Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology - Winter 2008 - Syllabus

Lecture 1:  Introduction

	Class logistics
	Cosmology as a science
	An overview of the modern cosmology and its history
	The Olbers paradox
	Units, fluxes, and magnitudes

Lecture 2:  Global geometry and dynamics of the universe I

	Basic concepts of General Relativity
	Symmetry assumptions: homogeneity and isotropy
	Metric, Robertson-Walker
	The cosmological redshift
	Comoving and proper coordinates
	Friedmann eqs.
	Definitions of cosmological parameters

Lecture 3:  Global geometry and dynamics of the universe II

	Computing cosmological models
	Distances in cosmology
	Basics of cosmological tests
	Horizons

Lecture 4:  Distance scale, age of the universe, and the universal expansion

	Distance scale and the Hubble constant
	The age of the universe
	Tests of the universal expansion

Lecture 5:  Cosmological tests

	Classical tests and their problems
	Modern tests (non-CMBR)
	Tests using CMBR fluctuations

Lecture 6:  The hot Big Bang and the thermal history of the universe

	Planck era and beyond
	Inflation
	Baryosynthesis
	Nucleosynthesis
	Recombination
	Reionization

Lecture 7:  Contents of the universe

	Luminous matter, M/L ratios
	Baryons
	Dark matters
	Gravitational lensing
	Dark energy, cosmological constant and quintessence

Lecture 8:  Structure formation: theory

	Density fluctuations, power spectrum, growth, damping
	Dark matter dependence of cosmogony; Cold Dark Matter
	Post-recombination growth
	Collapse of density fluctuations
	The role of cooling; galaxies vs. clusters and LSS
	Numerical simulations
	Galaxy merging

Lecture 9:  Observations of large scale structure

	Measurements of galaxy clustering and LSS
	Redshift surveys

Lecture 10:  Large Scale Structure and clusters of galaxies 

	Peculiar motions
	Evolution of clustering
	Biasing
	Galaxy clusters and their properties

Lecture 11:  Galaxies, their structure and properties (I)

	Galaxy catalogs, morphological classification, Hubble sequence
	Variation of galaxy properties along the Hubble Sequence
	Stellar populations and galaxian subsystems
	Galaxy luminosity and mass functions
	Properties of spiral galaxies, density wave theory
	
Lecture 12:  Galaxies, their structure and properties (II)

	Properties of elliptical galaxies
	Supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies
	Properties of dwarf galaxy families
	Fundamental correlations, scaling relations, and their uses

Lecture 13:  Galaxy evolution

	Basic processes of galaxy evolution: merging, stellar pop. modeling
	Deep surveys (imaging and redshift)
	Selection effects and obscured star formation
	Star formation history, assembly of the mass
	Optical/NIR and FIR/sub-mm diffuse backgrounds

Lecture 14:  Chemical evolution, Intergalactic medium and its evolution

	Chemical evolution of galaxies
	Basic phenomenology of absorbers
	LyA forest, Lyman limit systems, Damped LyA systems
	Evolution of IGM and its chemical enrichment
	Feedback processes and the cosmic web

Lecture 15:  Galaxy formation

	Basics of galaxy formation
	The first galaxies and early stages of galaxy evolution
	Reionization era
	The first stars
	The origins of black holes in the early universe

Lecture 16:  Quasars and active galactic nuclei: phenomenology and physics

	Basics, types, spectra
	Supermassive black holes and their fueling
	Emission mechanisms
	Jets and beaming
	Physical structure

Lecture 17:  Quasars and AGN: unification, evolution, high-energy backgrounds, GRBs

	AGN Unification models
	Quasar surveys and evolution
	X-ray, gamma-ray, and AGN-generated backgrounds
	Gamma-ry bursts, their origins, and cosmological uses