Gas and Radiative Processes

Catalog description

This course will introduce the basic physics of the the primary gaseous environments in the universe and their observational signatures. Astrophysical environment to be addressed will include the atmospheres of stars, the interstellar medium, the circumgalactic medium, and the intergalactic medium. Physical processes covered will include gas hydrodynamics, radiative and collisional excitation and ionization balance in astrophysics, atomic processes and detailed balancing, heating and cooling balance, and evolution. From the observational point of view, the course will discuss the spectral signatures of these processes, including stellar spectra, 21-cm spectra, emission line spectra from HII regions and planetary nebulae, and absorption lines from the interstellar medium, circumgalactic medium, and intergalactic medium.