Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics (PHYS 390/590) is an interdisciplinary introduction to the theory of fluid dynamics for astrophysicists, physicists, and space scientists. The focus is on the physical and mathematical understanding of the governing equations of fluid mechanics and how they help us better understand various physical processes in nature and the universe.

Prerequisites

PHYS 260, PHYS 301 (or MATH 214)

A Brief Overview of Topics

Fluids in the universe
Mathematical preliminaries
Ideal fluids
Basic conservations laws and equations of fluid dynamics
Thermodynamics of fluids
Transport processes
Turbulence
Waves
Instabilities
Chaos
Modeling of fluid phenomena
Applications of fluid dynamics to space physics and astrophysics

What is Dynamics?

The branch of mechanics that studies the effects of forces on the motion of a body or system of bodies.

Applications of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics

Instabilities in astrophysical fluids
Convection
Differential rotation and meridional flows in stars
Stellar oscillations driven by convection, instabilities or tidal forcing
Astrophysical dynamos
Magnetospheres of stars, planets and black hole
Interacting binary stars and Roche-lobe overflow
Tidal disruption and stellar collisions
Supernovae
Planetary nebulae
Jets and winds from stars and discs
Star formation and the physics of the interstellar medium
Astrophysical discs, including protoplanetary discs, accretion discs in interacting binary stars and galactic nuclei, planetary rings, etc.
Other accretion flows (Bondi, Bondi–Hoyle, etc.)
Processes related to planet formation and planet–disc interactions
Planetary atmospheric dynamics (Atmopsheric wave, e.g., gravity wave, tides, planetary waves, Kelvin waves)
Galaxy clusters and the physics of the intergalactic medium
Cosmology and structure formation

Recommended books

The lecture notes will be self-contained, but the following books could be helpful

Carswell, Principles of Astrophysical Fluid dynamics (primary), Cambridge University Press
Kato, Fundamentals of astrophysical fluid dynamics
Batchelor, Introduction to fluid dynamics
Paterson, First course in fluid dynamics, Cambridge University Press
Berkshire et al., Introductory imcompressible fluid mechanics, Cambridge University Press
Eerten, Introduction to Fluid Dynamics in Physics and Astrophysics, CRC Press

Of course there are other good books and sources that are useful.

Multi-frequency image of the Crab Pulsar Wind Nebula by the Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, JPL-Caltech, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State Univ.), R. Gehrz (Univ. Minn.), and STScI