Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium

DescriptionContentsResourcesCoursesAbout the Authors This concise textbook, the first volume in the Ohio State Astrophysics Series, covers all aspects of the interstellar and intergalactic medium for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. This series aims to impart the essential knowledge on a topic that every astrophysics graduate student should know, without going into encyclopedic depth. This text includes a full discussion of the circumgalactic medium, which bridges the space between the interstellar and intergalactic gas, and the hot intracluster gas that fills clusters of galaxies. Its breadth of coverage is innovative, as most current textbooks treat the interstellar medium in isolation. The authors emphasise an order-of-magnitude understanding of the physical processes that heat and cool the low-density gas in the universe, as well as the processes of ionization, recombination, and molecule formation. Problems at the end of each chapter are supplemented by online projects, data sets and other resources. Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Contents Preface 1 Introduction 1.1 History of Interstellar Studies 1.2 Approaching Equilibrium 1.3 Heating and Cooling in the ISM 1.4 Stable and Unstable Equilibrium Exercises 2 Cold Neutral Medium 2.1 Equation of Radiative Transfer 2.2 Absorbers and Emitters 2.3 Building Absorption Lines 2.4 Curve of Growth Exercises 3 Warm Neutral Medium 3.1 Twenty-One Centimeter Emission and Absorption 3.2 Radiative Transfer of Line Emission 3.3 Exciting Hyperfine Energy Levels Exercises 4 Warm Ionized Medium and Ionized Nebulae 4.1 Photoionization and Radiative Recombination 4.2 Strömgren Spheres 4.3 Heating and Cooling in H ii Regions 4.4 Temperature and Density Diagnostics 4.5 Dynamics of H ii Regions Exercises 5 Hot Ionized Medium 5.1 Shocking Information 5.2 Supernova Remnants 5.3 Ionizing, Heating, and Cooling 5.4 Observing the Hot Ionized Medium Exercises 6 Interstellar Dust 6.1 Observed Properties of Dust 6.2 Optical Properties of Grains 6.3 Composition, Shape, and Size of Grains 6.4 Heating and Cooling Grains 6.5 Making and Breaking Grains Exercises 7 Molecular Clouds 7.1 Interstellar CO 7.2 From CO to H[sub(2)] 7.3 Heating and Cooling Molecular Gas 7.4 Making and Breaking Molecules Exercises 8 Circumgalactic and Intracluster Gas 8.1 Circumgalactic Medium: Our Galaxy 8.2 Circumgalactic Medium: Other Galaxies 8.3 Intracluster Medium Exercises 9 Diffuse Intergalactic Medium 9.1 Gunn–Peterson Effect 9.2 Recombination 9.3 Reionization 9.4 Lyman Alpha Forest Exercises 10 Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium 10.1 Simulations 10.2 Observations Exercises Bibliography, References, and Figure Credits Constants and Units Index "This concise textbook, the first volume in the Ohio State Astrophysics Series, covers all aspects of the interstellar and intergalactic medium for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. This series aims to impart the essential knowledge on a topic that every astrophysics graduate student should know, without going into encyclopedic depth. This text includes a full discussion of the circumgalactic medium, which bridges the space between the interstellar and intergalactic gas, and the hot intracluster gas that fills clusters of galaxies. Its breadth of coverage is innovative, as most current textbooks treat the interstellar medium in isolation. The authors emphasize an order-of-magnitude understanding of the physical processes that heat and cool the low-density gas in the universe, as well as the processes of ionization, recombination, and molecule formation. Problems at the end of each chapter are supplemented by online projects, data sets and other resources"--Publisher's description Aimed at graduate students and advanced undergraduates in physics and astronomy, this concise textbook covers all aspects of the ISM and IGM. It discusses the underlying physical processes that determine the properties of interstellar and intergalactic gas and it examines how astronomical observations are used to measure these properties.