Course Summary:

This course will study the fundamentals of stellar structure and evolution. Prerequisite: Phy 315

"It is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star."  Arthur Eddington in The Internal Constitution of the Stars, first published in 1926, p. 393

Link to Course Outline

Lectures:

Monday: 9:30 a.m., Tuesday: 4:30 p.m., Thursday: 3:30 p.m. in room 401 Stirling Hall

Text:

I have made use of a number of  texts, some of which have been placed on reserve and are available at either of the following two links (OnQ):
Phys 815:
https://ereserves.library.queensu.ca/ares/ares.dll?Action=10&Form=60&Value=22805    
Phys 435:
https://ereserves.library.queensu.ca/ares/ares.dll?Action=10&Form=60&Value=22806

 I will be providing extensive in-class handouts for this course.

Evaluation:

Important Dates:

For Phy 435:
Problem Sets:  35%    Link to Problem Sets                                
In-class written test:   15%
Final Exam:  50%

For Phy 815:
Graduate students will do the same assignments, quiz, and final exam as the undergraduates.  The final result will then be scaled to 75%.  The final 25% will be determined by a written paper and a 20 min  in-class presentation based on the paper. 
Link to Presentations

Link to Matt Frosst's Graduate Student Presentation

First Day of Classes: Thursday, Sept. 5
Thanksgiving: Monday, Oct 14  (no class)
In-Class written test: Tuesday, Oct. 22
Fall midterm break is Thursday, October 24 and Friday, October 25. No class Thursday.
Graduate Student Presentations:   Monday/Tuesday, Nov. 25, 26, 2018
Last Day of Classes: Thurs. Nov. 28
Exam Date: Dec. 5, 9:00 a.m. Grant Hall

 Useful Links:

Track the Solar System barycenter
Link to the Eclipsing Binary Simulator
Effective temperatures and colours that correspond to different spectral types
Link to the History of the Vogt-Russell Theorum
2005 Standard Solar Model Data  
Link to Solar Photospheric and Chromospheric Data of Mihajlov et al. 1994
Link to Calculation of Partition Functions (referred to as Z)
Link to the query page of the Opacity Project or to Existing Opacity tables
On-line stellar evolution code (madstar)
Pedagogical star modelling (C. Ian Short and J. H. T. Bayer)
Video of Solar granulation
Video (12 seconds) showing Solar prominences
Step-by-step guide as to how to obtain the true orbit from the apparent orbit of a visual binary
6th Catalog of orbits of Visual Binary Stars
Kepler satellite catalog of eclipsing binaries     Eclipsing binary software (Phoebe)
Physics Today article on Asteroseismology (C. Aerts, Physics Today, May 2015)


Please see Arts&Science Academic Considerations and Accommodations for Students for anything related to late work.