ATOMS, MOLECULES, AND RADIATION: FROMSTAR-FORMING REGIONS TO QUASARS

摘要

Atomic, molecular, and optical processes play fundamental roles in regulat-ing the evolution of star-forming regions in galaxies, and of accreting black holes in galaxy nuclei. I present a discussion of the essential physics and chem-istry of interstellar photon-dominated regions (PDRs) and X-ray dominated regions (XDRs). In such regions, intense radiation fields determine the atomic and molecular compositions of dense interstellar gas, and control the resulting observable spectroscopic emissions and absorptions.