Astronomy 230: Diffuse Matter in Space Instructor: Mark Krumholz Quarter: Spring 2014 Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 - 3:45 PM, room 356 ISB Web page: https://sites.google.com/a/ucsc.edu/krumholz/teaching-and-courses/ ast-230-s-14 Topics This course covers the important physical processes that occur in diffuse matter in space, and can roughly be divided into two parts. The first half of the class covers the basic physical processes and concepts that are important in diffuse matter. The second half of the class discusses the major phases of interstellar and intergalactic matter, and the cycle of mass and energy between these phases. Texts The main text for the class will be Physics of the Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium, by Bruce Draine. Additional ISM books that may prove useful include Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei, by Donald Osterbrock and Gary Ferland, Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium, by Xander Tielens, and Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium, by Lyman Spitzer. Standard references for radiative processes and hydrodynamics such as Rybicki & Lightman and the two volumes by Frank Shu will also be useful. Course Assignments This course will have 5 problem sets, as indicated on the syllabus. They will be posted on the course web page. In addition, each week we will all read one paper from the literature as indicated, and have a ∼ 30 minute discussion of it on Thursday. For each week, one or more students will be assigned to lead the discussion. Everyone who is not the discussion lead is responsible for sending one or more substantive questions or comments on the paper to the discussion lead by 5 PM on the Wednesday before the discussion. The discussion leader will incorporate those questions / comments into the discussion. There will be a short oral exam during finals week.
Week March 31 – April 4 April 9 – 13 April 14 – 18
April 21 – 25
April 28 – May 2
May 5 – 9
May 12 – 16
May 19 – 23
May 26 – 30
June 2 – 6 June 9 – 13
Topic Thermodynamics
Reading/assignments due Ch. 1 – 3 Ch. 4 – 7 Radiative processes Neufeld, 1990, ApJ, 350, 216 Ch. 8–10 Observational methods Savage & Sembach, 1991, ApJ, 379, 245 Problem set 1 due April 15 Ch. 13 – 15 Ionization balance Ferland et al., 1998, PASP, 110, 761 Kewley et al., 2001, ApJ, 556, 121 Ch. 17, 18 Nebular emission Goldreich & Kwan, 1974, ApJ, 189, 441 Problem set 2 due April 29 Ch. 21, 22 Dust Weingartner & Draine, 2001, ApJ, 548, 296 Draine et al., 2014, ApJ, 780, 172 Ch. 27, 28 Ionized gas Franco et al., 1990, ApJ, 349, 126 Problem set 3 due May 13 Ch. 29, 30 Neutral atomic gas Wolfire et al., 2003, ApJ, 587, 278 Kim et al., 2013, ApJ, 776, 1 Ch. 31 – 33 Krumholz et al., 2008, ApJ, 689, 865 Molecular gas Wolfire et al., 2010, ApJ, 716, 1191 Problem set 4 due May 27 Ch. 34, 39 Hot gas McKee & Ostriker, 1977, ApJ, 218, 148 Hill et al., 2012, ApJ, 750, 104 – Problem set 5 due June 10
Note: chapter numbers refer to Draine’s book.
