Nucleosynthesis
Info and course material for the 2020 summer semester
Project maintained by jantoniadis Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham
Nucleosynthesis: Course overview
Welcome to astro858, a course on nucleosynthesis!
Goal
- To undestand the Universe’s chemical composition, and its evolution in time and space
Remnant of SN1987A imaged by HST
!!!!!COVID-19 UDATE!!!!!
Due to the current situation and until further notice the course will be taught online using the ecampus platform (see link below). More specifically, each lecture will consist of a series of videos, online quizzes and questions. These modules are self-paced, i.e. you can complete them at your own time, but not after the corresponding deadline (each module should take ~2-3 hours to complete). The exercise classes will be replaced by weekly zoom meetings (TBA).
Until we revert back to normal teaching, your credit will be calculated as follows:
- 50% – Completion of eModules (videos+tests+exercises)
- 50% – paper presentations (TBH online, if nothing changes)
To join, please visit the astro858 e-campus/basis page or use the following link (note that both links require a valid UNI-ID)
If you’re interested in joining the course, put the above methods don’t work, please send an email to janton@mpifr.de
Bibliography
The powerpoint presentations will be available in the table below. I will try my best to upload the slides at least two days before the Thursday lectures.
The lectures will follow the material provided in the:
Some useful books that cover all topics of the course in detail:
- [ILIADIS] C. Iliadis, Nuclear Physics of Stars, 2005, Wiley, ISBN 0-978-3-527-33648-7
- [ARNET] D. Arnett, Supernovae and Nucleosynthesis, 1996, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01147-8
- [ROLFS] C. E. Rolfs and W. S. Rodney, Claudrons in the Cosmos, 1988, The Univesity of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-72456-5
- [PAGEL] B.E.J. Pagel, Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution of Galaxies, 2009, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-84030-9
- [CLAYTON] D.D. Clayton, Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis, 1968, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226 10953-4
Further reading
- K. Nomoto, C. Kobayashi & N. Tominaga, Nucleosynthesis in Stars and the Chemical Enrichment of Galaxies, ARAA, 2013
- Gary Steigman, Light Element Nucleosynthesis, Encyclopedia of Astronomy & Astrophysics, P. Murdin, 2006
- F. Kappeler, H. Beer & K, Wisshak, s-process nucleosynthesis-nuclear physics and the classical model, Reports on Progress in Physics 52, 945 1989
- M. Arnould, S. Goriely, K. Takahashi, The r-process of stellar nucleosynthesis: Astrophysics and nuclear physics achievements and mysteries, Physics Reports 450, 97 2007
- M. Arnould, S. Goriely, The p-process of stellar nucleosynthesis: astrophysics and nuclear physics status. Physics Reports 384, 1 2003
- Advanced Stages of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis; Course by Prof. Stan Woosley *Introduction to applied nuclear physics; Course by Prof. Paola Cappellaro
Each student is expected to give a 15 min presentation (10’ + 5’ for questions) on a recent research paper on a topic in nucleosynthesis. Please e-mail your preference to janton [at] mpifr.de by May 24. A list of suggested papers is available here. Please check the library description to see if a paper has already been chosen. Note that you will need an active account to view the library. If you don’t already have an account, you can register here
Preliminary Schedule
| Chapter / Lecture | Lecture Date | - | Excercise class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1: Introduction | - | ||
| 2: Nuclear Physics Essentials | - | - | |
| 2: Thermonuclear reactions | - | ||
| 3: Big-bang nucleosynthesis | |||
| 4.1,.2: [Stellar Evolution and H burning] | |||
| 4.2: [H-burning (cont.)] | |||
| 4.3: [Helium Burning, advanced burning] | |||
| 5: [s-process] | |||
| 5: [r-process, explosive nucleosynthesis] | |||
| 6: [Thermonuclear supernovae] | |||
| 7: Li, Be, B (*) | |||
| 8: Galactic chemical evolution | |||
| Student presentations - 1 | July [TBD] | - | - |
| Student presentations - 2 | July [TBD] | - | - |
Resources
Nuclear data and reaction rates
- periodictable.com
- Look up nuclear masses and deformations
- JINA Reaclib database (reaction rates)
- National Nuclear Datacenter; Brookhaven National Lab (nuclear data)
- Brusslib (nuclear data incl. partition functions)
- Karlsruhe Astrophysical Database of Nucleosynthesis in Stars (nuclear data)
- NuGrid Collaboration
Supernovae and transients
- Open Supernova Catalogue
- Transient Name Server
- Astronomers’ Telegram
- Gamma-ray Coordinates Network (GCN)
- Gravitational Wave Transient Catalogue (O1 & O2)
- O3 Gravitational Wave Transients
Other
- JINAbase (database of metal poor stars)
- bigbangonline.org (BBN simulation tool)
- Meteoride Compositions
- Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA)
- US nuclear data program
- Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
- Star in a box
- The GALPROP code for cosmic-ray transport and diffuse emission production
- The elements in haiku