Introduction to Astrophysics

Course
en
English
21 h
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Source
  • From www.edx.org
Conditions
  • Self-paced
  • Free Access
  • Fee-based Certificate
More info
  • 7 Sequences
  • Introductive Level

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Course details

Syllabus

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Week 1:
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** Video 1.1: (23:00 min)
- Parallaxes and Parsec
- General Introduction
- Mass and Distance scales

** Video 1.2: (14:42 min)
- Kepler's Laws

** Vidéo 1.3: (11:58 min)
- Virial Theorem
- Potential Energy of a Sphere

** Vidéo 1.4: (4:38 min)
- Numerical Illustrations of Virial Theorem

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Week 2:
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** Video 2.1: (23:55 min)
- Radiation processes in Astrophysics
- Line and Continuum Radiation
- Examples of Spectra
- Radiated Energy and Units
- Radiation Pressure
- Bremsstrahlung and Synchrotron Radiations

** Video 2.2: (20:15)
- Black Body Radiation
- Total Luminosity (sigma T^4)
- Wien's Law
- Atomic Emission Lines
- The Case of Hydrogen

** Video 2.3: (21:00)
- How to Measure Radiation
- Flux, Luminosity, Filters
- Illustration: How do we Make True Color Images?
- Magnitudes
- Color of Celestial Bodies
- Distance Modulus

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Week 3:
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** Video 3.1: (23:44)
- Doppler Effect
- Doppled Measurement
- Stellar Rotation
- Exoplanets and Stellar Radial Velocities
- Hubble Law

** Video 3.2: (32:22)
- Interstellar Medium
- Nebular Emission, Stromgroen Sphere
- Absorption, diffusion (Mie et Rayleigh)
- Optical Depth
- Redening

** Video 3.3: (18:12)
- Tidal Forces
- Influence on Moon-Earth Distance
- Distance to the Moon Using Laser Measurements

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Week 4:
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** Video 4.1: (12:14)
- Roche Limit
- Example of Saturn's Rings
- Example of a Comet Disrupted by Jupiter's Tidal Forces

** Vidéo 4.2 (13:43)
- Cometary Tails and Radiation Pressure

** Video 4.3: (15:08)
- Energy Balance
- Global Warming

** Video 4.4:
- Planetary Atmospheres
- Hydrostatic Equilibrium
- Atmospheric height-scale

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Week 5:
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** Video 5.1:
- Stellar Formation
- Free-fall Time
- Jeans' Mass and radius
- Kelvin-Helmholtz Time
- Stellar Energy Balance

** Video 5.2:
- HR Diagram
- Spectral Classification
- Effect of Redening
- Radius-Luminosiy Relation

** Video 5.3:
- Stellar Evolution in the HR Diagram
- Stellar Deaths
- Supernovae, Planetary Nebulae, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars
- Age of Stellar Clusters

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Week 6:
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** Video 6.1:
- Galaxies: General Description
- Morphological Classification

** Video 6.2:
- Numerical Illustrations

** Video 6.3
- The Milky-Way
- Oort Constants and Galactic Motion

** Video 6.4:
- Rotation Curves of Spiral Galaxies
- Elliptical galaxies and the Virial Theorem
- Galaxy Clusters
- Dark Matter

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Week 7:
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** Video 7.1:
- Big Bang: Basic Presentation
- Hubble Expansion
- Cosmological Redshift
- Cosmic Background Radiation

** Video 7.2:
- Distance Ladder
- Hubble Diagram
- Cepheides as Distance Indicators
- Supernovae as Distance Indicators

** Video 7.3:
- Gravitational Lenses
- Deflection Angle
- Properties of Gravitational Lenses
- Light (apparent) Magnification
- Einstein Radius
- Caustics and Critical Lines

** Complementary video on time delays in gravitationally lensed quasars an cosmologocal applications.

Prerequisite

Physics and Maths (1st year of bachelor):

  • Trigonometry
  • Derivatives and Taylor expansions
  • Integral calculus
  • 1st order differential equations

Instructors

Frédéric COURBIN
Professor
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Vivien Bonvin
Doctoral Assistant
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Thibault Kuntzer
PhD student in Cosmology
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Pierre North
Senior Scientist
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Yves Revaz
Scientist
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Editor

The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, English: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) is a research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, that specialises in physical sciences and engineering.

One of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, the school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:

Educate engineers and scientists to the highest international standing
Be a national center of excellence in science and technology
Provide a hub for interaction between the scientific community and the industry
EPFL is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the world for engineering and sciences, ranking 17th overall and 10th in engineering in the 2015 QS World University Rankings; 34th overall and 12th in engineering in the 2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

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