Physics 610: Interstellar Matter
Fall 2023

Instructor
Eric Gawiser
Serin W303
Phone: 848-445-8874
Email: gawiser@physics.rutgers.edu
Office hours: Immediately after each lecture
and Wednesdays 3-3:30pm

Venue
MTh 12:10-1:30PM in SEC 204

Textbook
The only required textbook is Physics of the Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium by Bruce Draine. I would also encourage you to pick up a copy of The Physics of Astrophysics, Volume II: Gas Dynamics , which will be our primary text for the Fluids & Plasmas content at the end of the semester.
I will also draw material as needed from Osterbrock & Ferland, Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei and Spitzer, Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium, and for review of material from PHY 514 Radiative Processes from Rybicki & Lightman, Radiative Processes in Astrophysics and Shu's Volume I: Radiation.

Overview
Here's the official course catalog listing:
"Interstellar Matter. Prerequisite: 750:514, Radiative Processes, or equivalent. Properties of the interstellar and intergalactic media: molecular, neutral atomic, and plasma phases. Interstellar dust, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays. Applications of fluid mechanics: instabilities, shocks, magnetohydrodynamics. Star formation and feedback."

The Interstellar Medium (ISM) affects most areas of astrophysics research. I will try to highlight topics that are important to areas of current research in extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology (e.g., galaxy formation, the enrichment of the intergalactic medium, and the reionization of the universe).

Schedule
Both the sequence of lectures and the assignment due dates are preliminary; I will update them as needed during the course of the semester to reflect topics actually covered.

MEETING DATE TOPIC TEXT DUE
1 Sep 7 Intro; chemical composition of the ISM D 1  
2 Sep 11 Review of radiative transfer; thermal emission D 7 (RL 1)  
3 Sep 14 Free-free; synchrotron; emission lines D 6, 10 (RL 5,6)  
4 Sep 18 Absorption lines; HI 21cm emission; ionization D 3, 8 (RL 9, 10)  
5 Sep 21 HII regions; atomic structure D 4, 9, 15 PS1
6 Sep 25 Recombination lines D 14.2, 17, 19  
7 Sep 28 Collisional excitation D 14.2, 17, 19 PS2
8 Oct 2 Nebular emission-line diagnostics D 18  
9 Oct 5 Thermal equilibrium in ionized gas D 27 PS3
10 Oct 9 Thermal equilibrium in neutral gas; ISM phases D 30  
11 Oct 12 Interstellar dust: observations D 21 PS4
12 Oct 16 Problem session - free time ---  
13 Oct 19 Brainstorm proposal topics ---  
14 Oct 23 Interstellar dust: properties D 22, 23, 24 PS5
15 Oct 26 Interstellar dust: physical processes D 25 (RL 11)  
16 Oct 30 Molecular spectroscopy D 5 PS6
17 Nov 2 Molecular hydrogen D 31  
18 Nov 6 Molecular clouds; PDRs and molecular chemistry D 32, 33 PS7
19 Nov 9 Interstellar magnetic fields D 11, 21.3, 29.3  
20 Nov 13 Fluid mechanics: basics D 35 PS8
21 Nov 16 Formation of individual stars D 41  
22 Nov 20 Interstellar shocks D 36 PS9
23 Nov 21 Stellar winds and supernova blast waves D 38, 39  
24 Nov 27 The three-phase model of the ISM D 1.1, 39.4  
25 Nov 30 Star formation on galaxy scales D 42 SALT Proposal (v1)
26 Dec 4 Feedback on galaxy scales ---  
27 Dec 7 Fluids as continuua S 1, 2 (p.37-44) Proposal Peer Reviews
28 Dec 11 Fluid instabilities S 6 (p.64-67), 7 (p.88-90), 8 (p.101-105), 14 (p.188-191)  
29 Dec 14 Magnetohydrodynamic waves; intergalactic gas S 15 (p.203-205), 22 (p.305-308), 26 (p.346-352), 28 Revised Proposals
D= Draine, S = Shu Vol.2, RL=Rybicki & Lightman

Grading
Your course grade will be based on a weighted combination of three elements:

Problem sets will be posted and submitted via Canvas. They will include three types of exercises: straightforward examples or extensions of material discussed in lecture; more involved applications to areas of current research, which may encompass some computational work; and true/false questions that simulate the challenge of refereeing a journal paper.

Other items

Last updated September 20, 2023.