Astronomy 644 (Radiative Processes in Astrophysics) is one of the base courses intended to be taken during the first two years of astronomy graduate program. This course covers topics of continuous emission mechanisms (synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton, and free-free emission), dust emission, photo-ionization and recombination of atomic lines, line broadening. Applications to astrophysics, such as definitions of star formation rates, are discussed.
- Teacher: Min Yun
Basic numerical methods: linear algebra, interpolation and extrapolation, integration, root finding, extremization and differential equations. Introduction to Monte Carlo techniques used to simulate processes that occur in nature and methods to simulate experiments that measure these processes including random number generators, sampling techniques, and multidimensional simulation. Methods for extracting information from experiments such as experimental measurements and uncertainties, confidence intervals, parameter estimation, likelihood methods, least squares method, hypothesis tests, and goodness of fit tests. Chaotic dynamics and other special topics as time permits.
- Teacher: Grant Wilson
Weekly class exploring the field of astronomy and its practice. Meetings may include observing sessions, projects with University telescopes, laboratory activities, and introductions to the latest topics of astronomical research. Intended primarily for first-year students considering an astronomy major or minor, but open to all undergraduates on a space-available basis.
- Teacher: Mauro Giavalisco
- Teacher: Daniel Wang
Course covers the grandest panorama of all - beginning with the origin of the universe and ending with the rise of humanity. Emphasis is on the greatest questions posed by the human mind. Major topics include the ultimate nature of nature: space-time and matter-energy, origin and ultimate fate of the universe, evolution of galaxies, stars and the elements, origin of the solar system and the Earth, extraterrestrial life, origin of life on earth, the microbial world, plant and animal evolution, primates and the origin and evolution of humans, and Charles Darwin and the process of biological evolution. Discussions cover some of the most interesting and often controversial topics in the natural sciences today including cosmology and dark matter/dark energy, meteorites and life in the solar system, the Snowball Earth hypothesis, chemical evolution of life, the earliest evidence of life on Earth, extremophiles, toxic organisms and biological warfare, the Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, evolution of humanity, Late Pleistocene-Holocene megafaunal extinctions, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (Gen. Ed. BS)
- Teacher: Stephen Schneider
Basic weather parameters, light and energy in the atmosphere. Topics include: atmospheric gases and their behavior; instability of the atmosphere; winds and their origin: large scale, small scale. Moisture: evaporation, condensation, clouds. Kinds of precipitation. Storms: hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes. Atmospheric optics: rainbows, halos, mirages. Climate and climate change. (Gen.Ed. PS)
- Teacher: Eileen Mcgowan
This is a course in applied physics with the ultimate goal of describing how stars work. Topics include gravitation, stellar mass determination, stellar structure, stellar atmospheres, stellar evolution, and the physics of pulsating stars. We will approach each of these topics from fundamental concepts and we will work our way to a detailed understanding. On the way we will review the structure of the atom, radiative processes, and some basic principles of thermodynamics.
- Teacher: Alexandra Pope