Literature review project and presentation

Literature review project and presentation#

The aim of this literature review project is for each student to engage in a bit more depth with an important topic in modern stellar physics and explain it to the rest of the class. This is effectively a literature review + exposition project, you are not expected to produce new results, but you should aim at digesting and being able to explain the context, physical processes at play, and how they relate to the material seen in class (during lectures, activities, and other student presentations!).

N.B.: The aim of the project is for you to focus on the physical processes that are relevant and to put them in the context of the course material to explain the rest of the class something.

Each student will be assigned a topic to research from the list below and provide a short written summary ( ≤ 5 pages including figures and/or tables and references) and an oral presentation to the classroom. This will allow each student to dig deeper into a topic we cannot spend too much time on in class, and at the same we can all learn from each other!

It is strongly encouraged that the written summary be prepared using LaTeX via tools such as Overleaf, MacTeX, or other and exported as a final PDF. AAS Journals also provide templates examples here. PDF produced using Microsoft Word will also be accepted.

The oral presentation is 10min+5min questions.

Timeline#

November 11, 2025, end of day: submission of draft manuscript to peer-referees via email
November 27, 2025, end of day: referees submit feedback to D2L and author
December 4, 2025, end of day: submission of final manuscript to D2L

All files should be exchanged in pdf format, via email copying the instructor. To make sure that your peers have time to read, provide feedback, and incorporate that feedback, please adhere strictly to this timeline. Any deviations need to be agreed upon by all parties.

Procedure to assign projects#

Each student will be asked identify 5 topics of interest from the list below, and I will assign the research topic and the peer referees from these lists. It may not be possible to satisfy each student’s preferences.

List of possible projects/presentations#

If you have some other topic in mind, please come talk to me early on, as we may be able to accommodate it.

Stellar rotation: observational evidence
Stellar rotation: Von Zeipel theorem
Stellar rotation: angular momentum transport processes
From T~eff~ to color: bolometric corrections and extinction
Asteroseismology
Cepheids as distance indicators
Astrometry & the Gaia mission
Astrometry: walkaway, runaway, and/or hyper-velocity stars
Astrometric detection of Gaia BH1, BH2, BH3, and NS1
Tides in stars
Algol Paradox
Common envelope evolution
Mass transfer in binary systems
Clusters: globular and open
Globular clusters: dynamics
Formation of stars
Stars in galaxies: Chemical evolution
Stars in galaxies: Mechanical feedback
Stars in galaxies: Radiative feedback
Nucleosynthesis: s-process
Nucleosynthesis: r-process
X-ray binaries
Thermonuclear explosion in WDs
Neutron star structure
The Eddington limit
Convective boundary mixing
Schönberg-Chandrasekhar limit and its consequences
Supernova Ia
Analytic stellar models: Lane-Emden equation
Analytic stellar models: Eddington standard model
Novae
Supermassive stars
Stellar neutrinos
Pair instability supernovae
Triple systems: Kozai-Lidov-von Zeipel oscillations
Orbital architectures of (star+star) binaries in the Universe
The lowest mass stars: M dwarfs and Brown dwarfs
Something else within the scope of the course (to be agreed upon!)
Combination of topics above (to be agreed upon!)

Recommended sources#

You are encouraged to do your own research, but in the final manuscript (and when appropriate in the oral presentation) you need to cite all the relevant sources. These can be textbooks, review papers, and/or journal articles. To find journal articles, you can use NASA/ADS. You can use online freely-available resources (e.g., Wikipedia) as a starting point, but should go find primary sources (e.g., what Wikipedia itself cites, if not the references cited by the source from Wikipedia, and so on…).

Grading#

This part is worth 40% of your final grade – almost as much as all the homework combined, so you want to do it well!

Both text and presentations will be evaluated by the instructors and your peers according to the evaluation rubrics outlined below.

More specifically, the text will be evaluated by two other students in the class, while the oral presentation and handling of the questions will be evaluated by all the students present. Your presence and active participation in the presentation from other students is required and will be counted towards the general in-class participation.

All students will be encouraged to ask questions during the presentations. The questions and the way you provide your evaluations and feedback to your peers will also be considered for your final grading.

The breakdown of the project/presentation grade is as follows (in % of final grade):

12% for the oral presentation and 8% for presentation feedback/QA
16% for the written report
4% from how you provide feedback to others on their draft final reports

N.B.: Regardless of the quantitative weight of each portion towards the grade, your engagement is necessary for the success of the others. When refereeing your feedback should help them improve, and nobody wants to present to an absent audience!

Remember to appreciate the time and effort others have put in their work and be kind and constructive in providing feedback. The aim is to learn and improve, not to crush other people’s work. And also, nothing is ever perfect, there is always something to be asked and/or something that can be improved!

Honors project#

To get honors credits for this class, on top of the project described above, you will do a stellar evolution theory project using the MESA code on your own laptop to investigate in more depth some aspect that we will only barely mention in class. Follow this link to see an example honors project.