Extragalactic Astrophysics

The universe outside our Milky Way was recognised as such less than 100 years ago. Within less than a century extragalactic astrophysics has become a major research field.  Major topics of extragalactic astrophysics are the description and physical understanding of galaxies, the clustering of galaxies in groups, galaxy clusters and large scale structure forming the cosmic web.

The course will describe our Milky Way as a galaxy and how it relates to other galaxies. The local environment of the Milky Way and the Andromeda nebula forming the Local Group and the relation to the nearest galaxy cluster, the Virgo cluster, will be described. Galaxy morphologies and how they relate to the star formation activity are further topics, which will lead to the global evolution of star formation and the evolution of galaxies. Major components of galaxy formation and evolution are the dark matter and the feedback processes. Active Galactic Nuclei, the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, can influence the evolution of galaxies. As quasars these objects can be observed throughout the universe and represent beacons for the study of gas clouds and intergalactic gas. The extragalactic sky can be observed at many wavelengths and the most energetic events are typically extragalactic.

After this course the students should feel confident with topics concerning galaxies as physical entities and their role in the universe. They should have a good understanding of what objects can be observed in the universe and how structure within the universe has formed.

This is a lecture course with tutorial sessions. The students should be able to follow the course with the help of backup reading of an astronomy book and the handouts.  The students should work through exercises and discuss them at the tutorial sessions to aid their comprehension of the subject.

"Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology" by Peter Schneider
https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783642069710

There will be an oral exam of 25 minutes duration. Therein the achievement of the competencies given in section learning outcome is tested exemplarily at least to the given cognition level using comprehension questions and sample calculations.

For example an assignment in the exam might be:

• Describe ways to measure masses of supermassive black holes at centers of galaxies?
• How to estimate the rate of star formation in galaxies?

Participation in the exercise classes is strongly recommended since the exercises prepare for the problems of the exam and rehearse the specific competencies.