quantumquirkxyz Contract
- Input: problem description and inputs defined by the skill body.
- Output: Markdown artifact with completed process steps.
- Side effects: none.
- Dependencies: none.
- Stop condition: all process steps executed; artifact saved with required sections.
- Risk: low.
- Boundary: produces reasoning artifact only; no system changes.
Astrophysics Modeling
Model an astrophysical system — stellar, galactic, cosmological — with physical scales, order-of-magnitude estimates, and known scaling laws.
When to use
- A stellar, planetary, galactic, or cosmological problem needs a quantitative model.
- Order-of-magnitude estimates for astrophysical phenomena.
- Connecting observations to physical theory.
Process
- Identify the astrophysical regime — stellar (fusion, HR diagram, mass-radius), orbital (Kepler's laws, n-body), galactic (dynamics, spiral structure), cosmological (FLRW, CMB, dark matter).
- State physical scales — distances (AU, parsec, Mpc), masses (M☉), times (Myr, Gyr), temperatures.
- Choose the governing physics — gravity (Newton/Einstein), thermodynamics, nuclear physics, radiation transport.
- Apply scaling laws — Virial theorem, Jeans equations, mass-luminosity relation, Kepler's 3rd, Chandrasekhar limit, Schwarzschild radius.
- Estimate numerically — order-of-magnitude before exact calculation; use the scaling to catch errors.
- Check against observations — known values for comparable objects (e.g. Sun, Jupiter, Milky Way mass).
- Deliver — artifact: regime, scales, governing physics, scaling laws applied, numerical estimate, observational check.