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Astronomy 601 - Fall 2009“Radiative Processes”InstructorProf. Massimo RicottiOffice: CSS 0213E-mail: [email protected]: (301) 405 5097Office hours: by appointmentClass web page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/∼ricotti/NEWWEB/teaching/ASTR601 09.htmlScheduleLectures on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30pm to 1:45pmRoom CSS 0201Course DescriptionThe emission, absorption and scattering of radiation by matter with astrophysical appli-cations. Emphasis on basic theory and problem-solving. (i) Radiative transfer: specificintensity, transfer equation, opacity, diffusion, scattering. (ii) Statistical mechanics of mat-ter and radiation: LTE, level populations, ra te equations. (iii) Electrodynamics: Maxwellequations, spectra of radiation, polarization, dipole and multipole radiation, Thompsonscattering. (iv) Plasma radiation: bremsstrahlung and synchrotron emission, Comptonscattering, EM wave propagation in plasmas. (v) Atomic and molecular radiation: energylevels, Einstein coefficients, oscillator strengths, line broadening.TextbooksRequired: The Physics of Astrophysics Volume I: Radiation by F.H. ShuRecommended: Radiative Processes in Astrophysics by G. Rybicki and A. LightmanCourse GradingHomework 50%Midterm Exam 20%Final Exam 30%There will be one in-class Midterm exam and an in-class Final (the dates o f t he exams areshown below in t he “Tentative course outline” section). Class participation is stronglyencouraged. Class attendance is instead required. Homework will be assigned every weekor every other week. Their due dates will be announced at the time they are assigned.On the due date the students will be expected to turn in their homework in class. Thehomework turned in will be graded a nd returned to the students. I will provide solutionsand discuss them in class.1Letter Grades85%-100% A70%-85% B55%-70% C40%-55% DI may rescale the gra des depending on the average class performance. Of course therescaling can only increase your final grade.Course EvaluationYour participation in the evaluation o f courses through CourseEvalUM is a responsibilityyou hold as a student member of our academic community. Your feedback is confidentialand imp ortant to the improvement of teaching and learning at the University as well as tothe tenure and promotion process. CourseEvalUM will be open for you to complete yourevaluations for fall semester courses between Tuesday, December 1 and Sunday, December13. Please go directly to the website (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) t o complete yourevaluations starting December 1. By completing all of your evaluations each semester,you will have the privilege of accessing online, at Testudo, the evaluation reports for thethousands of courses for which 70% or more students submitted their evaluations.Tentative Course Outline - 28 lectures & 2 examsA. Radiative transfer - 6 lectures1. Tu Sept 1: Radiation definitions; specific intensity, photon distribution function,occupation number, energy density, flux, momentum flux, radiation pressure (ShuCh. 1; R-L § 1.1-1.3)2. Th Sept 3: Equation of radiative transfer; emissivity and opacity, blackbody radi-ation, radiation thermodynamics, Stefan-Boltzmann law (Shu Ch. 1; R-L § 1.4-1.5)3. Tu Sept 8: Bose Einstein statistics; Planck spectrum; Rayleight-Jeans and Wienlimits, radiation constant, effective temperature, color temperature and brightnesstemperature ( Shu Ch. 1 ,2 ; R-L § 1.5)4. Th Sept 10: Moment equations; radiative diffusion approximation, Rosselandmean opacity, scattering and r andom walks (Shu Ch. 2; R-L § 1.7-1.8)5. Tu Sept. 15 : General solution of radiative transfer equation, source function,optically-thick and -thin limits, LTE, line formation, absorption and emission spec-tra, limb darkening (Shu Ch. 3; R-L § 1.4)6. Th Sept. 17: Plane-parallel atmospheres: radiative equilibrium, grey opacity,Eddington a pproximation (Shu Ch. 4; R-L § 1 .8 )B. Statistical Mechanics of matter and radiation - 5 lectures1. Tu Sept 22: Statistical mechanics, definitions of entropy, temperature, chemicalpotential, pressure, g r and canonical partition function (Gibbs sum), Thermodynam-2ics: thermodynamic identity, grand potential, entropy (Shu Ch. 6; R- L § 1.5)2. Th Sept 24: Quantum statistical mechanics: Fermion and Boson partition func-tions, grand potentials, occupation numbers (Shu Ch. 6; R-L § 1.5)3. Tu Sept 29: Statistical equilibria: reaction equilibrium, Boltzmann law fo r inter-nal level populations, Saha equation fo r ionization state populations, free particlepartition functions, application to partial ionization and absorption line strengths(Shu Ch. 7; R- L § 9.5)4. Th Oct 1: R ate equations and detailed balance, Einstein A and B coefficients,relations to emissivity, absorption opacity, cross-section, oscillator strength ( ShuCh. 8; R-L § 1.6)5. Tu Oct 6: Collisional processes: rate coefficients, Einstein relations, radiationtransfer in moving media, Sobolev (LVG) approximation, thick and thin limits,photon trapping and escape probability (Shu Ch. 9)C. Classical Electrodynamics - 7 lectures1. Th Oct 8: Maxwell equations, vacuum electromagnetic wave equations, planeparallel waves, EM energy and momentum flux [Poynting vector and Maxwell stresstensor] (Shu Ch. 11; R-L § 2.1-2.2)2. Tu Oct 13: Fourier spectra of radiation, elliptically polarized waves (Shu Ch. 12;R-L § 2.3-2.4)3. Th Oct 15: Midterm exam4. Tu Oct 20: Stokes parameters and polarization, application to dust polarization(Shu Ch. 12; R-L § 2.4)5. Th Oct 22: EM wave equation with sources, scalar and vector potent ia ls, gaugetransformations, retarded pot entials (Shu Ch. 13; R-L § 2.5 )6. Tu Oct 27: Green’s function solutions for inhomogeneous wave equations, singleparticle (Lienard-Wiechert) retarded potential (Shu Ch. 13; R-L § 3.1-3.2)7. Th Oct 29: Wave zone, electric dipole radiation, radiation reaction, Thomsonscattering Rayleigh scattering (Shu Ch. 14; R-L § 3.3-3.6)8. Tu Nov 3: Multipole radiation: magnetic dipole, electric quadrupole, permittedand forbidden transitions (Shu Ch. 15; R-L Ch. 5)D. Plasma radiation and transfer - 5 lectures1. Th Nov 5: Thermal Bremsstrahlung (Shu Ch. 15; R-L Ch. 5)2. Tu Nov 10: Compton scattering (R-L Ch. 7)3. Th Nov 12: Radiation from relativistic charges (Shu Ch. 16, 17; R-L Ch. 4)4. Tu Nov 17: Synchro tr on radiation (Shu Ch. 18, 19; R-L Ch. 6)5. Th Nov 19: EM waves in plasmas, dispersion, Fara day rotat io n (Shu Ch. 20; R-LCh. 8)6. Tu Nov 24: Electromagnetic Hamiltonian (Shu Ch. 21; R-L §


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UMD ASTR 601 - Syllabus

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