Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

ASTR 30100. Stars. 100 Units.

Introduction to stars (physical and observational), hydrodynamics of self-gravitating fluids, statistical mechanics and equations of state, energy transport, astrophysical nuclear reactions, stellar models, advanced topics.

Instructor(s): Harley Katz     Terms Offered: Autumn

ASTR 30350. Exoplanets. 100 Units.

Since their initial discovery in the 1990s, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered orbiting other stars. This course will address the detection, dynamics, and statistics of exoplanets, models of exoplanet formation, composition, structure, and evolution, exoplanet atmospheres and environments, and prospects for exoplanet habitability.

Instructor(s): Diana Powell     Terms Offered: Autumn

ASTR 30400. Galaxies. 100 Units.

The observed universe, the universe at high redshift, early universe microwave background radiation, relativistic homogeneous isotropic cosmologies, evolution of structure in the universe, primordial nucleosynthesis.

Instructor(s): Andrey Kravtsov     Terms Offered: Spring

ASTR 30600. Detection of Radiation. 100 Units.

Radiation as a random process, optical coherence, and signal analysis in spatial and temporal domains, along with the detection and measurement of radiation with astronomical instruments.

Instructor(s): Clarence Chang     Terms Offered: Spring

ASTR 31000. Cosmology I. 100 Units.

This course presents an introduction to the principles of cosmology. The first part introduces homogeneous, relativistic cosmologies and covers the Robertson-Walker metric, dynamics in the presence of matter, radiation, and dark energy, the universe as a function of time and redshifts, and techniques for calculating observable quantities. The next part covers the growth and evolution of structure in the universe including the formation of clusters and voids, correlation functions, and the mass spectrum. The next part covers the physics of the early universe, including inflation, primordial nucleosynthesis, and recombination. The final part covers current topics in cosmology, including analysis of the cosmic microwave background and tests for detecting and measuring dark matter and dark energy.

Instructor(s): Scott Dodelson     Terms Offered: Winter

ASTR 31100. High Energy Astrophysics. 100 Units.

This course covers a wide range of phenomena associated with the astrophysics of high energy photons, cosmic rays and neutrinos, including the processes of ionization, bremsstrahlung, synchrotron, pion production, Compton and inverse Compton scattering, as well as cosmic ray acceleration. Specific sources of high energy emission will also be discussed, including active galaxies, pulsars, gamma-ray bursts and supernova remnants.

Instructor(s): Irina Zhuravleva     Terms Offered: Winter

ASTR 31220. The James Webb Space Telescope at Five Years. 100 Units.

Launched in December of 2021, the revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has expanded our understanding of the cosmos, both near and far, and is making many important discoveries. This course aims to equip graduate students (and advanced undergraduates) who are interested in observational astrophysics with an understanding of the discovery potential of JWST, to better enable such students to make use of it in their own research. Through the lens of some JWST discoveries, the course will examine technical aspects of the observatory and its instruments, detailing both what JWST can do exceptionally well, and what is still challenging at the edge of discovery with this extraordinary machine. The course will include an examination of the development of JWST proposals, and a look at the complex and centrally important JWST exposure time calculator, good use of which is a central pillar of most successfully JWST proposals.

Instructor(s): Michael Gladders     Terms Offered: Spring

ASTR 31400. Creative Machines and Innovative Instrumentation. 100 Units.

An understanding of the techniques, tricks, and traps of building creative machines and innovative instrumentation is essential for a range of fields from the physical sciences to the arts. In this hands-on, practical course, you will design and build functional devices as a means to learn the systematic processes of engineering and fundamentals of design and construction. The kinds of things you will learn may include mechanical design and machining, computer-aided design, rapid prototyping, circuitry, electrical measurement methods, and other techniques for resolving real-world design problems. In collaboration with others, you will complete a mini-project and a final project, which will involve the design and fabrication of a functional scientific instrument. The course will be taught at an introductory level; no previous experience is expected. The iterative nature of the design process will require an appreciable amount of time outside of class for completing projects. The course is open to undergraduates in all majors (subject to the pre-requisites), as well as Master's and Ph.D. students.

Instructor(s): Wakely (Autumn Quarter); Juan Estrada (Winter Quarter); Derek Buzasi (Spring Quarter)     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 12200 or PHYS 13200 or PHYS 14200; or CMSC 12100 or CMSC 12200 or CMSC 12300; or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): CMSC 21400, PSMS 31400, PHYS 21400, ASTR 21400

ASTR 32100. Cosmology II. 100 Units.

Study of physical cosmology with emphasis on the standard big-bang model and its observational and experimental tests.

Instructor(s): Wayne Hu     Terms Offered: Autumn

ASTR 34000. Statistical Methods in Astrophysics. 100 Units.

An exploration of the variety of statistical methods used in modern astrophysics. We discuss the frequentist (hypothesis tests, confidence intervals) and Bayesian (explicit priors, model-choosing, parameter estimation) approaches. Other topics include: Markov Chain Monte Carlo and other computational statistics; multi-dimensional likelihood space; Fischer information matrices; time series analysis. Assignments draw from examples in the astronomical literature.

Instructor(s): Jeffrey McMahon     Terms Offered: Winter

ASTR 35000. Order-of-Magnitude Astrophysics. 100 Units.

In physics and astrophysics, an approximate answer is often just as (if not more) useful than an exact answer. Making order-of-magnitude estimates is helpful to develop physical intuition, to verify numerical solutions, and to evaluate whether a research problem is worth pursuing. In this course, students will receive coaching and practice in physics-based reasoning, back-of-the envelope estimation, and thinking on their feet. Students will be encouraged to take a broad perspective, to think critically, and to have fun using physics to understand the universe around them.

Instructor(s): Jamie Law-Smith     Terms Offered: Autumn

ASTR 37100. Precandidacy Research. 300.00 Units.

Students arrange with a faculty research supervisor to conduct a short-term independent research project lasting one or more quarters. Research completed in ASTR 37100 is presented as part of the student's candidacy exams.

Instructor(s): Various     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Summer Winter

ASTR 46100. Dynamics of Exoplanets. 100 Units.

Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. As most detection methods are indirect, planets' orbital dynamics is key to basic characterization, and it was historically important to confirm their existence. Their surprising orbital properties challenged planet formation and evolution theories, prompting further development of dynamical theories. This course covers orbital mechanics of N-body systems from the short-term, relevant to observations such as transit-timing variations, all the way to billion-year timescales, relevant to the dynamical winnowing of unstable systems. It covers highly eccentric and inclined orbits, scattering and resonant dynamics, planetary orbits in binary star systems, the additional physics of tidal dissipation and orbital migration due to a gas disk, and current research topics.

Instructor(s): Daniel Fabrycky     Terms Offered: Winter

ASTR 49400. Post-Candidacy Research. 300.00 Units.

Independent research undertaken towards completion of the dissertation.

Instructor(s): Various     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Summer Winter
Prerequisite(s): Completion of all candidacy requirements.

ASTR 49910. Graduate Seminar: Colloquium. 100 Units.

In this course for first-year Ph.D. students in Astronomy and Astrophysics, students will become acquainted with the research of the weekly colloquium speakers and prepare for active participation in the colloquia.

Instructor(s): Eliza Kempton     Terms Offered: Winter

ASTR 49920. Graduate Seminar: Fellowship and Proposal Writing. 100 Units.

In this course for first-year Ph.D. students in Astronomy and Astrophysics, students will identify prospective fellowship or research funding opportunities and learn how to prepare strong applications, with the goal of producing completed examples as final projects.

Instructor(s): Jacob Bean     Terms Offered: Spring

ASTR 49930. Graduate Seminar: Candidacy Preparation. 100 Units.

In this course for second-year Ph.D. students in Astronomy and Astrophysics, students will prepare for part two of the candidacy examination through presentations, board work, discussion, and questions.

Instructor(s): Leslie Rogers     Terms Offered: Spring