Readings
and Links for Stellar Structure
Books
I will not follow any text all that closely. Note that none
of the texts are in the bookstore so you need to
order from
Amazon or something equivalent. The books are also available in the
Astronomy Department Library.
The primary book is Hansen & Kawaler (HK), Stellar Interiors
Additional Refs:
Clayton (C), Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis
(particularly good for nuclear physics)
Phillips (P), The Physics of Stars (good upper level undergrad text)
Kippenhahn & Weigert (KW), Stellar Structure and Evolution (more
details for stellar evolution)
Shapiro & Teukolsky, Black Holes, White Dwarfs, & Neutron Stars
(compact objects)
Shu, Physics of Astrophyiscs Vol II: Gas Dynamics (some hydrodynamics
background)
If you are not that familiar with stellar astrophysics, I encourage you
to read Ch. 1 of Phillips for an overview; this will
provide some useful context for where we are going in this course.
Topics
1. Introduction and Overview; observations of stars; structure
formation and nucleosynthesis; outstanding problems (rotation, magnetic
fields, supernovae, ...)
2. Hydrostatic equilibrium; Virial Thm. for stars; Kelvin Helmholtz
contraction
- HK Ch. 1; you may also want to read HK Ch. 3 or P Ch. 2
for relevant thermodynamics background
3. Energy transport by radiation (and conduction); deriving the
luminosity of stars independent of the energy source; Eddington models;
polytropes; opacity sources
- HK Ch. 4, 7.2 (you can skip all the numerically oriented
material); P Ch 3.1
- Opacity Tables
4. Energy transport by convection; why energy transport is via
convection in the outer part of the sun; mixing length theory; fully
convective stars; Hayashi track; pre-main sequence evolution
- for the basics of convection and MLT, HK is too detailed for
my taste; instead read P 3.2 and Shu Ch. 8 and 10; for fully convective
stars and the Hayashi track, read HK 7.3.3
- See Bob Stein's homepage
for a number of interesting results on simulations of solar convection
- Nice review on
simulations of solar convection from the mid 1990s (Stein &
Nordlund)
- Nice historical
discussion of pre main sequence evolution w/ simple physics
elucidated (Stahler)
5. Thermonuclear fusion in stars; the hydrogen burning main sequence;
CNO vs. pp; the origin of the HR diagram; the minimum and maximum
masses of stars
- A good introduction to some basic nuclear physics is available in
Ch. 3
of this Nuclear Chemistry text.
- Fusion is covered in Ch. 6 of HK, particularly 6.1, 6.2.1-6.2.4,
6.3, 6.4 (we will discuss the other parts of Ch. 6 on He, C, O,
burning, n capture, etc., when we discuss stellar evolution).
- HK skips over some of the details, most of which are in Clayton
Ch. 4 & 5. In particular, 4.1-4.5 (4.5 is the tunneling
calculation), 5.1-5.4 on pp-chain and CNO. Ch. 4 is very clear
and covers some of the essentials that HK doesn't. Ch. 5 goes
into many details of the various reaction chains (pp, CNO, He burning,
...) and includes an extensive discussion of calculating the
equilibrium # of reactants, which we really did not really discuss much
in class.
6. Stellar atmospheres and stellar spectral types; Saha equation
- HK 3.1 & 3.4; also 1-2 in Clayton (particularly towards the
end of this section); I also like Phillip's treatment in 2.4 & 2.5
7. Low mass stellar evolution; the Schonberg-Chandresekhar limit; the
red giant
branch; He burning and the He flash; AGB stars
- HK Ch. 2; KW has more details; see Ch. 29, 30, & 32 (low mass
stars) and Ch. 31, 33 (early evolution of high mass stars)
- He fusion is in HK 6.5 & Clayton 5-5
8. White dwarfs; R(M); Chandrasekhar mass; WD cooling
- HKT 3.5, 7.28, Ch. 10 (if you have the first edition, Ch. 10
-> Ch. 9)
- Shapiro & Teukolsky, Ch. 3 & 4
9. Advanced stages of
burning in massive stars; stellar core collapse & supernovae;
explosive
nucleosynthesis during SN; nucleosynthesis beyond Iron
10. Neutron Stars; structure and properties
11. Stellar seismology: stability of stars & precision tests of
stellar structure
12. Advanced Topics (Presentations)
- Stellar mass loss; thermally and radiatively driven winds;
stellar spindown
- The rotational evolution of stars (connection to pulsar spin,
GRBs, ...)
- Simulations of solar convection and differential rotation
- Magnetic field generation; solar magneto-convection; stellar
coronae and coronal heating
- Star Formation and pre main sequence evolution (T Tauri etc.)
- Stellar “Feedback” (the impact of stars on gas in galaxies and in
the intergalactic medium; galactic winds)
- Chemical Evolution of the Galaxy and the Universe
- The Formation of the First (zero metallicity)
Stars
- Planetary Nebulae (mass loss, morphologies, ...)
- The structure and evolution of brown dwarfs and giant planets
- Classical Novae & X-ray bursts (unstable nuclear fusion on
the surfaces of accreting WDs & NSs)
- Type 1a Supernova (physics/observations, not use as cosmological
probes)
- Long-duration gamma-ray bursts and connection to core-collapse
SN
- White Dwarf Cooling and the Age of the Galaxy
- HR Diagrams for globular clusters (main sequence turnoff, blue
stragglers, ...)
- White Dwarf Seismology
- NS Equations of State, Masses, & Radii
- Supernova 1987A (remnant morphology, neutrinos)
- Solar Neutrinos
- Helioseismology (pick a subtopic)
- Pycnonuclear Reactions ("Cold Fusion")