Astrophysics and Cosmology 390-ERS-2ASK
Wykład (WYK) Rok akademicki 2020/21

The oral exam will be after the end of the course. A student should answer for three topics.

1 answer: 3.0 (E)

2 full answers: 4.0 (D)

3 full answers: 5.0 (A)

Subjects realized at the lecture:

I. Structure of stars, evolution of stars:

1. The nature of astronomy: Sources of information, Blackbody radiation.

2. The virial theorem. The negative specific heat of a star.

3. Stellar nucleosynthesis: Coulomb barrier, proton-proton chain reaction, CNO cycle, and triple-alpha process.

4. Equations of stellar structure: mass balance, hydrostatic equilibrium, EOS, thermal equilibrium.

5. Energy transport in a star: convective heat transfer, radiative transport, conductivity.

6. Star formation: Jeans (critical) length and Jeans mass.

7. Hertzsprung-Russel diagram.

II. Relativistic astrophysics:

1. The Pauli exclusion principle, Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac, and Bose-Einstein distribution, 1-D and 3-D degeneracy, nonrelativistic and relativistic EOS of degenerated matter.

2. White dwarf: Chandrasekhar limit.

3. Black hole: event horizon, relativistic properties, Hawking radiation. Black holes in the Universe.

5. Gravitational waves: properties, detectors. Hulse–Taylor binary, the source GW150914, GW170817.

III. Cosmology:

1. The Milky Way, Local Group, Superclusters.

2. The expanding Universe: the Olbers' paradox, the Hubble-Lemaître law.

3. The Friedmann, fluid, and acceleration equation.

4. Curvature of the Universe, Hubble time, Hubble horizon distance

5. The Standard Model (Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker universe).

6. The Big Bang Theory: the Universe dominated by the radiation and by the matter, the dark matter and dark energy, the future of the Universe.

The lecture is given in the classroom. The blackboard and projector are used.