Review Sheet: Final Exam
Exam Date: 7 December 2006

The Final Examination is cumulative. See the review sheets for Tests 1 & 2 to remind yourselves of the material covered on the first two tests.

Formulas:

• gravitational force = -G M m / R²
• escape speed = [2GM/R]^1/2
• R_sch = 3 (M/M_sun) km

Topics

White Dwarfs:

• How are most white dwarfs formed?
• What are the properties of a typical white dwarf? (What is the typical mass of a white dwarf, the typical radius, density?)
• Describe the white dwarf mass radius relation. What is the Chandrasekhar mass limit? Why does the Chandrasekhar mass limit arise?
• How can white dwarfs be used to place a lower limit on the age of our galaxy?

Stellar Clusters:

• What is the observational study of stellar evolution difficult?
• How are stellar clusters used to test our understanding of stellar evolution?
• What are the properties of a cluster of stars that makes the cluster a valuable test of our understanding of stellar evolution?
• Sketch the Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams for clusters of various ages?
• Will a cluster show a fully occupied Main Sequence (stars all the way from O stars to M stars)? Why not (if not)?
• Explain how stellar clusters can be used to place lower limits on the age of the galaxy. What is the largest age found for a stellar cluster? Does this age have implications for our understanding of cosmology (the evolution of the Universe)?
• What are globular clusters? What are galactic clusters?

Supernovas:

• What are Type I Supernovas? What are Type II Supernovas? What are SN remants? What is the Crab Pulsar? What are criterion is used to differentiate between Type I and Type II Supernovas?
• How is the energy generated in a Type II SN divided among neutrinos, the explosion, the radiation.
• What role do SN play in nucleosynthesis? What is the r-process? What is the s-process? Why are SN able to make elements more massive than Fe?
• What is meant by Historical Supernova? What are the historical SN? What is the last historical SN? What is the rough rate for SN in a galaxy like the Milky Way?
• What type of stars produce Type I SN? What type of stars produce Type II SN? Describe both Type I and Type II Supernovas.
• What is the observational evidence that suggests that our understanding of Type II SN is reasonably good.
• What energy source powers the light produced by a Type I SN after a few months. Does this energy source play a role in the evolution fo Type II SN light curves?

Black Holes

• What are black holes? Who first predicted the existene of Black Holes? When did they predict the existence of Black Holes? What are the properties of a black hole? What effects arise in the vicinity of black holes?
• How certain are we that Black Holes exist? What kind of observations support the existence of Black Holes? What are MACHOs?
• What is the event horizon? What is the singularity? What is a naked singularity? What is the surface of a Black Hole? How is it defined? Is it, in fact, a surface?
• What is the meaning of escape speed?
• What is the Cosmic Censorship Theorem? Is this a theorem? Is it a conjecture? What is the significance of the Cosmic Censorship Theorem?
• What is meant by Black Holes Have No Hair? What is the significance of this theorem?
• How did Einstein view gravity?
• What is meant by space-time? How does mass affect space-time? What is a wormhole? What are some problems connected with making and using wormholes? How might some of the problems be circumvented?
• Discuss time. What are some aspects of time which are poorly understood? How is cause and effect related to the flow of time? What would happen if cause precedes effect was not true? Is time travel possible? Have we ruled it out, that is?