The course is based on the theoretical development of the transfer of radiation through the atmospheres of stars, determining how the emergent spectrum may be used to determine the chemical composition of stars. Other aspects of stars related to their atmospheres are also examined; these include magnetic activity and stellar winds.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
On completion of this course students will:
- Understand the physics and mathematics underpinning the radiative transfer equation
- Understand the significance of local thermodynamic equilibrium and non local thermodynamic equilibrium and the sources of opacity in stellar atmospheres.
- Understand the structure of stellar atmospheres and how this is determined through one-dimensional and three-dimensional solutions of the transfer equation.
- Understand the significance of the stellar parameters: the effective temperature, surface gravity and chemical abundance and how they are estimated.
- Be able to apply radiative transfer techniques to determine chemical abundances of stars in different environments such as the Galactic bulge and halo, the local group and the host stars of exo-planets.
6. Understand the effects of magnetic fields and the formation of emission lines in the winds of hot stars.
Indicative Assessment
Project report: 100%. LO 1-6.
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Workload
10 hours per week consisting of 4 hours of lectures and tutorials and 6 hours of project work.
Prescribed Texts
Stellar Atmospheres, Dimitri Mihalas, Freeman (2nd edition, 1978)
Assumed Knowledge
Students should have completed PHYS2013 – Quantum Mechanics and PHYS2016 – Electromagnetism, or their equivalents.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Students continuing in their current program of study will have their tuition fees indexed annually from the year in which you commenced your program. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3264 | 20 Jul 2015 | 07 Aug 2015 | 31 Aug 2015 | 30 Oct 2015 | In Person | N/A |
