Admission requirements
The student must have successfully completed the course Exo-planets: Interiors and Atmospheres A
Description
The emphasis of Part B of the “Exoplanets” course is on the “exterior” of planets, namely, from the upper atmosphere and beyond. Planets do not exist in empty space, but they are rather embedded in the particle, magnetic and radiation environments of their host stars. As a consequence, the interaction between planets and their host stars leads to escape of planetary atmospheres, shapes (and sometimes induces) planetary magnetospheres, and affects the space weather on a planet.
This course focuses on Space Physics, and covers the following topics:
Planetary upper atmospheres: atmospheric escape (thermal vs non-thermal); Jeans escape; hydrodynamic escape and energy-limit approximation; primary and secondary atmospheres; detection of escaping atmospheres in exoplanets
Planetary magnetospheres: magnetism in solar system planets, intrinsic magnetosphere, induced magnetosphere, magnetopause distance, ionopause, magnetic fields in exoplanets.
Solar and stellar activity: spot cycle, flares, magnetism and proxies for magnetic activity; effects of stellar activity on exoplanet detection.
The interplanetary medium (stellar winds) and hydrodyamic escape (planetary atmospheres): basic concepts of fluid dynamics,, thermally-driven winds,
Star-planet interactions.
Space weather: origin, impacts, events and mitigation.
Course objectives
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
Derive the equations responsible for the stability of planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres
Explain the key processes responsible for solar and stellar activity and their space weather effects on (exo)planets
Explain the physics of winds of planet-hosting stars; derive the basic wind equations and evaluate the wind forcing on (exo)planets
Discuss and present current literature on Space Physics in collaboration within a group of students.
Use state-of-the-art codes to model exoplanets’ atmospheres and write an individual report on the numerical experiment
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have successfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go to the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
Lectures and tutorial sessions.
Assessment method
Continuous assessment throughout the course, such as, Problem set assignment, Paper group presentation, individual numerical project
Reading list
No formal book will be used in this course and bibliographic material will be suggested for each lecture. Some useful books are listed below:
“Space Physics - An Introduction”, Russell, Luhmann, Strangeway
“Atmospheric evolution on inhabited and lifeless worlds” (Catling and Kasting)
“Introduction to stellar winds”, by Lamers & Cassinelli
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for registering on time, i.e. 14 days before the start of the course. This can be done via Mystudymap. You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2. Please note: late registration is not possible.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from July; registration for courses in the second semester is possible from December. First-year bachelor students are registered for semester 1 by the faculty student administration; they do not have to do this themselves. For more information, see this page.
In addition, it is mandatory for all students, including first-year bachelor students, to register for exams. This can be done up to and including 10 calendar days prior to the exam or up to five calendar days in case of a retake exam. You cannot participate in the exam or retake without a valid registration in My Studymap.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Lecturer: Dr. A. Vidotto
Remarks
Soft skills
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Computational thinking
Analytical skills
Oral and Written communication