PHYS 5560 - Stars & Stellar Populations

As a core astrophysics course, it will be taken by graduate students of Physics and Astronomy. We will survey the properties of stars and star clusters (as laboratories for understanding stellar evolution). Topics include: properties of stars, including fundamental parameters, positions, distances, magnitudes & luminosities, radii, masses; nuclesynthesis (i.e. energy generation); stellar evolution; stellar atmospheres spectra & spectral line analysis; interstellar reddening; colour-magnitude diagrams; properties of globular and open clusters; simple stellar populations, isochrones, age estimates, distance determinations, luminosity functions, mass functions; chemical compositions & determinations; formation and evolution of globular and open clusters; stellar populations in the context of the Milky Way.