Computational Astrophysics
The MSc course on Computational Astrophysics focuses on learning the basic survival tools for numerical studies and on the use of some important and freely available astronomy and cosmology codes.
The course begins with a detailed introduction to fortran 90; interpolation, splining, numerical integration & differentiation, function fitting, root finding in 1d and multi-dimensional parameter estimation.
Several lectures will then be devoted to gravitational dynamics. Specifically, we will look deprojection and projection of astronomical observations, interpreting the dynamics of spherical astrophysical systems such as dwarf galaxies, ellipticals and clusters of galaxies. Then we will look at the rotation curves of spiral galaxies: how to fit dark matter halos and how effective Modified Newtonian Dynamics is. We will look at methods of generating Monte-carlo N-body realisations of galaxies from their surface brightnesses.
We will then look at constraining models of cosmology using Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the acoustic peaks in the Cosmic Microwave Background using the CAMB code. Next we'll tackle the theory of generating initial conditions for cosmological simulations and make use of the COSMICS/GRAFICS package for doing so. Then we'll look at the workings of a basic N-body cosmological code and will run our own cosmological simulations and compare the output with cold dark matter and modified gravity.
There will also be a 2-week section devoted to the reduction of astronomical observations with IRAF.
The end of semester exam will be worth 50% and the fortnightly tutorials and practicals will account for the other 50%.