Syllabus

The interstellar medium and its phases – dust – molecular clouds – virial theorem analysis. Star clusters – OB associations – T and R associations – initial mass function. Heating and cooling of clouds – cloud thermal structure – build up of molecules – molecular transitions of H 2 , CO. Cloud equilibrium and stability – Jeans mass – isothermal spheres – basic magnetohydrodynamics – magnetic support – ambipolar diffusion – inside-out collapse – rotational effects. Collapse of dense cores – accretion – Deuterium burning – protostellar disks – fragmentation – formation of binaries and stellar groups – jets and molecular outflows – masers. Formation of massive stars – monolithic collapse – competitive accretion – stellar mergers. Effects of massive stars – hot cores – ultracompact HII regions – photoevaporation – induced star formation. Quasi-static contraction – nuclear reactions and stellar birth line – T-Tauri stars – Herbig Ae/Be stars – debris disks – planet formation in disks.