Nuclear Relativistic Astrophysics 1

Introduction to the course - Typical density and temperature conditions in compact stars - Limits of applicability of classical physics in compact stars. Equation of state of stellar matter: overview of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics - Perfect gas and degenerate Fermi gas: non-relativistic, ultrarelativistic and general case. Equation of state of dense matter: the NN interaction problem and phenomenological potentials - Hydrostatic equilibrium of a non-relativistic and ultrarelativistic gas - Adiabatic index and instability of self-gravitating bodies - Polytropes: Lane-Emden equations, masses and radii - The equations of stellar structure.
Overview of General Relativity, TOV equations of stellar structure in relativity.
Predictions using polytropic theory - Chandrasekhar limiting mass for white dwarfs and discussion of limit mass problem for neutron stars, dependence on equation of state.
Supernova explosions: Introduction and phenomenology.
Advanced equation-of-state models, exotic matter at high densities.
Classical and relativistic rotating stars - comparison with the Black Hole case. Kerr metric and slow rotation approximation.
Magnetic fields in neutron stars - rotating dipole model and magnetohydrodynamic models. Superfluids and superconductors in neutron stars.
Heat equation and cooling of compact stars - neutrino emission.
Introduction to gravitational waves and emission mechanisms - chirps from the coalescence of compact objects and continuous waves from neutron stars.