Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Abteilung Astronomie Sand 1, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
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Lecture on Extragalactic Astronomy and Astrophysics SS 2012

Contents

Sketch of the basic ideas of the unified AGN model developed by Urry & Padovani. The diagram is courtesy M. Polletta, ITESRE/CNR, Bologna, Italy, and appeared first at the BeppoSAX calendar 1999. See the original works by P. Padovani & C.M. Urry (1995) and C.M. Urry (1998).

The goal of this lecture is to provide an introduction to the dimensions, structures, and objects of the Universe. We shall explore the astrophysics of a large variety of extragalactic objects. Cosmological aspects will be discussed when appropriate.

The lecture will cover the following topics:

• Our Galaxy as a galaxy (i.e. what do we learn from the Milky way that is relevant to understanding other galaxies)
• Normal galaxies (normal in the sense that the emission is not dominated by an active nucleus)
• Active galaxies, i.e. galaxies where the emission is dominated by processes related to an active nucleus
• Galaxy clusters, the largest gravitationally bound systems that we know of
• Exploration of the high redshift universe: what are the best observational probes?
• Gamma ray bursts: Understanding these extremely luminous flares has been and continues to be a major challenge
• Background fields: Diffuse emission might be resolved into faint individual sources, but truly diffuse photon fields trace important information about the history of the Universe
• Dark matter: Most of the matter in the universe is not directly visible (yet?)

Basics of the radiation mechanisms necessary to understand the observations of the different object types will be explained. The lecture is not limited to exploring electromagnetic radiation as source of information, other messengers (especially particles) will also eventually be discussed.

Instrumental techniques will be discussed on an ad hoc basis, e.g. whenever an observational technique has an intimate relation to the object class that is being discussed in the course.

The lecture is complementary to the cosmology lecture held on Friday morning. There will be essentially no overlap between the two courses. Taking both courses is therefore encouraged (but by no means mandatory).

The lecture will be given by Dr. M. Sasaki, Dr. G. Pühlhofer, and Prof. A. Santangelo.

Literature

• P. Schneider, "Einführung in die Extragalaktische Astronomie und Kosmologie", Springer Verlag, 2006. The text of reference for this course.
• M. S. Longair, "High Energy Astrophysics", Cambridge University Press, 1992 or later; used to be 2 volumes, but the latest 2011 edition is only one volume. Really a general good textbook for High Energy Astrophysics, the standard. Try to catch the 2011 edition if you can.
• Ph. Charles & F. Seward, "Exploring the X-ray Universe", Cambridge University Press, 1995 or 2010 (try to catch the new edition). A good simple introduction to the X-ray observational aspects.
• G. Rybicki & A. Lightman, "Radiative Processes in Astrophysics", John Wiley & Sons. A really complete book on radiative processes.
• Unsöld & Baschek, "Der Neue Kosmos", Springer Verlag, fünfte Auflage, from 1991. Still a very good introductory book.
• Peterson, "Active Galactic Nuclei", Cambridge University Press, 1997. A good introductory book on AGN.

Prerequisites

Basismodul Astronomie or comparable introductory course in Astronomy and Astrophysics. And: readiness for a challenging excursion through the entire observable universe.

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Gerd Pühlhofer | Impressum Last modified 15 Mar 2012