180 Question References
Introduction: Rules and Guidelines
This website provides references for the infamous "180 Questions" for the MIT Astrophysics Part III exam. Its purpose is to facilitate the studying process, and hopefully (at least somewhat) decrease the stress associated with the Part III exam.
This page is very much a work in progress- anybody who finds a good reference for any of these questions should feel free to add it to the list. There is no limit to the number of references that may be added for any given question, but please obey the following guidelines when submitting references:
1) Add your reference to the reference list at the beginning of this document and assign it a short and unique reference code by which it will be referred to within the main body of the document. Please do this even if you think that the referenced book or source will only be used by one question. Please try to cite these sources as well as possible. (A little MLA Citation Style wouldn't kill you).
2) Include the edition number as part of the reference name. (ie, CO1 and CO2 refer to Carroll and Ostlie's An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, editions 1 and 2, respectively.) Different editions can have surprisingly different layouts and information.
3) Localize the key passages as well as possible. For example, if the question deals with planet formation, cite "CO2, pgs. 857-869" or "CO2, Section 23.2". Simply stating "CO2" is really not very helpful.
4) For each of the 180 questions, try to list the references in order of decreasing importance, so that the first references are the best. We don't want the gems buried under an avalanche of pebbles and stones.
5) This isn't so much a rule, but feel free to divide the questions into multiple parts. Some of these 180 questions have multiple parts to them, and the best references may be different for the different parts. (This is especially important for the lore questions.)
6) When possible, cite references that are easily accessible to all people at all times, present AND future. For example, while a private communication with person A might have provided the best information on Question X, person A will most likely graduate within a year or two. So please don't reference these private communications. Class notes are a little different, since they could theoretically be passed down from one class to the next IF AN ELECTRONIC VERSION EXISTS, but please try to avoid this as well. As a rule of thumb, let's allow class notes that have electronic versions which will probably be available for quite some time and ban class notes that are either taken by hand or refer to electronic notes that are not likely to be accessible in the near future.
7) Incorrect references should also be cited. For example, the section entitled "The Chandrasekhar Limit for Neutron Stars" on page 583 of CO2 is incorrect, and has caused problems for previous test takers that have used it as a reference. Therefore, question 60 has the note: INCORRECT: CO2, pg. 583, "The Chandrasekhar Limit for Neutron Stars."
8) In order to help separate the different references for each question, enclose each reference in curly brackets {}.
That basically covers it. The more that people contribute to this list, the more useful that it becomes, so please add as much information as possible.
Reference List (alphabetical by reference code name):
BT3 Binney, James and Scott Tremaine. "Galactic Dynamics." Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.
C1 Carroll, Sean M. "An Introduction to General Relativity Spacetime and Geometry." San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2004.
CO2 Carroll, Bradley and Dale A. Ostlie. "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics." 2nd ed. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2007.
GF1 Longair, Malcolm S. "Galaxy Formation." Berlin: Springer, 1998.
H1 Hartle, James B. "Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity." San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2003.
HKT2 Hansen, Carl J., Steven D. Kawaler, and Virginia Trimble. "Stellar Interiors: Physical Principles, Structure, and Evolution." 2nd ed. USA: Springer, 2004.
ST1 Shapiro, Stuart L., and Saul A. Teukolsky. "Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects." Germany: WILEY-VCH, 2004.
180 Questions' References List
1. Lore
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
2. Plasmas
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
3. Stellar Physics
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
4. Compact Objects
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59. {CO2, Section 18.4: White Dwarfs in Semidetached Binaries (pages 673-686).}
60. {INCORRECT: CO2, pg. 583, "The Chandrasekhar Limit for Neutron Stars."}
61.
62.
63. {C1, Section 5.4: Geodesics of Schwarzschild (pgs 205-212; especially 210-212).}
64. {H1, Section 14.5: Gyroscopes in the Spacetime of a Slowly Rotating Body (pgs 303-307).}
65. {C1, Section 5.5: Experimental Tests (pgs 216-218 only).}
66. {ST1, Section 13.6: Galactic Buldge Sources (pgs 389-394).}, {CO2, pgs 696-697 (section called "X-ray Bursters").} For recurrent novae (aka, "Classical Novae" or "Cataclysmic Variables"), see Part III question #59.
67. {CO2, pgs 662-665 (section called "The Temperature Profile and Luminosity"), esp. example 18.2.1.}
68. {CO2, pgs 593-599 (sections called "The Energy Source for the Crab's Synchrotron Radiation" and "The Basic Pulsar Model").}
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
5. Variable Stars
86.
87.
88.
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6.ISM
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
7. Stellar Remnants
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
8. Radiative Processes
105.
106.
107.
108.
9. Galactic Physics
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134.
135.
136.
10. High Energy Physics
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
11. Cosmology
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
166.
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
176.
177.
178.
179.
180.
