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Course ID: |
ASTR-3415-001 |
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Credit Hours: |
3 |
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Lecture Times: |
M W 8:55am --
10:15am |
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Lecture Location: |
Brown Hall,
Room 266 |
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Lecturer: |
Dr Martin
Hendry (visiting Basler Chair) |
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E-mail: |
martin@astro.gla.ac.uk |
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Office: |
371 Brown
Hall (423-439-4252) |
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Office Hours: |
M W 10.30am
– 11.30am or by arrangement |
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Textbook: |
“An Introduction
to Modern Cosmology” by Andrew R. Liddle (see course
introduction for further book recommendations) |
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Dates |
Topic(s) |
Notes |
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Part 1: Brief
overview of modern cosmology |
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Aug 29, 31 |
What is cosmology?
‘State of the Universe 2005’ – the Concordance Model
Cornerstones of the Big Bang theory |
ASTR3415 Part 1 handout ITC: Sect. 2, 3, 4 Liddle: Chs. 2-5, 10-12, 15 |
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Sep 5 |
Labor Day - no class |
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Part 2:
Introduction to general relativity |
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Sep 7 |
The equivalence principle and its physical consequences |
GR1: Chs.
1, 2 |
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Sep 12, 14 |
Special relativity, spacetime and a first
look at tensors |
GR1: |
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Sep 19, 21 |
Manifolds, covariant differentiation and geodesics |
GR1: Chs.
4, 5, 6, 7 |
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Sep 26, 28 |
The energy-momentum tensor and conservations laws in GR
The curvature tensor and Einstein’s equations
Weak field limit and correspondence with Newtonian gravity |
GR1: Chs.
8, 9, 10 |
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Oct 3 |
Exam 1 |
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Part 3:
Applications of general relativity |
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Oct 5 |
The Schwarzschild metric and the classical tests of GR |
GR2: Chs. 1, 2 |
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Oct 10, 12 |
||
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Oct 17 |
Fall Break - no class |
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Oct 19 |
Gravitational lensing: nature’s
telescope
Black holes: theory and
observation |
GR2: GR2: GAL: Sect. 2 |
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Oct 24, 26 |
||
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Oct 31 |
Searching for gravitational waves |
GR2: |
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Nov 2 |
||
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Nov 7 |
GR
foundations of cosmology: FRW
models and Friedmann’s equations |
GR2: Liddle: Chs. 4, AT1 |
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Nov 9 |
Exam 2 |
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Part 4:
Cosmology revisited |
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Nov 14, 16 |
Where are we? The parameters that
describe our Universe |
Handout Liddle: Chs. 5-7, AT2 |
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Nov 21, 23 |
How did we get there? The
formation and evolution of cosmic structure |
GAL: Sect. 4
+ handout Liddle: Chs. 9-10, AT5 |
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Nov 28, 30 |
Why are we here?
Inflation and the very early Universe
Dark energy: Einstein’s greatest blunder?...
Some puzzles for 21st century cosmologists |
ITC: Sect. 4
+ handout Liddle: Chs. 7, 13-14, AT5 |
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Dec 5 |
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Dec 7 |
Course review +
Exam 3 * |
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* Note that Exam
3 will be a take-home exam given out during the last meeting of the class.
This take
home exam is due on Wednesday Dec 14th at 5:00 p.m.
In the above
table ITC =
Introduction to cosmology lecture notes
GR1 =
Gravitation and Relativity Part 1 lecture notes
GR2 =
Gravitation and Relativity Part 2 lecture notes
GAL =
Galaxies lecture notes
The
exam schedule is as follows:
|
Exam |
Date |
Relevant lectures |
|
1 |
October 3rd
2005 |
Aug 29th
– Sep 21st 2005 |
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2 |
November 9th
2005 |
Sep 26th
- Oct 26th 2005 |
|
3 |
December 7th
2005 |
Oct 31st -
Dec 5th 2005 |
Homework
5
homework assignments will be given out at regular intervals throughout the
course. Each will consist of a
series of short questions requiring a mixture of physical discussion, algebraic
manipulation or numerical calculation.
Each homework assignment will involve no material which is
covered less than one week before the due date. The questions set will be indicative of
the level of difficulty and content of the exam questions. Model answers will be issued on
the due date, and these should help you with you exam revision.
The
provisional homework schedule will be as follows:
|
Homework |
Date issued |
Date due |
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Sep 12th
2005 |
Sep 26th
2005, 5pm |
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|
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Oct 10th
2005 |
Oct 24th
2005, 5pm |
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Oct 24th
2005 |
Nov 7th
2005, 5pm |
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Nov 7th
2005 |
Nov 21st
2005, 5pm |
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Nov 21st
2005 |
Dec 7th
2005, 5pm |
Project
The project assignment for ASTR3415 consists of writing a 10-12 page
review paper which describes current research in a particular field of
cosmology or general relativity.
In keeping with the goals of the Basler Chair,
to promote greater integration of the arts, sciences and rhetoric, your paper
should be written at a level that makes it understandable by a reader with a high school knowledge of physics, but little or no
experience of physics at College or University. That means no equations, very little or no technical jargon and
careful thought about how to explain difficult concepts using (where
appropriate) analogies with everyday experience that a non-scientist would recognize.
Suitable topics for your paper might include (with some overlap
among them):
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Measuring the age of the Universe |
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The cosmic distance scale |
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The cosmic microwave background radiation |
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Evidence for the existence of supermassive
black holes |
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Cosmological applications of gravitational lensing |
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The origin of gamma ray bursters |
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Braneworlds and
quantum cosmology |
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The cosmological anthropic principle |
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Experimental tests of general relativity |
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Supernovae as cosmological distance indicators |
I am open to further suggestions of your own, if there is an
appropriate topic which particularly interests you.
Your paper can (and probably should!) contain diagrams where
appropriate – provided these are helpful to a non-physicist reader. (Remember that even the most basic
graphs and plots can appear very mysterious to a non-scientist). Make sure that your paper is your own
words, and not simply plagiarized from the web (or indeed from the course
lecture notes – some topics are more directly linked to the course
syllabus than others). There is,
however, a wealth of suitable material on the internet for each of the above
topics, and provided you reference your sources you are encouraged to make use
of that. Get googling!!!
Your paper is due at the final meeting of the class on December 7th,
8.55am.
The
grading system will be based by the following criteria:
|
Final score = 15%*([Exam 1]/50) +
15%*([Exam 2]/50) + 15%*([Exam 3]/50) + 25%*([Project]/100) +
30%*([Homework Score]/[Homework Total]) |
The
final grades will be calculated via the following scale:
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A |
= |
90% or better |
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B- |
= |
73-75.9% |
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D+ |
= |
56-58.9% |
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A- |
= |
88-89.9% |
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C+ |
= |
70-72.9% |
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D |
= |
50-55.9% |
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B+ |
= |
86-87.9% |
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C |
= |
62-69.9% |
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F |
= |
Less than 50% |
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B |
= |
76-85.9% |
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C- |
= |
59-61.9% |
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Note that a failing grade also will be given if the
student has engaged in any form of academic dishonesty including (but not
limited to) copying and plagiarism.
Please
consult the ETSU
supplemental syllabus attachment for other helpful university
information.
Lecture Notes
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Part 1 |
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Part 2 |
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Part 3 |
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Part 4 |
Some useful links
Simon Singh’s Big Bang lecture at the New York
Academy of Sciences
Solution to the exercises on Page 9
Recent measurement of gravitational redshift
from neutron star X-ray spectra
Some background on the Harvard tower experimental
measurement of gravitational redshift
