Astrophysics 541

Peyton Room 145, 4:00-5:20 p.m. Wednesdays
 Contact: Adam Burrows , Web page

Format:

  • Students present talks on topics and papers in a broad area of theoretical astrophysics. This semester we are focussing on all aspects and manifestations of Supernovae. The specific subtopics and titles will be the product of a series of discussions between the speaker and the instructor and will be taken from a broader list constructed by the instructor at the beginning of the course and expanded by the students during the early classes. A tentative list of possible topics can be found Here.
  • Presentations will be 40 minutes long (30+10), the 10 minutes for discussion. A good rule of thumb is 2 minutes per (content-filled) overhead.
  • The student will meet with the instructor on the Monday prior to the presentation to obtain feedback on the draft presentation. After the talk, all the students taking the course will provide written feedback to the speaker, and the speaker will meet with the instructor to review the presentation. Questions from the students taking this course during and after the talk are strongly encouraged.
  • The course is Pass/Fail and does not involve exams. The talks will be posted on the course website.

    • Fall 2009 Schedule



    Date Speaker Topic
    Sept. 16 A. Burrows Organizational Meeting
    . .
    Sept. 23 A. Burrows Informal Overview Lecture on Supernovae
    . .
    Sept. 30 T. Brandt The Neutrino Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernovae
    M. Belyaev Gravitational Wave Signatures of Core-Collapse Supernovae
    Oct. 7 T. Nampaisarn Neutron Star Mergers
    X. Liu The Physics of Gravitational Wave Detection
    Oct. 14 K.G. Lee Supernova Spectral Diagnostics and Types
    . Supernova Light Curves
    Oct. 21 X. Bai Instabilities and Mixing in Supernova Envelopes during Explosion
    R. Dong Pulsar Kicks and Proper Motions
    Oct. 28 C. Hambrick The Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae
    A. Fraisse Theories for the Phillips Relation for Type Ia Supernovae
    Nov. 4 (Fall Recess) . .
    . .
    Nov. 11 L. Sironi Supernova Shock Breakout
    G. Aniano Light Echoes from Supernovae
    Nov. 18 E. Chisari Propagation of Supernova Blast Waves Through the ISM
    Y. Jiang Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in SNR Shocks
    Nov. 25 A. Kulier Supernova Nucleosynthesis
    M. Riquelme R-Process Nucleosynthesis and its Site
    Dec. 3 E. Choi Galactic Chemical Evolution
    C. Hill The Nuclear Equation of State and Neutron Star Structure
    Dec. 9 R. Reyes Stellar-mass Black Hole Formation
    J. Li Jet Models for Gamma-Ray Bursts
    Dec. 16 C. Conroy Supernova Feedback in Galaxy Formation
    C. Lackner Models for Episodic Mass Loss from Massive Stars