Radiative Processes
Spring 2019

COURSE OUTLINE

Lecturer: Prof. Jack Hughes, Busch Campus, Serin-307, Tel: (848)445-8878, e-mail: jph[at]physics.rutgers.edu

Textbook: Radiative Processes, by Rybicki and Lightman (required) available from the bookstore or from Amazon. I will also take some material from High Energy Astrophysics (3rd Ed.), by Longair. The on-line graduate text High Energy Astrophysics by Thierry J.-L. Courvoisier may be useful too. (Requires NetID log-on).

Overview: Electromagnetic phenomena in astrophysical systems. Radiative transfer. Radiation from moving charges. Emission mechanisms: bremsstrahlung, synchrotron, Compton scattering. Plasma effects. Atomic and molecular structure and spectroscopy.

Format: The course consists of 2 lectures each week on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:20PM to 4:40PM in room 401 of the Serin Physics Bldg (SRN), Busch Campus.

Course Home Page: The home page for this course is http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/grad/514/

Homework Policy: Weekly homework (H/W) assignments will be posted on the Assignments tab of the sakai course web site and must be turned in through sakai. Assignments will consist of analytical as well as numerical problems. You will be required to write code (in python, idl, c, c++, or the like) on a regular basis as a substitute for laborious hand calculations, to solve for roots of equations and simple differential equations, and plot quantities.

• ONLY PDF DOCUMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED, PREFERABLY GENERATED BY LATEX. It is your responsibiity to ensure that your submitted HW is legible.
• H/W will be due as indicated in each specific assignment. Late homework will be assessed a 20% penalty after one day, a 50% penalty after two days, and a 100% penalty (no credit) after the solutions are given.
• You may consult books and published papers, but not old solution sets from previous offerings of this course or similar courses elsewhere. If you use any sources beyond the course notes or textbook, you must cite them.
• Homework is an important part of this course and you will not do well on the exams if you have not made a serious independent effort to solve the problems. However, you are allowed (even encouraged!) to work in groups, but your submitted write-up must be your own work. You must list your collaborators on your write-up.

Assessment: In addition to the weekly homework (40%), there will be midterm (25%) and final (35%) exams.

Announcements: Any course announcements will be posted on sakai.

Office Hours: You may come by Prof. Hughes' office anytime (best to phone or e-mail first) or send him brief questions via e-mail. Monday (after 4pm), Wednesday (after 3pm), and Friday afternoons are the best times to meet with Prof. Hughes.

Academic Integrity: All work that you turn in for this course (H/W, exams, papers, etc.) must be the product of your own, independent effort. Violating this policy will be considered a breach of academic integrity. If you have questions or concerns about academic integrity, please speak to your instructor. For more information on Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy click here . See also the department's page on academic integrity for graduate students.

Student-Wellness Services: SAS working with the Rutgers University Student Assembly requests that the following information on wellness services at Rutgers be included on all course syllabi.

Students with Disabilities: Please refer to this link for information and departmental policies.