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