AST 1440 – Radiation (2026)
Table of Contents
Syllabus
- Lectures
- AB 113, Monday 2 PM and Thursday 1 PM (with an hour before set aside for reading and problem solving)
- Lecturer
- Marten van Kerkwijk, MP 1203B, 416-946-7288, mhvk@astro.utoronto.ca
- Office hours
- Drop by my office, or by appointment
- Web page
-
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~mhvk/AST1440/
Almost all we know in astronomy comes from measurements of light. This course aims to help you gain the knowledge needed to understand these measurements, by learning at a basic level (i) the way light and matter interact, as governed by classical electrodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics; (ii) the resulting physical processes responsible for emission, absorption, transfer, and diffusion of radiation; and (iii) the astrophysically most relevant specific radiation processes and applications.
In this course, most lectures will have reading assignments, and you are expected to do these: while there will be time to answer questions about the readings, no lecture time will be spent regurgitating them. Instead, the lectures will be used for discussing (textbook) problems and relevant astronomical examples.
Note: AB 113 is reserved starting an hour prior to our meeting times, to enable getting together to read and discuss among yourselves.
List of topics
- Intensity, source function, black body, diffusion [RL 1]
- Wave-plasma interaction [RL 8]
- Accelerated charges, radiation reaction [RL 3]
- Free-free radiation and opacity [RL 5]
- Cyclotron and synchrotron radiation [RL 6]
- Compton and inverse Compton scattering [RL 7]
- Thermal distributions, Boltzman & Saha [RL 9]
- Atomic transitions; more complicated systems; collisions [RL 10,11]
- Applications! (of all of the above)
Course texts
The primary course text book is Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (RL) by Rybicki & Lightman, Wiley (online access via UofT library).
Two secondary book are Theoretical Astrophysics I: Astrophysical Processes (Pad) by Padmanabhan, Cambridge Univ. Press (online access via UofT library; more theoretical) and Astrophysical processes (Bradt) by Bradt, Cambridge Univ. Press (online access via UofT library; more applied).
A great resource, which includes links to mini-lectures by Aaron Parsons (UCB), is astrobaki:Radiative_Processes_in_Astrophysics.
Evaluation
- Three problem sets (30% total), due two weeks after posting
- Long presentation (20%) on a more advanced topic. Can be on any topic (with approval, but ideally directly relevant to your own research).
- Final exam (40%; oral).