| UNITOV Prof. P. Mazzotta | Clusters of Galaxies (S3, elective, 6 ECTS) |
| Learning Outcomes: | The course aims at providing students with an advanced preparation in Physics, including knowledge of specialized topics of the on-going research in Astrophysics. Learning outcomes include advanced knowledge in quantum mechanics, mathematical methods applied in Physics and some aspects about the structure of matter. |
| Knowledge and Understanding: | Students must demonstrate a deep understanding of the most important theories of modern physics and of the current observational constraints on these theories. They must also know the state-of-the-art about galaxy clusters. Tests of these knowledge and understanding capabilities will be performed through laboratories and oral exams. |
| Applying Knowledge and Understanding: | Students must be able to identify the key elements of a physical problem, and model this problem using the relevant approximations. They might also have to show capabilities in adapting existing models to new observations. |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Program | Large scale structure of the Universe. Formation and dynamics of the cosmic web, of clusters and groups of galaxies. simple collapse models for the dark matter. Physics of intergalactic and intracluster gas. Heating and cooling mechanisms. Chemical enrichment of intergalactic and intracluster gas. Observations of clusters of galaxies in X-ray and microwave bands, Ly_alpha and X-ray-forest. Estimate of the mass of clusters of galaxies: dynamical methods, observations in X-ray and microwave bands, gravitational lenses. Cosmology with clusters of galaxies: mass function, scaling laws. |
| Description of how the course is conducted | Blackboard lectures with support from video projections. Practical works about X-ray and millimetre observations of galaxy clusters. |
| Description of the didactic methods | See above |
| Description of the evaluation methods | one hour long oral exam |
| Adopted Textbooks | Introduction to gravitational lensing (Massimo Meneghetti; lecture scripts) Introduzione alla cosmologia (Francesco Lucchin) Lecture notes |
| Recommended readings | Voit, 2005 (lecture 6-7-10) Tracing cosmic evolution with clusters of galaxies http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005RvMP…77..207V Kravtsov and Borgani, 2012 (lecture 8-10) Formation of Galaxy Clusters http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ARA%26A..50..353K Markevitch and Vikhlinin, 2007 (lecture 9) Shocks and cold fronts in galaxy clusters http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007PhR…443….1M Birkinshaw, 1999 (lecture 12-13) The Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhR…310…97B Peterson and Fabian, 2006 (lecture 10) X-ray spectroscopy of cooling clusters http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PhR…427….1P Fabian 2012 (lecture 10) Observational Evidence of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ARA%26A..50..455F Navarro, Frenk, White, 1996 (lecture 8) The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996ApJ…462..563N |
