Courses

Prerequisites: a strong undergraduate background in E-M and classical mechanics. Qualified undergraduates may be admitted with the instructors permission. The basic physics of high energy astrophysical phenomena. Protostars, equations of stellar structure; radiative transfer theory; stellar nucleosynthesis; radiative emission processes; equations of state and cooling theory for neutron stars and white dwarfs, Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation; Chandrasekhar limit; shocks and fluids; accretion theory for both disks and hard surfaces; black hole orbits and light bending.