UTSA-SwRI Space Physics
Graduate Program

3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topics may include the following: Topic 1: Stellar Astrophysics. Advanced discussion of one or more topics from: stellar structure, physics of accretion disks, physics of star formation and the interstellar medium, structure of collapsed stars and supernova remnants, radiative transport and photoionization. Topic 2: Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics. Density wave theory and structure of spiral galaxies. Active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, large-scale structure. Topic 3: Cosmology. Basics of general relativity. The cosmological principle and Friedmann models, thermal history of the universe, structure formation, the cosmic microwave [...]

3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and permission in writing (form available) of the instructor and the student’s Graduate Advisor of Record. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. For students needing specialized work not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 hours, regardless of discipline, will apply to the degree.

3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. This course is aimed at training graduate students in the basic aspects of experimental physics, such as instrumentation, data acquisition, and statistical treatment of data and error analysis, introduction to modern equipment control and data acquisition with LabVIEW, equipment design, detectors and interfaces.

3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Photometry, stellar models, variable stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, supernovae, cosmic rays, galaxies and galactic structure, and introduction to cosmology.

3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Methods to overcome resistance to writing and approach to become productive scientific writers. Writing methods and techniques for manuscript, dissertation, thesis preparation. Fundamentals of funding proposal writing. Critical reading and reviewing.