ASTEC -- the Aarhus STellar Evolution Code

The Aarhus code is the result of a long development, starting in 1974, and still ongoing. A novel feature is the integration of the computation of adiabatic oscillations for specified models as part of the code. It offers substantial flexibility in terms of microphysics and has been carefully tested for the computation of solar models. However, considerable development is still required in the treatment of nuclear reactions, diffusion and convective mixing.Comment: Astrophys. Space Sci, in the pres

ADIPLS -- the Aarhus adiabatic oscillation package

Development of the Aarhus adiabatic pulsation code started around 1978. Although the main features have been stable for more than a decade, development of the code is continuing, concerning numerical properties and output. The code has been provided as a generally available package and has seen substantial use at a number of installations. Further development of the package, including bringing the documentation closer to being up to date, is planned as part of the HELAS Coordination Action.Comment: Astrophys. Space Sci., in the pres

YREC: The Yale Rotating Stellar Evolution Code

The stellar evolution code YREC is outlined with emphasis on its applications to helio- and asteroseismology. The procedure for calculating calibrated solar and stellar models is described. Other features of the code such as a non-local treatment of convective core overshoot, and the implementation of a parametrized description of turbulence in stellar models, are considered in some detail. The code has been extensively used for other astrophysical applications, some of which are briefly mentioned at the end of the paper.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, ApSS accepte

Probing helium interfaces with light scattering : from fluid mechanics to statistical physics

We have investigated the formation of helium droplets in two physical situations. In the first one, droplets are atomised from superfluid or normal liquid by a fast helium vapour flow. In the second, droplets of normal liquid are formed inside porous glasses during the process of helium condensation. The context, aims, and results of these experiments are reviewed, with focus on the specificity of light scattering by helium. In particular, we discuss how, for different reasons, the closeness to unity of the index of refraction of helium allows in both cases to minimise the problem of multiple scattering and obtain results which it would not be possible to get using other fluids.Comment: 21 page

Optical properties of dust

http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.4123Except in a few cases cosmic dust can be studied in situ or in terrestrial laboratories, essentially all of our information concerning the nature of cosmic dust depends upon its interaction with electromagnetic radiation. This chapter presents the theoretical basis for describing the optical properties of dust -- how it absorbs and scatters starlight and reradiates the absorbed energy at longer wavelengths.Partial support by a Chandra Theory program and HST Theory Programs is gratefully acknowledged