Topics
Below is a wish list of topics to be covered in this course. Next to each topic there are references to the sections of the relevant textbooks where the materials are covered (see list of textbooks in the syllabus).
Preamble
We Study Astronomical Objects Mostly by Detecting and Analyzing The Radiation They Emit
Example: ISM of the Milky Way and Other Galaxies
Recap of Useful Math
Recap of Handy Physics
Kinetic Theory and Fundamentals of Statistical Mechanics
Thermal Equilibrium in Hot Astrophysical Plasmas and Nebulae
Establishing Thermal Equilibrium via Collisions
Kinetic Theory, Statistical Mechanics, and the Pressure Integral
Classical Thermodynamics and the Equation of State
“Fermiology” and Degeneracy Pressure
Radiative Transfer
Description and Properties of the Radiation Field
The Radiative Transfer Equation
Blackbody Radiation (radiative transfer meets statistical mechanics)
Random Walk of a Photon Through an Electron Cloud
Scattering in the Context of the Radiative Transfer Equation
The Rosseland and Eddington Approximations for Radiative Diffusion
Overview of Electrodynamics
Math Preamble: Cartesian Tensor Notation
Review of Equations of Electrodynamics
Plane Electromagnetic Waves in Vacuum
Electromagnetic Potentials
Radiation from Moving Charges
Retarded Potentials for Single Moving Charges
Radiation Fields and Their Relation to Velocity
Radiation from Non-Relativistic Particles
Special Relativity
Review of Lorentz Transformations
Consequences of Lorentz Transformations
(Apparent) Superluminal Motion
Cartesian Tensor Notation and Formalism
Covariant Electrodynamics
Maxwell’s Equations in Covariant Form
Emission from Relativistic Particles
Invariant Phase Volumes and Specific Intensity
Continuum Radiation Processes
Bremsstrahlung
Synchrotron
(Inverse) Compton Scattering
Plasmas, (Magneto-)Hydrodynamics,
Shocks, and Waves
Plasmas
Fundamentals of Hydrodynamics
Shock Fronts
Hydromagnetic Waves