Syllabus for |
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| FAS025 - Galaxies |
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| Owner: TTFYA |
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4,0 Credits (ECTS 6) |
| Grading: TH - Five, Four, Three, Not passed |
| Level: C |
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Department: 75 - EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES
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Teaching language: English
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Credit distribution |
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Examination dates |
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Sp1 |
Sp2 |
Sp3 |
Sp4 |
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No Sp |
| 0101 |
Examination |
4,0 c |
Grading: TH |
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4,0 c
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14 Dec 2005 am V |
In programs
TTFYA ENGINEERING PHYSICS, Year 4 (elective)
Examiner:
Bitr professor
Cathy Horellou
Eligibility:
For single subject courses within Chalmers programmes the same eligibility requirements apply, as to the programme(s) that the course is part of.
Course specific prerequisites
The course is open to 4th/5th-year students (or students at an equivalent
level) and graduate students with background in physics and mathematics.
Aim
Most of the baryonic matter in our universe is not evenly spread out but
collected in galaxies. These galaxies can in turn be collected into large
clusters of galaxies. Galaxies exist in many different forms, with vastly
different properties. One of the main astrophysical goals is to understand
how galaxies form, how they acquire their different shapes and why different
types of galaxies have different star formation histories. In order to gain
an understanding of these problems we have to use almost all aspects of
astrophysics, from stellar physics to cosmology. In this course the student
will gain both a broad and deep understanding of the galaxies that populate
our universe and an overview of how their properties evolve with time and how
we can address these questions.
Content
The content of this course covers a detailed description of different types
of galaxies, their morphological structure, stellar content, interstellar
medium and their star formation activity. In particular we will study spiral
density wave mechanisms, barred galaxies as well as gravitational interaction
between nearby galaxies. In addition we will study Active Galactic Nuclei,
radio galaxies and intergalactic absorption line systems.
The course is organized in six blocks: (1) The building blocks of galaxies,
(2) Stellar orbits and disk stability, (3) Spiral density waves and barred
galaxies, (4) Galaxy interactions, (5) Active Galactic Nuclei, (6)
Intergalactic absorption line systems. These areas will be covered through
both the textbook and material handed out by the lecturers. In addition,
several practical excercises associated with this course are done within the
course "Virtual Laboratory in Astrophysics", including numerical simulations
of galaxy disks and galaxy-galaxy interactions.
Organisation
EXAMINER: Cathy Horellou
Literature
"Galaxies in the Universe: An Introduction", L.S. Sparke and J.S. Gallagher
III. Cambridge University Press 2000. Additional material will be
distributed during the course.
Examination
Written exam at the end of the course, covering both descriptive and
computational exercises.