Readings for Astro 160: Stellar Physics
Books
I will not follow any book all that closely. There is
unfortunately no book that covers both the physics of stellar
structure, the physics of stellar evolution, and the physics of
compact objects at an appropriate level. It is thus very
important for you to attend lecture and take notes. In many
cases, I suspect that you will not be able to do the homework
problems based on the book material alone.
The primary book is The Physics of Stars by A.C. Phillips
Phillips does a great job of explaining the basic physics of stars.
It does not, however, go into sufficient depth on a number of
topics (e.g., convection). In addition, it has little to no
material on stellar evolution, although it does cover much of the
physics required to understand the evolution of
stars. For this, I will provide selected scanned
readings from An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and
Evolution by Dina Prialnik.
Less Technical References: The Physical Universe by Frank Shu
and Modern Astrophysics by Carroll & Ostlie
More Technical References: If you find yourself particularly
interested in some of this material, there are a number of excellent
more advanced books. Some of these are listed here in case you would
like to pursue certain topics in more detail.
Clayton, Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis
(particularly good for nuclear physics)
Kippenhahn & Weigert, Stellar Structure and Evolution (more
details for stellar evolution)
Shapiro & Teukolsky, Black Holes, White Dwarfs, & Neutron
Stars (compact objects)
Shu, Physics of Astrophyiscs Vol II: Gas Dynamics (some
hydrodynamics background)
Hansen & Kawaler, Stellar Interiors (the whole shebang)
Topics & Reading
This course will cover the observations
and physics of stars. Primary topics will include the structure of
self-gravitating objects, energy transport in stars, nuclear
fusion in stars, stellar evolution, the birth of compact objects,
and stellar oscillations. The
course will emphasize physical understanding and basic principles.
No previous coursework on stars is required. The course will
make significant use of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics,
quantum mechanics, and some aspects of fluid mechanics, but I will
try to review the key physics when necessary.
- Introduction and Overview -- Observations of stars;
structure formation and nucleosynthesis; outstanding problems
- 8/25:
Read all of Ch. 1 of Phillips, which provides an
excellent overview of some of the basic ideas that we will be
dealing with in this course. Don't worry about all of
the details or derivations for now -- I just want you to get a
feel for the material. This is particularly important
for those of you who have not taken a course on Stars before.
Ch. 1 of Prialnik is also a useful introduction.
- Force Balance in Stars -- Hydrostatic equilibrium; The Virial
Thm. for stars
- 8/30
& 9/1: Phillips Ch. 1.2 (hydrostatic
equilibrium & the virial theorem); 2.1 (ideal classical
gas); 2.3 (photon gas). See also 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2,
3.4, & 3.5 of Prialnik
- Energy Transport in Stars by Radiation & Conduction -- the
Eddington Limit; Thompson Scattering
- 9/6
& 9/8: Phillips 1.4 (excluding the fusion
section); 3.1. See also Prialnik 3.7 (after Exercise
3.3), 5.5
- Energy Transport in Stars by Convection -- Polytropes, Fully
Convective Stars, the Hayashi Line
- 9/13,
9/15
& 9/20: Phillips 3.2 & 3.3; Phillips is
particularly lacking details about this material, so also read
Prialnik 2.2 (the energy equation), 3.6 (adiabiticity), 6.5,
6.6 (convection), & 5.3 (polytropes)
- Star Formation & Pre-Main Sequence Evolution;
Kelvin-Helmholz Contraction
- 9/22:
Phillips 1.3 (excluding "conditions for stardom"); also
read Prialnik 12.1, 12.2
- Energy Generation in Stars: Nuclear Fusion, the pp
chain, & the CNO cycle
- 9/27,
9/29,
10/4, 10/6: Basic Physics of Fusion;
Phillips 1.4 (the fusion section), 1.5, 4.1, 4.2; we
will derive in more detail several of the results that
Phillips simply quotes; optional additional reading is
Prialnik 4.1-4.4.
- The Origin of the Main Sequence and the Minimum and Maximum
Masses of Stars
- 10/11,
10/13,
10/18, 10/25: Read Phillips 5.1 on equations of
stellar structure; 2.1 & 2.2 on ideal classical and
quantum (degenerate) gases; 5.4 on the min. & max.
masses of stars; optional reading in Prialnik is 5.1; 7.4
(section 7.4 is a slightly more formal way of motivating/using
the scaling arguments that I have been doing in lecture and
that you will do on the homework).
- Stellar Atmospheres and Stellar Spectral Types; the Boltzmann
& Saha Equations
- 10/27,
11/1: Phillips 2.4 & 2.5
- The Evolution of Low Mass Stars
- 11/3,
11/8: Prialnik 9.4 on Red Giants; also scan
9.5-9.7 on the AGB branch & mass-loss; Phillips 4.3 on He
Fusion
- 11/10:
Phillips 6.1 & 3.4
- Stellar Evolution in Massive Stars; Core-collapse Supernovae
(SN)
- 11/15:
Phillips 2.6 & 4.4; Prialnik 9.9
- 11/17,
11/22: Phillips 6.2; Prialnik 10.1-10.3
- 11/29
Phillips
6.3 & 6.4
- 12/1
Prialnik 10.4 &
p. 214 & 215