Astronomy A503: The ISM

Assessment:
1) Problem set due Monday Feb 21.
2) Computational assignment due Monday April 4 (see here for atomic data). A perl version of the Voigt function program is also available.
3) Essays due Friday April 15. Select from one of these titles (first come, first served). Word limit at your discretion, but less than 20 pages (word processed, 12 pt) including figures and references please.

• The Primordial Abundances of the Light Elements (Melissa).
• Galactic High Velocity Clouds (Ida).
• Metals in the Intergalactic Medium.
• Abundance Gradients in Galaxies (Wes).
• Empirical Calibrators for HII Region Abundances (Rachel).
• Dust and Extinction in Galactic Environments at Low and High Redshift (Eric).
• Chemical Abundances in Damped Lyman Alpha Systems
• Molecular Hydrogen in the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds and at High Redshift (Brian).

Lecture Notes

Lecture 1 - Introduction, notation, measuring absorption lines.
Lecture 2 - Collisional excitation and ionization, line transfer effects
Lecture 3 - Photoionization and recombination
Lecture 4 - Dust and metals
Introduction to QSO absorption lines
The Intergalactic Medium
Damped Lyman Alpha Systems
The ISM of the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds