Instructor:  Eliot Quataert (Astronomy Department, UC Berkeley)

Time & Place:   MW 10:30 - 12:00 in 501 Campbell Hall

Description

Gas dynamics is required to understand  many of the most interesting  problems in modern astrophysics:  e.g., the evolution of large scale structure and galaxy formation (at least the baryonic part),  star and planet formation, compact objects (BHs, NSs, and WDs), etc.  This course will explore the physics of hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics in an astrophysics context.   Although it is a graduate level course it does not presuppose previous exposure to gas dynamics.  The course will emphasize physical understanding, basic principles, and their applications to astrophysics problems.

Organization

Weekly lectures.  There will be regular problem sets.  Problem sets will include numerical calculations (e.g., solving ODEs).  There will be an oral final exam.  Your grade will be determined by your HW (70%) and final (30%).

A list of topics, including reading, can be found here.

Texts

The Physics of Astrophysics:  Gas Dynamics  by Frank Shu

This is the required text.  Additional references of possible use include

Fluid Mechanics by Landau & Lifshitz

Nothing on MHD, but a great presentation of fluid dynamics, particularly the basics.

Plasma Physics by Peter Sturrock

We will rather quickly cover material in the first 3-5 chapters.

Feynman Lectures on Physics:  Vol. II, Ch. 40 & 41

The Physics of Fluids and Plasmas by Arnab Raichoudhuri

Theoretical Astrophysics (3 Vol. Set) by Padmanabhan

James Graham's notes for 202
Roger Blandford and Kip Thorne's notes from their Caltech course on Applications of Classical Physics (see Ch.12-18)

This summary of differential operators in curvilinear coordinates is very useful.

Problem Sets