ASTR 553 : Extragalactic Astronomy

Reading Assignments, and other reference material.

Topic 8 : Theory : Stellar Dynamics

The principal text for this topic is B&T. I have, of course, needed to exclude most of the more technical sections as well as most of the details.

To a large extent, S&G have also adopted this strategy (their treatment is probably derived from B&T).

Given her speciality, Elmergreen's text has also been helpful in understanding epicyclic motion and resonances in disks.

Another excellent source is Josh Barnes's lecture notes.

Finally, the articles by Binney (Dynamics) and Saslaw (Stellar Dynamics) in EAA give good overviews.

Primary references : Broken down by topic :

Basics : B&T 103-108; S&G 95-103

Epicycles : B&T 114-115, 120-125; S&G 116-121

Resonances : B&T 146-152, 351; S&G 209-211

Density Waves : B&T 336-354, 383-398; S&G 209-211.

Disk instabilities, Swing amplification & Bars : B&T 362-364, 371-383, 399-402; S&G 212-216. Barnes Ch 17, 18, 19.

Virial Theorem & Spheroidal rotation : B&T 211-219, 494-495; S&G 103-105, 249-252. Barnes Ch 14.

Potential Theory : B&T 30-48, 76-80; S&G 95-101. Barnes Ch 8

Collisionless systems, CBE, Jeans Theorem, DFs : B&T 190-198, 204-211, 219-239, 242-245, 245-247, 252-254, 257, 262; S&G 106-107, 122-125, 128-131. Barnes Ch 10, 11, 13, 15

Violent Relaxation : B&T 269-278; S&G 253.

Star-Star Encounters/Dynamical Friction : B&T 187-190, 489-493, 496. S&G 107-115. Barnes Ch 10.

Gravothermal Catastrophe/Fokker Plank Eqn : B&T 500-505, 506-553

Integrals of Motion : B&T 110-113. S&G 127. Barnes Ch 9.

Numerical Methods : B&T 90-99. Barnes Ch 11

Secondary :
Additional :
Not yet completed