Venue: Feynman Lecture Hall
Class Timings: 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM, Tuesday and 11:00 PM - 12:30 PM, Friday
First Meeting: 5 August 2022
Course description:
Introduction to astrophysical systems. Distances and timescales. Equations of hydrodynamics. Steady flows. Sound waves. Hydrostatic equilibrium. Jeans instability. Bondi accretion + Parker wind. Shocks. Supernovae blasts: Sedov Taylor solutions. Fluid instabilities. Induction equation and magnetohydrodynamics of single fluid plasma, flux freezing, energetics. Alfven waves. Magnetic reconnection - tearing modes. A turbulence primer. Dynamos. Magnetorotational instability. Basics of plasma physics : collective behaviours, particle motion descriptions and adiabatic invariants. Intermediate description: Two-fluids. Vlasov equation (PDF description). Boltzmann equations. Plasma instabilities.
There will be a numerical hands-on component.
References:
- The physics of fluids and plasmas : Arnab Rai Choudhuri
- Plasma physics for astrophysics : Russell M. Kulsrud
- Astrophysical magnetic fields : Anvar Shukurov and Kandaswamy Subramanian
- Fundamentals of plasma physics : P. M. Bellan
- Introduction to plasma theory : Dwight R Nicholson
- Lecture notes on astrophysical fluid dynamics : Gordon Ogilvie
- Modern classical physics (only part 5 and 6) : Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford
Course evaluation:
Assignments + class participation : 35%
Term paper (report + presentation) : 20% + 15%
Final exam : 30%
Prerequisites: Classical physics, Electromagnetism
- Teacher: Pallavi Bhat
Credit Score: 4
Zoom Link: https://icts-res-in.zoom.us/j/89927395357?pwd=WmEvaER2NUI4RXZHNWk0WTJkR1drQT09 Meeting ID: 899 2739 5357 Passcode: 884489