Course structure

• 20 lectures ideally, with a 10-5-5 split for lecturers Cairns, Wheatland, and Willes, respectively.
• Lectures on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12 noon to 1 pm in Lecture Theatre 4. (Unless changed by unanimous consent.)
• Weekly assignments, in which one question per week will be marked in detail and the others assessed more qualitatively. Solutions will be given.
• Course assessment: 30% assignments and 70% exam for Honours students. Postgraduates should discuss the assessment policy with Iver Cairns.
• Notes policy: notes will usually be provided on paper prior to a given lecture and will be placed on the Internet at the following address:

  http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/ cairns/public_html/ssp_home.html

• Text books - none chosen.
• Books suggested for reading, details, interest etc. All are on Closed Reserve in the Physics Library.
  • T. Cravens, Physics of Solar System Plasmas. Cambridge.
  • M. Kivelson & C.T. Russell (Eds), Introduction to Space Physics, Cambridge, 1995.
  • W. Baumjohann and R.A. Treumann, Basic Space Plasma Physics, Imperial College Press, 1996.
  • A. Benz, Plasma Astrophysics, Kluwer, 1993.
  • G.K. Parks, Physics of Space Plasmas, Addison-Willey, 1991.
  • D.B. Melrose, Instabilities in Space and Laboratory Plasmas, Cambridge, 1986.
  • D.B. Melrose, Plasma Astrophysics, Gordon & Breach, 1980.
• If you have questions or comments on the course then they should be addressed first to the lecturer concerned and then to Iver Cairns, who has overall responsibility for the course.