Syllabus,+Diffuse+Matter+in+Space

**Diffuse Matter in Space**
1. Dynamics of gaseous flows, with and without gravity: a. Basic equations of fluid dynamics, with applications to shocks, winds, and accretion. b. Instabilities: Jeans, Kelvin-Helmholtz, Rayleigh-Taylor, Parker c. Influence of magnetic fields: fundamentals of magnetohydrodynamics: plasmas, hydromagnetic and Alfvén waves, flux-freezing, ambipolar diffusion, D-type shocks d. Accretion disks: role of viscosity, vertical structure

2. Structure and states of the interstellar medium: a. Heating and cooling processes b. Thermal instabilities, and the multiphase ISM c. Molecular clouds: dominant observational probes, cloud properties, cloud cores, sources of support against gravity d. Diffuse clouds in the warm interstellar medium; dominant observational probes e. Structure and dynamics of supernova remnants; coronal gas f. HII regions: Strömgren spheres and photoionization balance, ionization fronts, cooling lines and the thermal balance, g. Photodissociation regions and X-ray dissociation regions.

3. Particulate interstellar matter: a. Dust grains: creation, growth, structure, longevity, charge, coupling to gas b. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other large molecules

Other Topics Selectable by the Instructor as Time Permits: - Additional accretion disk topics: magnetorotational instability, jet formation, dead zones, dust growth and distribution - Interstellar chemistry -- grain surface and gas phase reactions, complex molecules, isotopologues and fractionation - Additional HII region topics: effect of dust, helium ionization zones, recombination lines, diagnostic line ratios, planetary nebulae, abundance determinations, the ionization parameter, blister HII regions, the jet effect - Additional magnetic field topics: measurement techniques, minimum energy field, dynamos - Additional dust topics: diffuse interstellar bands, dust grain alignment mechanisms

Summary Description

This course focusses on the physical and dynamical characteristics of gas and dust in the interstellar and intergalactic media. It includes an introduction to fluid dynamics, with applications to common processes such as shocks, winds, accretion, and disks, and to the instabilities that arise in fluid flows. The effects of magnetic fields on these processes are examined, as are other effects attributable primarily to the physics of magnetic fields. The thermal, density, and chemical structure of the various states of the interstellar medium -- molecular clouds, diffuse atomic clouds, HII regions, and coronal gas -- are described, as are the processes leading to evolution of these states and the transformations between them. Dust and other particulate constituents of the interstellar medium are discussed in detail. Additional topics chosen by the instructor, with attention to student interest, include interstellar chemistry, deeper investigations of accretion disk or HII region phenomena, or more advanced topics related to magnetic fields or dust.

Texts:
 * Frank Shu: The Physics of Astrophysics, Vol II: Gas Dynamics (University Science Books, 1992)
 * John E. Dyson and David A. Williams: The Physics of the Interstellar Medium, 1997, Institute of Physics Pub.
 * A.G.G.M. Tielens: The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium, 2005, Cambridge Univ. Press
 * Sun Kwok: Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium, 2006, University Science Books
 * James Lequeux: The Interstellar Medium, 2004, Springer
 * Spitzer, Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium