Solens och Stjärnornas atmosfärer (Stellar Atmospheres)

Solens och Stjärnornas atmosfärer (Stellar Atmospheres), 5p HT 2003

The course will be given in English. Room: 63416

Lecturer: Paul Barklem (Room 63121, Ph 471 5981), Tutor: Michelle Mizuno-Wiedner (Room 63406, Ph 471 5992).

Course Description

The vast majority of light in the universe originates from stars. Therefore, understanding of stellar atmospheres is the basis of interpretation for virtually all astronomical observations. Almost every type of analysis, from age determination of a star in the solar neighbourhood to determining the chemical composition of distant galaxies, requires understanding of stellar atmospheres. This course deals with analysis and modelling of such atmospheres. Includes fundamental observations, physical phenomena, modelling and comparison with observations.

Course Literature

Gray, D.F. The observation and analysis of stellar photospheres, Cambridge University Press 1992.
(Copies are in the observatory library. Buy directly from Cambridge or compare prices elsewhere with pricerunner. Be sure to get the corrections.)
R. J. Rutten, Lecture notes on Radiative Transfer in Stellar Atmospheres
(Photocopies can be purchased from us. Don't worry about downloading and printing these huge files yourself.)

Course requirements

3 Problem Sets
The problem sets will count for a bonus of up to 10% on the final exam, minus 1% per day for late submissions.
Problem Set 1 in PDF
Problem Set 2 in PDF
Problem Set 3 in PDF
To read PDF files you will need Adobe Acroread.
2 Computer Labs
Both lab reports must be submitted before sitting the final exam.
Lab 1 in PDF, Lab 1 in Latex
Lab 2 in PDF, Lab 2 in Latex
1 Written Final Exam

Schedule

Day	Date	Time	Class	Please turn in
Tuesday	Aug. 26	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 1: Introduction	---
Tuesday	Sep. 2	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 2: Radiative transfer	---
Tuesday	Sep. 9	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 3: Opacity	Problem set 1
Tuesday	Sep. 16	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 4: Macrophysics	---
Tuesday	Sep. 23	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 5: Line formation	Problem Set 2
Tuesday	Sep. 30	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 6: Stellar temperatures and gravities	Problem Set 3
Tuesday	Oct. 7	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 7: Chemical composition	---
Tuesday	Oct. 14	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 8: Stellar winds	---
Tuesday	Oct. 21	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 9: More realistic models	Lab report 1
Tuesday	Oct. 28	10:15 - 12:00	Lecture 10: Observations	Lab report 2
Tuesday	Nov. 3	10:15 - 12:00	FINAL EXAM

Useful links

Paul Barklem

Michelle Mizuno

Last modified: Tue Sep 2 12:20:00 MEST 2003