Extragalactic Astrophysics (Astro4)

Knowledge:

The student will be able to

• Account for the structure, stellar contents, and kinematics of the Milky Way galaxy.
• Identify an elliptical galaxy, a spiral galaxy, a starburst galaxy and AGN based on their images and spectra as well as explain the physics behind their observed properties.
• In a critical manner, account for the constituents of galaxies, their basic dynamics and the relative contribution of star populations between different galaxy classes.
• Account for the determination of physically observed parameters such as velocity dispersion, Sersic index, surface brightness, rotational velocity, scale height, scale length etc. in a confident and critical manner can account for how basic observational data are obtained and how the structural parameters of galaxies are derived from these.
• Account for the Tully Fisher relation for spiral galaxies and the fundamental plane for elliptical galaxies, their uses and how the underlying data is obtained.
• Account for how rotation curves can be used to derive the existence of dark matter, including how the underlying data is obtained.
• Present clear knowledge and understanding of strong encounters, weak encounters and the meaning of these in astrophysical systems, and galactic interactions.
• In a critical manner, account for methods for determining the distance for the first and the following steps on the cosmic distance ladder.
• Account for simple models for chemical enrichment, including critical discussion of the basic assumptions.
• Describe the most important basics of Galactic formation and evolution, including evolution of the cosmic star-formation rate density.
• Account for galaxy scaling relations such as the fundamental metallicity relation, main sequence for star-forming galaxies and correlations between these.
• Account for the current methods for mass determination of galaxy groups and clusters, as well as for the physics behind their observed properties and the properties of their constituent galaxies.
• Account for the observed properties of the large scale structures, the underlying physics, and the potential effects that can influence our measurements and mapping of these, with special focus on redshift surveys and correlation functions.
• Account for the origin of the observed radiation from quasars over all the electromagnetic spectrum.
• Describe the unified model for active galactic nuclei and the observational evidence in support of them.
• Account for how the Lyman Alpha forest is formed in spectra of distant astrophysical objects.

Skills:

The student

• Can confidently use the connections between apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude, colour and distances.
• Has confident use of the virial theorem.
• Can write simple programs in Python for reading and plotting tables and spectral data, as well as conduct calculation with these.
• Can utilise astronomical spectra with the purpose of building spectral models of galaxies, account for and assess the possibilities and limitations of these models.
• Can use the virial theorem for determining the masses of galaxies and galactic groups/clusters.
• Can use scientific knowledge of galaxies and their constituents for discussing and justifying the strategy for project work in the group, as well as using the problem calculations to obtain new knowledge.

Competences:

The course gives the students a background for understanding the basic challenges of studying galaxies and their cosmic evolution, which can be used in subsequent MSc level astrophysics courses, projects as well as discussion fora for new journal papers in topics of general relevance for extragalactic astrophysics.

The student will develop skills in Python programming, which may serve as tools for subsequent MSc level astrophysics courses and projects at both BSc and MSc level.

Through the course, the student will see how knowledge obtained in previous and parallel basic physics courses can be used in a specialised topic such as astrophysics.