Astro 596G:  Active Galactic Nuclei

Spring 2007
Steward Observatory Room 204
  3 Units, MWF 11-noon
Instructors:  Jill Bechtold and Xiaohui Fan
DESCRIPTION: This is a seminar course on Active Galactic Nuclei and related phenomena. The course will be taught at the graduate level, and consist of lectures by faculty and other researchers in the Department of Astronomy and the Department of Physics. Guest lectures by visiting scientists, and scientists from the National Observatory will also be scheduled. The lectures will cover the underlying physics necessary to understand each topic, as well as survey the current literature.

CLASS WEBSITE:  http://boojum.as.arizona.edu/~jill/xagn.html

GRADES:  Students taking this course for credit will be assigned a letter grade, based on
	10%  Attendance
	40%  Class participation
	50%  Presentation of two or more lectures

PREREQUISITES:  Suggested prerequisite is Astro 522, or equivalent.  The course is intended for graduate students enrolled in the astronomy or physics department. 
	Qualified undergraduates may also enroll, at the discretion of the instructors.

INSTRUCTORS:  The lectures will be given by various members of the astronomy department and other Tucson area astronomers.
	Jill Bechtold and Xiaohui Fan will be responsible for overall organization and grading.  Office hours are immediately after class, or 
	by appointment.
	

READING:

	REQUIRED:
            Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei at All Scales
                 ed.s Danielle Alloin, Rachel Johnson, Paulina Lira  Springer, 2006

        RECOMMENDED:
            An Introduction to Active Galactic Nuclei (Paperback),
		 by Bradley M. Peterson.    Cambridge University Press, 1997
            Accretion Power in Astrophysics (Third Edition, Paperback), 
		by Juhan Frank, Andrew King, Derek Raine.  Cambridge University Press, 2002
            Each lecturer will select important articles from the astrophysics literature for reading prior to class.
	
	SUGGESTED:  
		Books will be on reserve in the Parker Room.   
		Presentations will be posted on the class web site.
		Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei 
			by Donald E. Osterbrock & Gary J. Ferland, University Science Books, 2nd Edition, 2005
		Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (Paperback) 
			by George Rybicki and Alan Lightman, Wiley-Interscience, 1985

LECTURE TOPICS:

The course will review theory and observations of the quasar phenomena including the following topics:

a.  black hole formation in the cosmological context
b.  accretion disk theory
c.  physics of the broad line region
d.  the narrow line region, ionization cones, and related phenomena
e.  new results from the Chandra and Spitzer Observatories
f.  relation of AGN to starburst galaxies
g.  the Galactic Center
h.  Measurements of central black hole mass in local galaxies and other spheroids
i.  Quasar host galaxies
j.  the galactic environment of quasars
k.  broad absorption line quasars and the physics of mass outflows in AGN
l.  GPS/CSS quasars
m.  the radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy
n.  what can we learn from stellar mass black holes, microquasars and other low-mass accretion phenomena in the Galaxy
o.  spectropolarimetry of quasars
p.  The Unified Model for quasars:  still viable?
q.  Obscured quasars and Compton thick quasars
r.  Blazars and BL Lac objects
s.  Jets in the radio and X-rays
t.  Cosmological measurements with quasars:  abundances, the Baldwin Effect, clustering
u.  Quasar surveys and the luminosity function
v.  the Fe Kalpha line
w.  Quasar continuum variablity
x.  Gamma Ray observations (including Whipple observatory)