Galaxies & Cosmology winter
trimester
2010-2011
syllabus
&
course
expectations
safety,
tardy,
classroom computer use, and honesty
Universe/publisher link: register as a student to use the
resources
Astronomy
Picture
of the Day
the
latest
astrophysics discoveries
what's up in the sky
this
week
| Monday, February 14 |
Tuesday, February 15 |
February 16 |
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presentations
of findal projects presentation should be 7 minutes max (and be practiced!) 2 minutes for questions 2 minutes for transition what counts: correctness of results in presentation substantiveness of project clarity of presentation to hand in: max 3 pages, including results and how you did what you did |
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(always done before class) |
back
to the DARK AGES: 27(6) |
Scientific American
articles for
further reading The Cosmic Symphony (the CMB) The Dark Ages The First Stars |
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questions you should know the answer to before coming to class |
we'll
continue discussing the graph of the CMB in 26(8) and any
time left
we'll spend on the dark ages |
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homework (written assignments to be turned in) |
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computer
simulations of the first structure formation: galaxy formation star formation |
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of the week |
first
stars were not
loners |
| Monday, February 7 |
Tuesday, February 8 |
February 9 |
February 10 |
February 11 |
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make
sure that you have your WHITE book EVERY DAY THIS WEEK! |
butchered
schedule homework to bring to class: the time-temperature relationship for a matter-dominated universe |
homework to bring to class: the time-temperature relationship for a radiation-dominated universe | ||
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(always done before class) |
27(3,4): so many things happening in so little time |
nothing new |
review:
27(3,4) new: 27(5) |
nothing
new, we are still in 27(5) |
26(8),
the last section in chapter 26 on the CMB and "that graph" also parts related to the CMB on pp. 700-701 and pp. 704-705 (the WMAP picture) even better reading WMAP releases 7-year results FOR MONDAY: back to the DARK AGES: 27(6) |
questions you should know the answer to before coming to class |
block
D: dont even think of coming to class without knowing what's wrong with figures 26-10, -11 (assuming a flat universe) all blocks: what are the 5 most interesting events that happened in the first 5 minutes of the universe (gleaned only from sections 3 and 4 of chapter 27)? |
what are the 5 most interesting events that happened in the first 5 minutes of the universe (gleaned only from sections 3 and 4 of chapter 27)? THAT HAPPENED! (not problems, not things that happened in the first microsecond -- speculating about anything earlier than the first microsecond is just silly: we dont know the physics check the 5 scales in the WHITE BOOK.... which are uniform across the universe? which are not? |
what is "that graph" plotting? what does it mean? clean-up from yesterday: can you finish the calculation we were in the midst of? (the ratio of the number of electrons that found a positron to annihilate with to the number of electrons that didn't find a positron to annihilate with) |
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homework (written assignments to be turned in) |
work on final project all this week (including yesterday) |
prove
that the universe's stars could not have possibly
have
converted anywhere near 28% of the universe's matter into
helium during
its entire lifetime. the galaxy's luminosity is 1037 W its mass is 4 x 1041 kg you know the efficiency of the H -> He reaction and you know the age of the universe |
to be brought to class today: find the time-temperature relation for a radiation dominated universe.... put it in the form T = ( some number in Kelivin) x (t/1 sec)p where t is the age of the universe in seconds and p is some power |
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of the week |
| Monday, January 31 |
February 1 |
February 2 |
February 3 |
February 4 |
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make
sure that
you have your WHITE
book |
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(always done before class) |
25(3, 4) the last two sections in the quasar section... bring questions! |
25(5)
again know how what we see depends on the view how does the spectrum that we get depend on the view |
the
GREEN handout on radio-quiet and radio-loud AGNs (plus, of course, your knowledge gained from reading chapter 25) 22(4) on gamma-ray bursts a Scientific American article on gamma-ray bursts (with better color pictures) |
the
beginning of the beginning: the Big Bang 26(3, 4) |
26(5) |
things you should know the answer to before coming to class |
have you a project? have you talked to me about it? write up a half-page or so description of what you intend to do and, most importantly, what observational data you need to have |
for the AGN model (write down some observations as a function of viewing angle) what observational features should we see as a function of the direction we look? for example.... one very obvious thing YOU need to explain is why we would see broad lines at one angle and narrow lines at a different angle (that's one observational feature that they gave you, although they left it up to you to explain why) for gamma-ray bursts (bring 2 columns of notes) what are the observational properties of the two types of gamma-ray bursts? what is out model for each type? how did we get from the observations to the models? |
left overs on gamma-ray bursts from yesterday (block D is very behind) new stuff? what are the 3 pieces of observational evidence that a Big Bang (common origin; hot dense epoch of the universe)? (we have actually talked about the three pieces throughout both trimesters!) how/why does each piece of evidence point to a Big Bang? |
when did the universe change from opaque to transparent? what caused the change? at what temperature (based on what we did last september) should this transition take place? why is the book trying to palm off a different temperature on us? since the universe is opaque at times earlier than this, can we see back before then? how? or why not? |
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homework (written assignments to be turned in) |
1) use dimensional analysis to find the "classical" electron scattering radius (it's dependent on ke, e, c, and me).... follow the procedure you were instructed to earlier in the trimester (that not everyone did).... you will end up with 4 equations in 4 unknowns (w,x,y,z) and THEN solve the equations... (i.e., do not just announce the solution) 2) then substitute the numerical values of the constants to find the numerical value of re (make sure that it's reasonable) 3) then go back to the net force equation that we wrote in class and rewrite it and put in all constants to arrive at the eddington limit luminosity (which must be put in the form in the text) NOTE: you wont get the book's answer.... because there are two things i left out (block C knows about 1 and maybe even 2; block D knows about neither, so their answer will about 4000x smaller than the book's) |
coming attractions: prove that the universe's stars could not have possibly have converted anywhere near 28% of the universe's matter into helium during its entire lifetime. the galaxy's luminosity is 1037 W its mass is 4 x 1041 kg you know the efficiency of the H -> He reaction and you know the age of the universe |
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of the week |
Hubble finds the most distant galaxy ever seen |
Kepler
finds 1285
(possible)
extrasolar planets from the Kepler web site: Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Five of the potential planets are near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of smaller, cooler stars than our sun. |
Teenagers,
Friends, and Bad
Decisions |