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.
  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. Spectra of Alkali Elements (April 6)
    Spin-orbit interaction  |  "spdf" notation  |  Spectra of Alkali Elements
    Homework 1 (due April 16)
    Recording

  4. The spectrum of Helium (April 8)
    Helium atom (SRK)  | 
    Quantum Mechanics of the Helium Atom [UMich, Chem461]  |  Periodic Table [UMich, Chem461]  |  Hylleraas solution
    Recording

  5. 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)

  6. Far Infrared & Submillimeter Astronomy (April 15)
    IR background  |  Talk on FSL by Stancil  |  Collisional Processes (Chapter 2).
    Beginnings of FSL astronomy
    Recording

  7. Collisonal Coefficients, Oscillator Strength, Critical Density (April 20)
    Chapters 2, 6, 17
    Recording

  8. April 22 Recording

  9. WNM & CNM April 26
    Recording

  10. 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

  11. Recombination (May 4)
    Homework 3: Due May 17

  12. HII regions (May 6)
    Recombination-II  |  Stromgren sphere  |  Recording

  13. Thermal Balance of HII regions, Nebular Diagnostics (May 11)
    Thermal Balance  |  Nebular Diagnostics  |  Thermal Balance
    Recording

  14. Low Energy Cosmic Rays, Very Local ISM (May 13)
    Very Local ISM
    Recording

  15. 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

  16. Introduction to Molecules (May 29)
    Molecular gas
    Recording
    Homework 4

  17. Dust-I (May 25) Interstellar Dust
    Recording

  18. Dust-II (May 27) Thermal physics of dust  |  Small Particle Heating
    Recording
    Additional Reading material: Draine on Dust I  |  History of IR astronomy