Philip Arras

Tides in Stars and Planets
Contact information:
arras@virginia.edu
Fellowship status:
Starting year: 2002
AAPF alumnus
Fellowship institution: Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (UCSB)
Current (or last known) position: Assistant Professor, U. Virginia
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Research Interests:

I have worked on a variety of problems in relativistic astrophysics (supernovae, neutrinos, compact stars, gravitational waves), stellar and planetary physics (seismology, tides, magnetic fields, accretion), and dynamics (globular clusters, galaxies, binary systems). Recent and continuing projects are in the following areas: Gravitational radiation, r-modes, and the limiting spin period of neutron stars (NS). Magnetic field evolution in NS. Strong magnetic field effects on neutron star cooling and nuclear burning processes.Transient heating and cooling of white dwarfs (WD) in accretion outbursts. Seismology and pulsational instability for accreting WD's. Tides in rapidly rotating stars and planets. Binary orbit evolution and internal heating due to tides. Other areas in which I've worked extensively are: Constraints on galactic dark matter from destruction of stellar systems. Neutrino transport in supernovae and pulsar kicks. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations Extrasolar planets and stellar pollution.

Education and Outreach Interests:

In Fall 2002, Omer Blaes and I designed the curriculum for a new graduate class on Galactic and extragalactic astronomy The goal was to give students an introduction to the standard lore of Galactic astronomy, as well as the modern view of galaxies in the context of cosmological structure formation. In spring quarter of 2004, I co-taught the class "Physics of California" with Lars Bildsten at UC Santa Barbara. This is a new class for upper level undergraduate students, so we had to design the curriculum. The goal of the class was to learn classical physics and then apply it to natural phenomena common to California. The breadth of physics needed for understanding some of these phenomena and the impossibility posed by trying to do it "exactly right'' forces students to learn to make estimates, carry out dimensional analysis and get the units right, all crucial skills for a practicing scientist.