High energy astrophysics, 2022-2023
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to: describe the physics of compact stars and derive the mass-radius relationship for compact stars assuming degenerate electron or neutron pressure; outline the main methods of measuring masses, radii and spins of compact stars; show the Galactic distribution of different classes of compact stars; discuss the period-period derivative relation for pulsars and place there different classes of pulsars; describe different methods of the magnetic field determination of compact stars; develop self-study skills; solve problems on topics in the syllabus; read, understand and be able to answer questions on scientific refereed articles in the field of high-energy astrophysics.
Contents
Neutron stars, formation and structure. Degenerate neutron gas, equation of state, mass-radius relation. Mass determination in binary systems. Radio pulsars, X-ray pulsars, accreting millisecond pulsars. X-ray sources in the Milky Way. Low- and high-mass X-ray binaries. Stellar-mass black holes. Intermediate-mass black holes. Supermassive black holes in the Milky Way and in other galaxies. Physics of accretion, spherical accretion, accretion disks. Observations of accreting neutron stars and black holes, spectral and temporal properties. Clusters of galaxies. Relativistic jets in AGN and gamma-ray bursts.
Literature
Charles P.A., Seward F.D.: Exploring the X-ray Universe, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995
Frank J., King A., Raine D.: Accretion power in Astrophysics, 3rd ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002.
The course consist of lectures (16-18), home exercises (8), 2 computer exercises (bonus) and presentations by the students.
Requirements: Minimum 50% of exercises and computer exercises, presentation and the final exam.
Topics for presentations
1. Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX)
2. High energy neutrinos
3. Fast Radio Bursts
4. Magnetars
5. Black hole imaging (Event Horizon Telescope)
6. Gravitational waves from mergers
7. ULX pulsars
8. Gamma-ray bursts
9. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR)
10. Relativistic effects in pulsar binaries
11. Particle acceleration in shocks
12. Sgr A* and the central parsec of the Milky Way
13. Novae
Preliminary schedule
Optional additional exercise that gives 2 points for the course “Topical projects in research” (FFYS7039) [pdf]
Exercise 6 [pdf]
Exercise 8 [pdf]