The study of black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, supernova remnants,
and extragalactic objects through X-ray and gamma-ray observations.
SPECIFICS
PREREQUISITE: The prerequisite for this course is PHYS 237 (Introduction to Modern Physics). You will need to know this material well to be successful in this course.
LECTURES: The lectures are designed to explain difficult concepts, to expand on the reading material, and to introduce topics not covered in the textbook. You are responsible for the material presented in the lectures.
You are encouraged to ask questions during the lectures. Also, if I am lecturing too fast or something is not clear please feel free to tell me, and I'll be happy to go over the material again.
Due to some travel I have over the semester, I will likely need to give some makeup lectures. If needed, these will be arranged a few weeks into the course.
REFERENCES: There are two required textbooks for this course: Exploring the X-ray Universe by P.A. Charles and F.D. Seward (Cambridge University Press; 1995; ISBN 0-521-43712-1) and Frontiers of X-ray Astronomy edited by A.C. Fabian, K.A. Pounds, and R.D. Blandford (Cambridge University Press; 2004; ISBN 0-521-53487-9). These books give an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the observational phenomena of high-energy astrophysics, and the authors are experts in this field. These books also give good overviews of many X-ray missions and the tools of high-energy astronomy.
One limitation of these books is that they only have a small amount of formal mathematical content. The relevant mathematics will be presented in the lectures and in other distributed material. In particular, I will provide material prepared by C.R. Canizares, A.C. Fabian, and G.P. Garmire. There are also several other good books on high-energy astronomy that will be useful for various parts of the course, and you should refer to these as the need arises. I have listed the books roughly in order of relevance to this course below.
High Energy Astrophysics: Second Edition by M.S. Longair (Cambridge University Press; 1992 and 1994; ISBN 0-521-38773-6 and ISBN 0-521-43584-6). This book is split into two volumes. The first volume covers particles, photons, and their detection. The second volume covers stars, the Galaxy, and the interstellar medium. These contain a wealth of material, but they have little discussion of extragalactic high-energy phenomena.
Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects by S.L. Shapiro and S.A. Teukolsky (Wiley Interscience; 1983; ISBN 0-471-87316-0). This book covers the physics of black holes, white dwarfs, and neutron stars in great detail. On average, it is probably somewhat above the level of this course. It is getting dated in places but is still a classic reference for the subject.
Radiative Processes in Astrophysics by G.B. Rybicki and A.P. Lightman (Wiley Interscience; 1979; ISBN 0-471-82759-2). This book is one of the standards of astronomy education, and it does an excellent job of covering the title material.
Accretion Power in Astrophysics: Third Edition by J. Frank, A. King, and D. Raine (Cambridge University Press; 2002; ISBN 0-521-620538). This book has good coverage of accretion physics for both Galactic and extragalactic objects.
X-ray Detectors in Astronomy by G.W. Fraser (Cambridge University Press; 1989; Out of print). This book covers X-ray detectors extremely well and is written by an expert in the field. It has little about the science that is done with these detectors.
The Restless Universe: Understanding X-ray Astronomy in the Age of Chandra and XMM-Newton by E.M. Schlegel (Oxford University Press; 2002; ISBN 0-19-514847-9). A non-technical, up-to-date, and broad-brush review of X-ray astronomy. Emphasis is given to the recently launched missions, Chandra and XMM-Newton.
The Davey Lab library (on the second floor) has copies of these books, and I have placed them on reserve for your use.
If you are planning a professional career in astronomy, you will almost certainly see some of these books again. In this case, you may want to buy 1 or 2 of the ones that are particularly interesting to you.
HOMEWORK AND COLLABORATION POLICY: Homework sets will be assigned and due every other week. You are urged not to start these the night before they are due.
The most important thing you can learn from homework is how to solve problems for yourself. This is what you will need to do to succeed in the real world. Therefore, please try each problem for at least 1 hour before discussing it with anyone else. You may consult books and published papers, but you may not look at any old assignments or exams from this course or Astro 550. After you have made an honest attempt at a problem for at least 1 hour, you may discuss it with others currently in the course who have also made honest attempts at the problem. If your answers differ, you may argue your case at a blackboard, but you may not look at each other's papers or copy things off the blackboard afterwards.
Please write your homework solutions in a standard and extremely clear manner. It will not be possible to give credit for work that is not clearly explained. Please show your work since this will allow partial credit to be given even if you cannot solve the whole problem. When it is relevant, use general formulae for as long as possible and only plug in numbers at the end of a problem. Your homework solutions should follow the order in which the problems are given (don't present problem 7, then problem 1, then problem 5, etc.). Please staple your homework before handing it in.
A few tough problems will be given on each homework set to challenge those people who plan to go on to become professional astronomers. Do not despair if you do not get perfect scores on all your homework!
In the absence of a serious medial excuse (documented by an official physician's note), late homework will receive only one-half credit. If you have a medical excuse, you must contact me as soon as possible regarding this matter to arrange a new due date. In all cases, you may not look at any solutions handed out in class (or at the homework of anyone else).
If you think there is something wrong or unfair with how your homework has been graded, you should promptly submit a written appeal to the instructor. This appeal should include your name and contact information, a clear identification of the issue in question, and a concise and thoughtful explanation of what you think is wrong or unfair. Of course, you should also include your original homework as part of the appeal. Appeals must be submitted to the instructor within two weeks of the time when the relevant homework is returned in class. This written appeal procedure also applies to the exams described below.
EXAMS: There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. The final exam will cover material for the entire semester.
The exams will be closed book and closed notes. You may use standard, non-programable calculators on the exams. Calculators with memories that can store equations and text are not allowed.
The week for the midterm exam is listed below. The final exam will be at the nominal date and time unless otherwise notified.
In the absence of a serious medical excuse (documented by an official physician's note), no makeup exams will be given. If you have a medical excuse, you must contact me as soon as possible regarding this matter to arrange a makeup exam date. In such cases, you are strictly forbidden from discussing the exam with any of the other students in the course.
GRADING: Your grade will be based on homework (50%), the midterm (25%) and the final (25%). The grades will be curved, but I will also maintain some reasonable absolute standards.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: This course follows the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department and College integrity policies. Descriptions of these policies are given as links off the course WWW page. You are responsible for abiding by these policies, so please review them.
OFFICE HOURS AND QUESTIONS: You may come to my office hours for help with the course material. If you cannot make the appointed times, please phone to make an appointment (my office hours and phone number are given at the top of the first page). If you are unhappy about something in the course please let me know, and I'll try to fix it if possible. I prefer phone calls to email, but if you are uncomfortable with phoning (or are having trouble reaching me by phone) then feel free to send email (niel@astro.psu.edu).
HONORS OPTION: If you are a student in the Schreyer Honors College, there is an honors option for this course. This involves a computational investigation of the structure of white dwarf stars. There is some detailed information about this on the course World Wide Web page, and you can get further information from the instructor.
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Niel Brandt has been at Penn State since 1997 and is currently a professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Previously he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a graduate student at the University of Cambridge. Brandt uses X-ray satellites, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton, to study the physics and evolution of active galaxies and other cosmic X-ray sources. He is an author of more than 175 research papers and leads a small research group including postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students. He also regularly teaches courses on introductory astronomy, high-energy astrophysics, black holes, and active galaxies. His favorite rock bands include the Beautiful South, the Eagles, and the Smiths.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Here I list the reading assignments for this course. They are divided into `weeks' where a week is defined as a set of two lectures (not necessarily corresponding to a chronological week). I will also hand out some supplementary reading material in class.
You are responsible for the material presented in the reading assignments.
Week 1: Introduction and physics concepts needed in high-energy astrophysics