Textbook
Tielens, The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
I will also draw material as needed from Osterbrock & Ferland,
Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei, from
Rybicki & Lightman, Radiative Processes in Astrophysics, and from
Spitzer, Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium, all of which
are on reserve in the physics library.
Overview
Here's the official course catalog listing:
"Structure of the interstellar medium: its molecular, neutral atomic, and
plasma phases. Radiative transfer, dust, particle acceleration, magnetic
fields, and cosmic rays. Effects of supernovae, shock fronts, and star
formation."
I plan to broaden this list of topics to include the intergalactic medium; in general, I will try to highlight subjects 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 at this point; I will update them as needed during the course of the semester. The last two lectures are tentatively reserved for ISM-related topics to be chosen sometime after spring break by the students who are officially enrolled in the course. These will give you an opportunity to make me sweat, thus exacting revenge for a semester's worth of problem sets.
I have included in the schedule the dates of several local talks that are relevant to the subject matter of this course. Attendance is encouraged but not required!
LECTURE | DATE | TOPIC | TEXT | DUE |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jan 17 | chemical composition of the ISM | --- | |
2 | Jan 22 | radiative transfer | RL ch 1 | |
3 | Jan 24 | bremsstrahlung | RL ch 5 | |
Jan 24 | Jim Truran, University of Chicago: Explosions, Nucleosynthesis, and Cosmic Chemical Evolution |
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Jan 26 | Jason Glenn, University of Colorado: Probing the Growth of Massive Galaxies at High Redshifts with Sub/millimeter Observations |
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4 | Jan 29 | synchrotron emission | RL ch 6 | PS1 |
5 | Jan 31 | line emission; HI | T ch 2 | |
6 | Feb 5 | HII regions | T ch 7 | |
7 | Feb 7 | atomic structure; recombination lines | RL ch 9 & 10 | |
8 | Feb 12 | collisional excitation | T ch 2 | PS2 |
9 | Feb 14 | HeII regions | T ch 7 | |
Feb 16 | Anatoly Spitkovsky, Princeton University: How Collisionless Shocks Work (And How They Don't) |
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10 | Feb 19 | nebular emission-line diagnostics | T ch 7 | PS3 |
Matthew Klimek, Rutgers University: An Investigation of Newly-Discovered SNRs in the LMC |
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11 | Feb 21 | thermal equilibrium in ionized gas | T ch 2, 3, & 7 | |
12 | Feb 26 | thermal equilibrium in neutral gas; phases of the ISM | T ch 2, 3, & 8 | PS4 |
13 | Feb 28 | interstellar dust (1) | T ch 5 | |
Mar 3 | Reinhard Genzel, MPE Garching: Black Holes in Galaxies |
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14 | Mar 5 | interstellar dust (2) | T ch 5 | |
15 | Mar 9 | interstellar dust (3) + molecular bonding | T ch 5; RL ch 11 | mid-term paper |
16 | Mar 19 | molecular spectroscopy | RL ch 11 | |
17 | Mar 21 | molecular clouds | T ch 10 | |
18 | Mar 26 | PDRs and molecular chemistry | T ch 4, 6, & 9 | PS5 |
19 | Mar 28 | interstellar magnetic fields | S ch 10 & 11 | |
Mar 30 | Alice Shapley, Princeton University: The Seeds of the Morphology-Density Relation at z~2? |
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20 | Apr 2 | formation of individual stars | S ch 13 | PS6 |
21 | Apr 4 | interstellar shocks | T ch 11 | |
22 | Apr 6 | interstellar turbulence | --- | |
23 | Apr 9 | stellar winds and supernova blast waves | T ch 12 |   |
24 | Apr 11 | the three-phase model of the ISM | T ch 8 | PS7 |
25 | Apr 13 | star formation on galaxy scales | --- | |
26 | Apr 23 | feedback on galaxy scales | --- | PS8 |
27 | Apr 25 | student choice: masers | --- | |
28 | Apr 30 | student choice: the intergalactic medium | --- | PS9 |
Grading Your course grade will be based on a weighted combination of three elements:
The mid-term paper will be a ~5pp review of the contents of a particular set of literature papers and references therein (and/or citations thereof) that address a single ISM-related topic. I will provide sets of papers for several such topics, although if none of these look sufficiently interesting then you may suggest your own theme. This should be a critical review, showing that you have thought about what you've read and are not merely repeating it, and written at a level that your classmates could understand.
The final exam will be closed-book and closed-note. The questions on the exam will be drawn from (a) the problem sets, and (b) an additional list that I will provide you with well in advance.
Other items