Course Websites

PHYS 541 - Physics of Compact Objects

Last offered Spring 2017

Official Description

Rigorous survey of the physical properties of black holes, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. Formation of compact objects. Equilibrium configurations, equations of state, stability criteria, and mass limits: the influence of rotation and magnetic fields. Pulsar phenomena. Black hole spacetimes. Hawking radiation. Mass flow in binary systems; spherical and disk accretion; high-temperature radiation processes; pulsar spin-up. Compact x-ray sources and x-ray bursts. Supermassive black holes in star clusters and dense galactic nuclei. Gravitational and neutrino radiation from supernova collapse and binary coalescence. Course Information: Same as ASTR 541. Prerequisite: PHYS 436.
TitleSectionCRNTypeHoursTimesDaysLocationInstructor
Physics of Compact ObjectsA40321LEC41230 - 1350 T R  136 Loomis Laboratory Stuart L. Shapiro