Ideas for A Class Project

[darkchild]

I need to do a class project for a Physics of Planetary Science course. I'd like to do it on problems with/possible improvements on computational/mathematical methods in some aspect of orbital mechanics. Please let me know if you know of any specific contemporary computational/mathematical problems in this area (or in any area that might be relevant to this course, such as accretion, detection of extrasolar planets, or the 3-body problem) that would be accessible to a senior Astrophysics undergrad, and simple enough to complete a short paper on in about two weeks. Thanks.

 

[lippyka]

One possible project could be exploring methods for better characterizing exoplanetary systems. This could involve looking into computational/mathematical methods for determining the orbital elements of a system, or even methods for simulating the dynamical evolution of the system over time. Additionally, this project could look into different methods for detecting exoplanets, such as transit photometry, radial velocity measurements, or direct imaging. Another possible project could be exploring methods for solving the three-body problem. This could involve looking into numerical methods for approximating solutions to the equations of motion, or methods for simulating the dynamical evolution of the system over time. Additionally, this project could look into different stochastic methods for solving the three-body problem, such as Monte Carlo simulations or Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. Finally, another potential project could be exploring methods for modeling accretion disks around stars. This could involve looking into computational and mathematical methods for understanding the structure and evolution of these disks, or methods for simulating the dynamics of the system. Additionally, this project could look into different methods for detecting accretion disks, such as spectroscopy or imaging.