Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology

Class meeting times:

• Monday at 2:00 pm
• Weds at 3:00 pm
• Friday at 9:00 am

Class meets in 219 Cahill.

The current syllabus.

Instructor:

Prof. Chuck Steidel, ccs"at"astro, 216 Robinson, x4168

Office hours- please e-mail to arrange a meeting time (to guarantee you'll find me), or stop by my office.

TAs:

Gwen Rudie gwen"at"astro, 16 Robinson, x6857

Vera Gluscevic vera"at"astro, 14 Robinson, x4121

Announcements

All class-related announcements will be sent by e-mail to the class list, and will be archived here .

Textbook

An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics , (2nd Edition, 2007) by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie ISBN 978-0805304022 (Pearson/Addison Wesley/Benjamin Cummings)

This is the same book used in Ay 20 for the last several years. Most of you probably already own it.

Textbook's website (errata, computer programs, data, links): Publisher's link

Additional readings will be made available via the "Readings" link below, or handed out in class.

Topics to be Covered

• Cosmology: historical context; review relevant astrophysical quantities, units
• Galaxies: morphology, structure, kinematics, stellar populations, spectra
• Galaxies: space distribution, luminosity function, mass function
• Galaxy clusters
• Dark matter on galaxy scales
• Galactic timescales; global star formation in galaxies
• Extragalactic distance ladder; the ``Hubble flow''
• Cosmological models, parameters
• Robertson-Walker metric; Friedmann equations
• Cosmological geometry; curvature
• Cosmography (measurements on cosmological scales)
• Dark energy/cosmological expansion history
• Age dating on cosmological timescales
• Early Universe/Big-bang nucleosynthesis
• Cosmic Microwave Background
• Inflation
• The era of ``Re-ionization''
• Growth of structure in ``Cold dark matter'' cosmology
• Galaxy formation; Jeans criteria, baryons in dark matter halos
• Star formation history of the Universe
• Galaxy Evolution
• Intergalactic Medium
• Active Galactic Nuclei; accretion power, super-massive black holes
• Gravitational Lensing

Requirements and Policies

Grades for the course will be based on problem sets (30%), an open-note (but closed-book) mid-term exam (35%), and a closed-book final exam (35%). All assignments are due in class on the due date specified. Extensions of up to 24 hours may be granted by the TA; longer extensions must be approved by Steidel.

Collaboration policy: All problem sets must be entirely your own work; no exchanges/sharing of solutions is allowed. You may discuss approaches to problems with one another, in general terms, but the written solutions must be your own. If you get stuck, please see a TA or Prof. Steidel for help getting on the right track. It is also not permitted to consult problem set solutions from any previous versions of the course.

Assignments

There will be a total of 5-6 problem sets during the term, distributed via the links below. An e-mail will be sent out as soon as a problem set is available. Solutions to the problems will be distributed in the same way, within 1 week after the assignment due date.
• Problem set #1 , available January 11, due January 19.
• Problem set #2 , available January 25, due February 4. Figure to accompany Problem set #2
• Problem set #3 , available February 10, due February 18.
• Problem set #4 , available Feb 24, due March 4.
• Problem set #5 , available March 4, due March 11.

Additional Readings

• PDF of Dark Energy powerpoint used in class on 3/9/2009 Dark_Energy
• Distance Measures in Cosmology David Hogg's handy reference
• Understanding the Microwave Background The Cosmic Symphony (Scientific American)
• Inflation Review Article by Alan Guth
• Dark Matter and Dark Energy Review Article by Marc Kamionkowski