Submitted by Fulvio Melia (inactive) on Sunday, 8/28/2011, at 1:19 AM

TEXTBOOK:

Melia, High-Energy Astrophysics (Princeton University Press, 2008)

TOPICS COVERED DURING THE SEMESTER

Introduction and Motivation (7 lectures)

      High-Energy Astrophysics
      Energies, timescales, luminosities
      Experimental Tools of High-Energy Astrophysics (HEA)
          Atmospheric absorption
          UV, X-ray, and Gamma-ray detectors
          Balloons, Space-based astronomy
          Past, present, and pending HEA Telescopes

      Sky Maps
          X-rays (diffuse, point sources)
          Gamma-rays (point sources)

      Classes of Sources and Archetypical Objects
          Pulsing sources (White Dwarfs, Neutron stars)
          Cygnus X-1
          Transient X-ray and Gamma-ray sources
          The Galactic Center
          Active Galactic Nuclei

Basic Theoretical Tools (8 lectures)

      Relativity
      Overview of Special Relativity
      Introduction to General Relativity
      Particle Acceleration
      Gravity
      Electromagnetic Fields
      Fermi Mechanism
      Radiative Processes
      Thermal Bremsstrahlung
      Non-thermal Synchrotron
      Compton Scattering

Sources of Energy (7 lectures)

      Nuclear Burning
      Spherical Accretion
      Thin Disk Accretion
      Roche Lobe Geometry
      Standard Thin Disk Theory (formation, viscosity, structure)

Galactic X-ray Sources (3 lectures)

      Magnetospheric Physics
          Isolated Neutron Stars (Radio Pulsars)
          X-ray Pulsars
      Evolution of X-ray Binaries
          Massive binaries containing neutron stars
          Low-mass binaries containing neutron stars
          Cataclysmic Variables
      X-Ray Burst Sources
          Thermonuclear Flash Model
          Implications for neutron-star structure
      The Black Hole Candidate Cygnus X-1
          Multi-wavelength observations
          The Comptonized Spectrum Model

The Galactic Center (1 lecture)

      E1740, the source of electron-positron radiation
      The supermassive black hole candidate Sgr A*

Active Galactic Nuclei (2 lectures)

      Multiwavelength Observations, Classes
      The Accretion-Disk interpretation for the "blue bump"
      X-ray and Gamma-ray Emission Mechanisms
      The Gamma-ray OVV 3C279 observed with GRO

Gamma-ray Burst Sources (1 lecture)

      Spectra
      Spatial Distribution
      The Evidence for a Cosmological Source


METHOD OF EVALUATION

  1. Problems (40%)
  2. Midterm exam (20%)
  3. Final Exam (40%)