 21–Mar 4: General relativity.Feb 28: Homework #2 dueMar 6: Basics of accretion disks (book, chapter 2).Mar 11: Midterm.Mar 13: Homework #3 dueMar 13: Introduction to black holesMar 18–20: No class; spring breakMar 25–Apr 1: Black holes (book, chapter 8 for AGN).Apr 3: Homework #4 dueApr 3–8: Neutron stars (book, chapter 5).Apr 10: Accretion disks around NS and BH (book, chapter 6).Apr 15–17: Supernovae (book, chapter 4).Apr 17: Homework #5 dueApr 22–24: Gamma-ray bursts (book, chapter 7).Apr 29–May 8: Gravitational waves.May 8: Homework #6 dueMay 13: Summary and class-driven questionsMay 20, 1:30-3:30 PM: Final