PHYS 554
Professor: Sanjay Reddy
Time: Wed & Fri 12.30 -1.50 pm
Rm: PAA A114
Office hours: Mon 1-2 pm in PAB C423
The course will describe nuclear and neutrino processes that underlie astrophysical objects (stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars) and phenomena (supernovae and other transient and explosive astrophysical phenomena).
The course includes an introduction to basic nuclear and neutrino physics and elementary statistical mechanics.
Prerequisites: There are no graduate-level prerequisites. Undergraduate quantum mechanics and statistical physics will suffice.
Course Outline:
1. Preliminaries.
1.0) Units, dimensions, and estimates.
1.1) Elementary statistical mechanics: Distribution functions, Fermi gases, equation of state, heat capacity, sound speed.
1.2) Neutrinos & weak interactions: Neutron and muon decay, neutrino flavor, neutrino oscillations in vacuum.
1.3) Nuclei as droplets of nuclear matter: Nuclear matter, liquid drop model, pairing.
1.4) Nuclear shell model and structure: Shell effects, nuclear masses, magic numbers and stability, elemental abundances.
2. Nuclear reactions and Nucleosynthesis.
2.0) Elementary aspects of nuclear reactions.
2.1) Big Bang nucleosynthesis: nuclear reactions in the early universe.
2.2) Nuclear reactions in stars: pp chain, CNO cycle, 3α reaction, and 12C(α,γ)
2.3) Nuclear reactions under extreme conditions and the r-process.
2.4) Unstable nuclear burning, type I supernova, and x-ray bursts.
3. Supernova and Neutron Stars.
3.0) Equation of state and hydrostatic equilibrium of degenerate stars.
3.1) Chandrashekar mass and core collapse.
3.2) Supernova energetics and thermodynamics.
3.3) Dense nucleon matter.
3.4) Neutron star structure.
4. Neutrinos in Astrophysics.
4.0) Neutrino production in stars.
4.1) Solar neutrinos.
4.2) Neutrino oscillations in matter.
4.3) Neutrino cooling.
4.4) Neutrinos and nucleosynthesis.