Galaxies and Cosmology

University of Southern California, Spring 2005
GFS 221
MW 16:00 - 18:00

Course webpage: http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/squires/classes/astr420_2005a/

Instructor: Dr. Gordon K. Squires
                    California Institute of Technology
                    (626) 395-3121
                    squires AT ipac DOT caltech D0T edu

Alternate: Dr. Daniel Stern
                    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
                    (818) 354-7264
                    stern AT ipac DOT caltech D0T edu

Textbook: An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, B. W. Carroll & D. A. Ostlie

Evaluation:

• Assignments (Best 5 of 6): 40%
• Assignments and solutions will be linked off of this webpage.
• Assignments are due at the beginning of the lecture on the due date; solutions will be posted shortly thereafter, so no late submissions will be accepted. See the link to each individual assignment for the problems assigned, and solutions.
• New problems will be posted after (approx.) each class, and will be announced in the lecture.
• Schedule:
• Assignment #1: due January 26 (Wednesday); Solutions: 1a-c, 1c-e, 2-4b, 4c-7bi, 7bii
• Assignment #2: due February 9 (Wednesday); Solutions: 1a-e, 1f, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Assignment #3: due March 7 (Monday)
• Assignment #4: due March 30 (Wednesday); Solutions: 27.4, 27.5, 27.6i, 27.6ii, 27.7,27.8i, 27.8ii, 27.9a, 27.9b, 27.16, 27.21.
• Assignment #5: due April 20 (Wednesday); Solutions: 25.14, 27.27-29, 27.31i, 27.31ii, 27.37,28.1-2.
• Assignment #6: due April 27 (Wednesday); Solutions: 28.4, 28.5i 28.5ii, 28.6, 28.9, 28.12i, 28.12ii, 25.15i, 25.15ii, Supp 1, Supp 2.
• Mid-term examinations (2 x 10% each): 20%
• Midterm #1: February 16 (Wednesday)
• Midterm #2: Take-home. Assigned Apr. 4 (Monday); due Apr. 6 (Wednesday). Solutions posted on webpage.
• Participation: 10%
• Final Exam: 30%
• Final Exam: Wednesday, May 4, 4:30-6:30pm, GFS 221

Students who need to request accomodations based on a disability are required to register each semester with the Office of Disability Services and Programs (DSP). In addition a letter of verification to the instructor from DSP is needed for the semester you are enrolled in this course. If you have any questions concerning this procedure, please contact the instructor and DSP at STU 301, 740-0776.

Selected lectures: 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5 (pdf)

Course Outline:

Dates:	Topic	Reading:
Jan. 10, 12 (wk. 1)	Overview of Course & History of Cosmology. The Milky Way Galaxy (ch. 22.1 - 22.2): stellar distances reviewed (parallax, proper motion, radial velocity, magnitudes, cepheids), star counts, morphology of MWG, dark matter, MACHOs. (DS).	Chapter 22.1-2
Jan. 19 (wk. 2)	The Milky Way Galaxy (22.3 - 22.4): kinematics of MWG, local standard of rest (LSR), Oort's equations, rotation curves, Galactic center. (DS).	Chapter 22.3-4
Jan. 24, 26* (wk. 3) *Assignment #1	Spiral Galaxies (23.1 - 23.3): the Hubble sequence, spiral galaxies: dark matter, Tully-Fisher, spiral structure. Elliptical Galaxies (23.4): elliptical galaxies: Faber-Jackson, fundamental plane, r1/4 law, galaxy luminosity functions. (DS).	Chapter 23
Jan. 31, Feb. 2 (wk. 4)	Galactic evolution (24): interactions of galaxies. (DS).	Chapter 24
Feb 7, 9* (wk. 5) *Assignment #2	Extragalactic distance scale (25.1): cepheids, supernovae, luminosity functions, Tully-Fisher, Faber-Jackson. Structure of the Universe (25.2 - 25.3): expansion of the universe: redshift, Hubble law. Galaxy clusters & large scale structure. (GKS).	Chapter 25.1-3
Feb. 14, 16* (wk. 6) *Midterm 1	Gamma Ray Bursts and High-Redshift Galaxies (25.4): GRB's, DS research: the highest-redshift galaxies. (DS).	Chapter 25.4
Feb. 23 (wk. 7)	Active Galaxies (26.1): Seyferts, quasars (and the history thereof), quasar luminosity function (and evolution thereof), black holes in every galaxy? (DS).	Chapter 26.1
Feb 28, Mar. 2* (wk. 8) *Assignment 3	Unified Model of Active Galaxies (26.2): Eddington limit, physics of accretion, structure of active galaxies (narrow-line region, broad-line region, radio lobes, jets). Obscured active galaxies, X-ray background, finding obscured active galaxies (radio, X-ray, mid-IR). Quasar Absorption Line Studies & Lensing (26.3): probes of the intergalactic medium (and epoch of reionization) gravitational lensing. (DS).	Chapter 26.2-3
Mar. 7, 9 (wk. 9)	Newtonian cosmology (27.1): geometry, lookback time; CMB (27.2). (GKS).	Chapter 27.1-2
Mar. 21, 23 (wk. 10)	Relativistic cosmology (27.3): Robertson-Walker metric, Friedmann equation, horizon; Observational Cosmology (27.4): distance, redshift-magnitude relation. (GKS).	Chapter 27.3-4
Mar. 28*, 30 (wk. 11) *Assignment #4	The Early Universe (28.1): Big Bang nucleosynthesis, radiation/matter eras, decoupling, adiabatic/isothermal fluctuations, growth. (GKS).	Chapter 28
Apr. 4, 6* (wk. 12) *Midterm #2 (assigned Apr. 4 - due Apr. 6; take-home)	Inflation (28.2): motivation, Grand Unified Theories, false vacuum, growth. (GKS).	Chapter 28
Apr. 11, *13 (wk. 13) *Assignment #5	Selected current topics in cosmology.	Supplementary material
Apr. 18, 20 (wk. 14)	Gravitational lensing; large scale distribution of matter. (GKS).	Supplementary material
Apr. 25, *27 (wk. 15) *Assignment #6	Selected current topics in cosmology.	Supplementary material
TBD	Final Exam