AST 308 Galaxies & Cosmology Fall 2009 MWF 3:00–3:50, Room 287 Chem SOME MAJOR RESEARCH THEMES IN GALACTIC & EXTRAGALACTIC ASTRONOMY • Cosmology and dark energy. • Nature of dark matter. • Formation of structure. • Evolution of galaxies. • Production of the chemical elements. Instructor: Jack Baldwin ([email protected]), Room 3270 BPS, phone (517) 884-5611 Office Hours: Regular office hours are Mo 11-12, Th 1-2. Or catch me in my office whenever you can… I’m usually there from 9AM – 5 PM, except Wed 11:30-3:00. Textbook: Carroll & Ostlie, An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, 2nd edition. Some Websites to bookmark: Course website: www.pa.msu.edu/courses/ast308 Most lecture slides will be posted here, either just before or just after the lecture. Some other important web sites (you can copy these links from course website) ADS abstract service: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html ArXiv astro-ph eprint archive: http://xxx.lanl.gov/form/astro-ph?MULTI=form+interface SIMBAD database: http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad NED database: http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/index.html HST Digitized Sky Survey: http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form Ned Wright’s Javascript Cosmology Calculator: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html Grading: Homework: 20% 2 midterms: 25% each Final: 30% The final is over the whole course, but it will be strongly weighted to the material after Midterm 2. It will be on Monday, Dec 14 at 3PM.AST308 COURSE OUTLINE Subject to change at any moment • Numbers in square brackets [25.1], etc. refer to sections in Carroll & Ostlie, 2nd ed., which you are always responsible for reading. • Italicized topics are mostly add-ons not covered in the textbook. I’ll hand out notes. Week Topic Sept 2 Sept 4 Course Introduction: The Big Picture Curtis-Shapley debate, Hubble classification [25.1] Mon Sept 7 Labor Day Sept 9 Sept 11 The Milky Way Galaxy MW Morphology (history/dust/components) [24.1, 24.2] Stellar populations and chemical enrichment Sept 14 Sept 16 Sept 18 Star-forming regions; the Orion Nebula Kinematics, Oort’s constants (but not dark matter) [24.3] (Dr. Smith) Galactic distance scale. [24.3] SKIP [24.4] Sept 21 Sept 23 Sept 25 The Nature of Galaxies Spiral & Irr galaxies; rotation curves Î dark matter; Tully-Fisher Relation [25.2] Spiral structure, density waves [25.3] Spiral structure, density waves [25.3] Sept 28 Sept 30 E galaxies; types, triaxial structures & orbits; Faber-Jackson; Fundamental plane [25.4] Distribution of galaxy types, Schecter luminosity function, L* galaxies. Fri Oct 2 Midterm 1 Oct 5,7,9 Cosmology [27.1] The extragalactic distance scale [27.2] The Expansion of the Universe [29.1] Newtonian Cosmology [29.2] The Cosmic Microwave Background Oct 12,14,16 [17] General Relativity and Black Holes Oct 19,21,23 [29.3] Relativistic Cosmology Oct 26,28,30 [29.4] Observational Cosmology Nov 2,4 [30.1] The very early universe and inflation Fri Nov 6 Midterm 2 Week 11: Nov 9,11,13 The Structure of the Universe & Evolution of Galaxies [27.3] Clusters of galaxies [28.4] Using quasars to probe the universe (grav. lenses) What is dark matter? Nov 16,18,20 [30.2] The origin of structure; WMAP measurements. Nov 23,25 [26.1] Interaction of galaxies Fri Nov 27 Thanksgiving Holiday Nov 30, Dec 2,4 [26.2] The formation of galaxies Dec 7,9,11 Quasars & Active galactic Nuclei (AGN) [28.2] Unified model of AGN … (Skip [28.1], [28.3]) [18.2] Accretion Disk description pp. 661-666 [24.4] The Galactic Center Mon Dec 14 Final Exam 3–5PMPrerequisites: AST 208 and PHY 215 (thermo) and (PHY 321=class. mech. or concurrently). Meaning you should also have taken: AST 207 PHY 183 or similar mechanics course; and PHY 184 or similar E&M course; and Math 132+133+234 or similar calculus + line & surface integrals sequence. Î Things I Think You Already Know: Physics • Classical mechanics at the level of Newton’s laws, energy and angular momentum conservation, and basic problem solving using them. • Light [3] o E=hν= hc/λ o F=L/(4πr2) o Black body radiation [CO 3.4,3.5] • Basic idea of Special Relativity [CO 4] o [CO 4.3] is a useful catalogue of some S.R. effects that are relevant in astronomy. • Bohr model of the atom [CO 5.3] o What atomic energy levels are. Math • Calculus, able to solve simple differential equations as used in physics problems. Astronomy • Apparent and absolute magnitude scales [3.2] • What UBV photometry is • Basic idea of the Hertzprung-Russell diagram o Something about age-dating clusters using H-R diagram • Stellar spectral types OBAFGKM Thumb through CO chapters [3], [4], [5] and make sure that it all looks familiar. If not, take the time to read it carefully.Senior Thesis • 2 options o Review paper to satisfy capstone writing requirement, based on reading many scientific papers. o Or… research project, plus paper about it to satisfy capstone writing requirement. • Most students should NOT undertake a research project. o Concentrating on getting better grades will help you more. • Doing a research project requires you to find a professor who can supervise you. • To do either type of senior thesis this year: o Prof. Smith must sign off on topic/supervisor choice. TALK TO HIM NOW! Getting into Grad School • Grad school does not have to immediately follow your B.S. degree. o Going off and working for a while is sometimes a good idea. • You should receive full financial support, if they actually want you. o Think twice before taking out that 5th student loan. • Many grad schools start evaluating applications in January, despite having later deadlines. • You usually can NOT start in January, or at least get any funding at that point. • Admissions committees consider: o Overall GPA o GPA in upper division Physics & Astro courses. o GRE scores o GRE Physics subject exam o Letters of recommendation • What does it take to get admitted (my best guess): o To get into a top-10 astronomy program: • 4.0 GPA or close • Strong GRE scores • Great letters o To squeak into a reputable PhD program • 3.2 GPA • No more than 1-2 grades below 3.0 in upper division Physics & Astro courses. • GRE • Verbal: 60th