Interstellar Medium and Star Formation
Astronomy G9001
Prof. Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
Historical Overview of Observations
Dust Excess Mass Visual Nebulae
– Emission lines
– Continuum light Polarization Optical Absorption
Lines
HI lines, & radio continuum
UV Absorption lines X-ray emission Molecular line
emission IR emission Gamma Rays
Dust
Naked eye observations of dust clouds Holes in the heavens (Herschel 1785) vs
obscuring bodies (Ranyard 1894, Barnard 1919)– Partial obscuration of continuous nebulae– Smooth dimming of star fields– Shapley-Curtis debate 1920
• Shapley saw no obscuration in globulars: but they were out of plane!
• Does obscuration contribute to distance scale?
Following Li & Greenberg 2002, astro-ph/0204392
Reddening
Extinction was known since 1847 (though not taken seriously in Galaxy models)
Reddening discovered by Trumpler (1930) Wavelength dependence established
obscuration as due to small particles Reddening proportional to NH
– Extremely high NH measurable in IR against background star field: NICE (Lada et al. 1994, Cambrésy et al. 2002).
Excess Mass
Vertical stellar motions allow measurement of non-stellar disk mass
Excess density of 6 x 10-24 g cm-3 found by Oort (1932)
We now know that this is a combination of ISM and dark matter.
Similar methods still used to measure dark matter density.
Visual Nebulae Nebulae first thought to be stellar Spectroscopy revealed emission lines from
planetary nebulae, establishing their gaseous nature (Huggins 1864)
Reflection nebulae distinguished from emission nebulae by continuous spectrum, reddening of internal stars
Measurements of Doppler shifts in emission lines revealed supersonic turbulent motions in Orion emission nebula (von Weizsäcker 1951, von Hoerner 1955, Münch 1958).
Polarization General linear polarization of starlight by ISM
discovered by Hill (1949) and Hiltner (1949). Alignment of dust in magnetic field (tho
mechanism remains debated) Revealed large scale field of galaxy Radio polarization of synchrotron shows field
in external galaxies as well At high extinctions (high densities), IR
emission polarization fails to trace field (Goodman et al. 1995)
Optical Absorption Lines Ca II H & K lines have different dynamics
from stellar lines in binaries (Hartmann 1904)– Na I D lines behave similarly (Heger)
– Now used to trace extent of warm neutral gas – Reveals extent of local bubble (Frisch & York
1983, Paresce 1984, Sfeir et al 99)
Lines spread over 10 km/s, although individual components only 1-2 km/s wide– Interpreted as clouds in relative motion– Reinterpretation in terms of continuous
turbulence?
HI lines HI fine structure line at 21 cm (Ewen &
Purcell 1951) reveals cold neutral gas (300 K) Pressure balance requires 104 K intercloud
medium (Field, Goldsmith, Habing 1969) Large scale surveys show
– Supershells and “worms” (Heiles 1984)
– Vertical distribution of neutral gas (Lockman, Hobbes, & Shull 1986)
Distribution of column densities shows power-law spectrum suggestive of turbulence (Green 1993)
Radio Continuum
First detected by Reber (1940): Nonthermal Explanation as synchrotron radiation by
Ginzburg Distinction between thermal (HII regions)
and non-thermal (relativistic pcles in B) Traces ionized gas throughout Milky Way Evidence for B fields and cosmic rays in
external galaxies
UV Absorption Lines
Copernicus finds OVI interstellar absorption lines (1032,1038 Å) towards hot stars
Photoionization unimportant in FUV Collisional ionization from 105 K gas, but
this gas cools quickly, so must be in an interface to hotter gas
First evidence for 106 K gas in ISM
X-ray emission
Confirms presence of hot gas in ISM Diffuse soft X-ray background (1/4 keV)
anticorrelates with NHI: Local Bubble (McCammon et al. 1983, Snowden et al. 1990)
Detection of SNRs, superbubbles X-ray shadows of cold clouds show
contribution from hot halo (Burrows & Mendenhall 1991, Snowden et al. 1991)
Molecular line emission Substantial additional mass discovered with
detection of molecular lines from dense gas Millimeter wavelengths for rotational, vibrational
lines from heterogeneous molecules NH2 and H2O first found (Cheung et al. 1968,
Knowles et al. 1969) then CO (Penzias et al. 1970), used to trace H2
Superthermal linewidths revealed (Zuckerman & Palmer 1974) showing hypersonic random motions
Map of Galactic CO from roof of Pupin (Thaddeus & Dame 1985)
IR emission
Only with satellite telescopes such as IRAS was IR emission from cold dust in the ISM detectable: the “infrared cirrus”
IR penetrates dust better than visible, so it allows observation of star formation in dense regions
Gamma Rays
Gamma ray emission from Galactic plane first detected with OSO 3 and with a balloon (Kraushaar et al. 1972, Fichtel et al. 1972)
Confirmed by SAS 2 and COS B at 70 Mev. CR interactions with gas and photons:
– Electron bremsstrahlung
– Inverse Compton scattering
– Pion production Independent estimate of mass in molecular clouds
Changing Perceptions of the ISM
Densest regions detected first Modeled as uniform “clouds” Actually continuous spectrum of ρ, T, P. Detection of motion showed dynamics
– Combined with early analytic turbulence models– Success of turbulent picture limited then
Analytic tractability favored static equilibrium models (or pseudo-equilibrium)– Focus on heating/cooling, thermal phase transitions
New computational methods now bringing effects of turbulence back into focus
Structure of Course
Lectures, Discussion, Technical Exercises Class Project Grading
– Exercises (30%)– Participation (20%)– Project (50%)
Project Schedule
Feb 24: Written proposal describing work to be done (1-3 pp.). I’ll provide feedback on practicality and interest.
Mar 10: Oral presentation of final project proposals to class.
Apr 7: Proof-of-concept results in written report (2-4 pp., including figures)
Apr 28: Oral presentation of projects to class in conference format (10-15 minute talks)
May 5: Project reports due
Hydro Concepts Solving equations of continuum
hydrodynamics (derived as velocity moments of Boltzmann equation, closed by equation of state for pressure)
2
0, where
, where 4
, where /
D Dv v
Dt Dt tDv
p GDt
D ep v p kT
Dt
Discretization
Consider a simple flux-conservative advection equation:
This can be discretized on a grid of points in time and space
0, or in 1D t xv v
t x
0
0
j
n
x x j x
t t n t
Following Numerical Recipes
Discretization of Derivatives
The simplest way to discretize the derivatives is just FTCS:
But, it doesn’t work!
1
1 1 2
2
n nj j
n nj j
O tt t
O xx x
t
x
Von Neumann stability analysis The difference equation is
Suppose we assume
If |ξ(k)| > 1, then ξn grows with n exponentially!
Dividing by ξneikjΔx, and rearranging
|ξ(k)| > 1 for some k, so this scheme is unstable
( ) , where n n ik j xj e
11 1
2
n n n nj j j jv
t x
1 ( 1) ( 1)
2n ikj x n ikj x n ik j x n ik j xt
e e v e ex
1 , so 1 sin2
ik x ik xt v tv e e i k x
x x
Stability (cont.) This instability can be fixed using a Lax scheme:
ρjn->0.5(ρj+1
n+ ρj-1n) in the time derivative, so that
Now, if we do the same stability analysis, we find
1 111 1
1
2 2
n nj jn n n
j j j v tx
2 2 2
1,
2 2
so now ( ) cos sin
and ( ) cos sin ,
which is only 1 if 1
ik x ik x ik x ik xte e v e e
xv t
k k x i k xx
v
v
tk k x k x
x
xt
Courant condition
The requirement that is
fundamental to explicit finite difference
schemes. Signals moving with velocity v should not
traverse more than one cell Δx in time Δt. Why is Lax scheme stable?
1v t
x
Numerical Viscosity
Suppose we take the Lax scheme
and rewrite it in the form of FTCS + remainder
This is just the finite difference representation of a
diffusion term like a viscosity.
1 111 1
1
2 2
n nj jn n n
j j j v tx
11
1 1 12
2
1
2
n n n nj j j
n nj j jjn
vt x t
2 2
22
x
t x
ZEUS
Program to solve hydro (and MHD) equations (Stone & Norman 1992, ApJSupp)
Details of numerical methods next time:– Second-order discretization – Eulerian moving grid– Artificial viscosity to resolve shocks– Conservative advection formulation
ZEUS organization Operator splitting (Strang 1968):
– Separate different terms in hydro equations– Source, advection, viscous terms each
computed in substep:
Take . Then the momentum equation
can be broken up into two steps
transporsource t
S
P
v
dS
dS
d
dt
d
vS
dS
tt dt
S
d
ZEUS flowchart
Timestep determined by Courant criterion at each cycle
ZEUS grid Staggered grid
to allow easy second-order differencing of velocities
Grid naming scheme…
Boundaries
“Ghost” zones allow specification of boundary values– Reflecting– Outflow– Periodic– Inflow
Version Control Homegrown preprocessor EDITOR
– Clone of 70’s commercial HISTORN– Similar to cpp with extra functions– Modifies code two ways
• Define values for macros and set variables• Include or delete lines
A few commands– *dk - deck, define a section of code– *cd - common deck, common block for later use– *ixx - include the following at line xx– *dxx[,yy]- delete from lines xx to yy, and substitute following
code– *if def,VAR to *endif - only include code if VAR defined
File Structure
Baroque, to allow “automatic” installation From the top:
– zcomp, sets system variables for local system– zeus34.s compilation script for ZEUS, EDITOR– zeus34, source code with EDITOR commands– zeus34.n, numbered version (next time)– Setup block (next time) generates
•inzeus, runtime parameters •zeus34.mac, sets compilation switches (macros)•chgz34, makes changes to code
ZEUS installation
Copy ~mordecai/z3_template Run zcomp, wait for prompt. (First time takes
longer) View parameters, accept defaults, wait for
compile to finish Make an execution directory (mkdir exe) Copy xzeus34, inzeus into exe Run xzeus34. Progress can be tracked by
typing n
ZEUS output
To view output use IDL to read HDF files
Assignments
For next class read for discussion:– Ferrière, 2002, Rev Mod Phys, 73, 1031-1066
Begin reading– Stone & Norman, 1992, ApJ Supp, 80, 753-790
(I will cover more from this paper next time) Complete Exercise 1
– Install ZEUS, begin reading manual, readme files
– Begin learning IDL – Review FORTRAN77 if not familiar
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