TEXTS:
A.G.G.M.
Tielens: The Physics and
Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
D. Osterbrock
& G. Ferland: Astrophysics
of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei
GRADES:
50% Final Exam
50% Homework,
Class Participation and Class Oral Presentation
COURSE OUTLINE:
1. Phases of the ISM (John)
- atomic and molecular hydrogen
clouds
- stability criteria
- cooling curves
- heating sources
- multi-phase models
2. Supernovae and shocks (John)
- some basic hydrodynamics
- jump conditions
- Sedov-Taylor solution for SN
evolution
- SN contribution to ISM (energy
and matter)
- shocks in other ISM contexts
- observational diagnostics of
shocks
3. Dust (John)
- fundamentals of extinction
- composition and other
properties of dust grains
- sources and sinks of grains
- connection with solar system
materials
4. Star Formation (John)
- models and mechanisms
- accretion disks
- bipolar outflows
- observational signposts and diagnostics
7. Absorption line studies (Jill)
- review of Voigt profiles, curve of growth,
doublet ratios
- results from Copernicus, IUE, HST, FUSE for the
Milky Way
- element depletion patterns
8. Ionization and thermal
equilibrium of gaseous nebulae (Jill)
- description of physical processes
- thermodynamic equilibrium, timescales
- Milne relation, detailed balance, Saha equation
- spectral line formation:
T, n
diagnostics, abundances
H and He
recombination spectra
relative
Balmer fluxes
forbidden
lines, critical density
resonance
fluorescence
near- and mid-
IR spectral line diagnostics
- H II regions: structure, ionizing stars
- planetary nebulae