Ay126: Interstellar Medium
There is no single book that can cover both pedagogy and at the
same time the astrophysics of ISM. Draine (Physics of the
Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium) does a very good job on
the latter. I will make use of a variety of sources for pedagogy.
I would recommend that you buy a copy of Draine's book. Below
"Chapter" refers to appropriate chapter in Draine's book.
The URL
lists the errata and has problem sets and figures used in the book.
RESERVED BOOKS:
The Physics of Interstellar Dust by Endkri Krugel
Astrophysics of gaseous nebulae and active galactic nuclei
by Donald E. Osterbrock, Gary J. Ferland
Atomic energy levels and Grotrian diagrams, vol. 1-4 by
Stanley Bashkin and John O. Stoner, Jr
Introduction to atomic spectra by Harvey Elliott White
Interesting sites:
J"orn Wilms, Erlangen-Nuremberg. Nice site of notes related to
high energy astrophysics and atomic processes. Look under teaching
(e.g. Astrophysical Radiation Processes"
Richard Mushotzky's
collection, particularly good for X-ray astronomy.
HOMEWORK POLICY: You are free to discuss amongst yourselves. In
fact, much of learning is peer-to-peer. Brain storming is good. However,
true understanding comes from within and so there is a delicate balance
between communal problem solving and deep contemplation. The latter will
stand you in good stead. I suggest the following approach: do your best
to solve the homework. Sometimes you simply cannot make a headway. Those
problems are grist to group discussions. What you submit must your
own work (typed, written, programmed, drawn).
GRADING FRAMEWORK: Two third will be determined by homeworks. The
remaining one third will be a final exam.
VENUE & TIME: Given COVID-19 all of our classes will be in the
Cloud.
Tuesday & Thursday 2:30-3:55p
FINAL EXAM.
The Master list of questions for the final exam can be found
here.
- Introduction (March 30)
Pictorial
Introduction.
From early Universe to present universe.
Dark Matter Simulation (Steinmetz) .
Simulation with gas (Hopkins)
Red is million degrees gas, green is 10^4 to 10^5 K gas and magenta is
cold gas.
Recording
- Hydrogen Spectrum; ISM Phases (April 1)
Spectrum of Hydrogen  | 
Hydrogen Wave functions (UMich,
Chem461) | 
Ionization Table & Chart  | 
ISM Global n,T  | 
Phases & Cosmic Abundance
Recording I  | 
Recording II
- Spectra of Alkali Elements (April 6)
Spin-orbit interaction  | 
"spdf" notation  | 
Spectra of Alkali Elements
Homework 1 (due April 16)
Recording
- The spectrum of Helium (April 8)
Helium atom (SRK)
 | 
Quantum Mechanics of the Helium Atom [UMich, Chem461]
 | 
Periodic Table [UMich, Chem461]
 | 
Hylleraas solution
Recording
- Spectroscopic Terms, Hund's Rules, Allowed & Forbidden Lines (April 13)
Orbitals | 
LL & JJ coupling | 
Allowed & Forbidden Lines
Homework 2 (due April 22, 2021)
 |  Unix program to
determine spectroscopic terms
Recording
Excellent Summary of
Term Symbols (LS,JJ)
-
Far Infrared & Submillimeter Astronomy (April 15)
IR background  | 
Talk on FSL by Stancil  | 
Collisional Processes (Chapter 2).
Beginnings of FSL astronomy
Recording
- Collisonal Coefficients, Oscillator Strength, Critical Density (April 20)
Chapters 2, 6, 17
Recording
- April 22
Recording
- WNM & CNM April 26
Recording
- Warm Ionized Medium (April 29)
Introducing WIM  | 
Glassgold Lecture on WIM
 | 
Plasma Frequency, Dispersion
Recording
Extra Reading:
Review of WHAM  | 
WIM review
 | 
The beginnings of
WHAM
Low frequency radio astronomy is making a big comeback.
These bands are well suited to the study of ionized gas and low
density gas. Read up on LOFAR, MWA, LWA.
The next big development is SKA. Read up what is driving this several
billion dollar project. For a look back perspective on radio
astronomy see
History of Radio Astronomy
- Recombination (May 4)
Homework 3: Due May 17
- HII regions (May 6)
Recombination-II  | 
Stromgren sphere  | 
Recording
- Thermal Balance of HII regions, Nebular Diagnostics (May 11)
Thermal Balance  | 
Nebular Diagnostics  | 
Thermal Balance
Recording
- Low Energy Cosmic Rays, Very Local ISM (May 13)
Very Local
ISM
Recording
- Hot Gas,;Global ISM Model (May 18)
Introduction to Astrophysics
Shocks | 
Hot Gas | 
Collisional Ionization Equilibrium | 
Global ISM models
The grand combo: the thermal equilibrium model with
heating (cosmic ray, photoelectrons from
atoms and dust) matched by cooling from FSL lines  | 
A simple 2-phase model
Recording
- Introduction to Molecules (May 29)
Molecular gas
Recording
Homework 4
- Dust-I (May 25)
Interstellar
Dust
Recording
- Dust-II (May 27)
Thermal physics of dust
 | 
Small Particle Heating
Recording
Additional Reading material:
Draine on Dust I
 | 
History of IR astronomy