AST 453 Introduction to Stellar Interiors and Stellar Atmospheres

Credit Hours: 4
Prerequisite: PHY 407, PHY 408, PHY 418, in the past or concurrently

A first course on stellar interiors and atmospheres in which approximately 50 percent of a semester is devoted to each. See AST 450 and AST 553 for full-fledged courses.

syllabus

A. Stellar Interiors

1. Hydrostatic equilibrium. The Virial theorem. Energy generation and transport.
2. Overview of stellar evolution. PMS Evolution. Main sequence evolution. Late evolution. Evolution in Close Binary systems.
3. Stellar modelling (in part). The approach to real models.

B. Stellar Atmospheres

1. Basic Radiative Transphere. Transport Equation. Eddington-Barbier approximation. Line and continuum transfer in LTE.
2. Radiative Transfer in Static Plane-Parallel Stars. Exponential integrals and the Schwarzshild-Milne equations. Lambda, Phi and Chi operators. Various Eddington approximations.
3. Atmospheres of Static Plane-Parallel Stars. Pressure stratification. Temperature stratification. Radiative equilibrium. Gray-atmosphere approximation.
4. Spectra from Static Plane-Parallel Stars. Line broadening mechanisms. Spectral line formation.

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