Mathematical Physics
Final Honours and Diploma
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Astrophysics

Brian Dolan

Textbooks:

1. B. Carroll and D. Ostlie: An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Addison-Wesley (1996) 523.01 CAR

2. A.C. Phillips: The Physics of Stars, 2nd edition, Wiley (1994)523.8 PHI
3. R. Bowers and and T. Deeming: Astrophysics I+II, Jones and Bartlett (1984) 523.01 BOW
4. S.L. Shapiro and S.A. Teukolsky: Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: the physics of compact objects, Wiley (1983) 523.01 SHA
5. A. Liddle: An Introduction to Modern Cosmology, Wiley (1998) 523.1 LID
6. S. Weinberg: The First Three Minutes, Basic Books (1994) 523.12 WEI

Topics:

1. Overview of the Universe
2. Stellar formation and stellar structure
3. Degenerate Stars: white dwarves, neutron stars and black-holes
4. Binary systems
5. Galactic structure and evolution
6. Cosmology and the early Universe
7. Astro-particle physics

&#&     #     height 6pt &&&& &Quantity&Symbol & Value & height 6pt&&&& height 8pt&&&& &Speed of light (in vacuum)& $c$ & $299\ 792\ 458\ m\ s^{-1}$ (exact)& height 2pt&&&& &Newton's constant & G & $6.673\times 10^{-11}\ kg^{-1}\ m^3\ s^{-2}$ & height 2pt&&&& &Planck's constant & $h$ & $6.626\times 10^{-34}\ J\ s$& height 2pt&&&& &Electron charge (magnitude)& $e$ & $1.602\times 10^{-19}\ C$& height 2pt&&&& &Electric permittivity (vacuum)& $\epsilon_0={1\over\mu_0 c^2}$ & $8.854\times 10^{-12} \ C^2\ N^{-1}\ m^{-2}$& height 2pt&&&& &Magnetic permeability (vacuum)& $\mu_0$ & $4\pi\times 10^{-7} \ N\ s^2\ C^{-2}$& height 2pt&&&& &Fine structure constant & $\alpha={e^2\over 2\epsilon_0h c}$ & $7.297\times 10^{-3}$& height 2pt&&&& &Thompson cross-section& $\sigma_T$ & $6.652 \times 10^{-29}\ m^2$& height 2pt&&&& &Electron mass& $m_e$ & $9.109\times 10^{-31}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Proton mass& $m_p$ & $1.673\times 10^{-27}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Atomic mass unit (mass of $^{12}C$ atom)$/12$ & $a.m.u.$ & $1.661\times 10^{-27}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Boltzmann's constant & $k_B$ & $1.381\times 10^{-23}\ J\ K^{-1}$& height 2pt&&&& &Stefan-Boltzmann constant & $\sigma_{SB}$ & $5.670\times 10^{-8}\ J\ s^{-1}\ m^{-2}\ K^{-4}$& height 2pt&&&& &Avagardo's number & $N_A$ & $6.022\times 10^{23}\ mol^{-1}$& height 8pt&&&& height 8pt&&&& &Earth mass & $M_{\oplus }$ & $5.97\times 10^{24}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Earth radius (equatorial)& $R_{\oplus }$ & $6.38\times 10^3\ km$& height 2pt&&&& &Lunar mass & $M_{\hbox{\astro\char 10}}$ & $7.35\times 10^{22}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Lunar radius & $R_{\hbox{\astro\char 10}}$ & $1.74\times 10^3\ km$& height 2pt&&&& &Earth-Moon distance (mean) & $d_{\oplus -\raise -1pt\hbox{\astro\char 10}}$ & $3.84\times 10^5\ km$& height 2pt&&&& &Earth-Sun distance (mean)& $d_{\oplus -\odot }$ & $1.50\times 10^8\ km$& height 2pt&&&& &Solar mass & $M_{\odot }$ & $1.99\times 10^{30}\ kg$& height 2pt&&&& &Solar radius (equatorial)& $R_{\odot }$ & $6.961\times 10^5\ km$& height 2pt&&&& &Solar luminosity& $L_{\odot }$ & $3.85\times 10^{26}\ J\ s^{-1}$& height 8pt&&&& height 8pt&&&& &Temperature of microwave background & $T_0$ & $2.725\pm 0.002\lq K$& height 2pt&&&& &Hubble constant& $H_0$ & $72\pm 5\ km\ s^{-1}\ Mpc^{-1}$& & $(H_0=100h \ km\ s^{-1}\ Mpc^{-1}$& $h$ & $0.72 \pm 0.02)$ & height 2pt&&&& &Critical density & $\rho_c={3H_0^2\over 8\pi G}$ & $1.88 \times 10^{-26} h^2\ kg\ m^{-3}$& height 2pt&&&& &Baryon density & $\Omega_b=\rho_b/\rho_c$ & $0.044\pm 0.004$& height 2pt&&&& &Cold dark matter density & $\Omega_m=\rho_m/\rho_c$ & $0.27\pm 0.04$& &Total density & $\Omega_{tot}$ & $1.02\pm 0.02$& height 2pt&&&& &Age of the Universe& $t_0$ & $13.7\pm 0.2\times 10^9\ yr$& height 8pt&&&& height 8pt&&&& &Electron Volt & $eV$ & $1.602\times 10^{-19}\ J$& height 2pt&&&& &parsec & $pc$ & $3.086\times 10^{16}\ m$& height 2pt&&&& &year & $yr$ & $3.156\times 10^7\ s$& height 8pt&&&&