Ay 21, Galaxies and Cosmology

2020 Winter Term, Caltech

Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:30pm, in 219 Cahill)

Prof:   Chuck Steidel
        252 Cahill
        x 4168
        ccs [at] astro.caltech.edu
        Office hours: walk-in or by appointment.

TA:	Yuping Huang 
        245 Cahill
	x5728
	yuping [at] astro.caltech.edu
        Office hour: 3:30-4:30pm, Mondays

COURSE WEBSITE:

WWW: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~ccs/Ay21/

ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you did not get a copy of the final exam in class today (March 10) please contact me to arrange a time to pick one up. --Chuck

Homework 4 - available 22 February 2020, due by 5pm, March 5 PDF
Homework 3 - available 6 February 2020, due by 5pm, February 18 PDF
Homework 2 - available 23 January 2020, due by 5pm, February 4 PDF
Homework 1 - available 09 January 2020, due by 5pm, January 21 PDF

TOPICS to be covered

Cosmology: historical context; review relevant astrophysical quantities, units
Galaxies: morphology, structure, kinematics, stellar populations, spectra
Galaxies: space distribution, luminosity function, mass function
Galaxy clusters
Dark matter on galaxy scales
Galactic timescales; global star formation in galaxies
Extragalactic distance ladder; the ``Hubble flow''
Cosmological models, parameters
Robertson-Walker metric; Friedmann equations
Cosmological geometry; curvature
Cosmography (measurements on cosmological scales)
Dark energy/cosmological expansion history
Age dating on cosmological timescales
Early Universe/Big-bang nucleosynthesis
Cosmic Microwave Background
Inflation
Growth of structure in ``Cold dark matter'' cosmology
Galaxy formation; Jeans criteria, baryons in dark matter halos
Star formation history of the Universe
Galaxy Evolution
Intergalactic Medium
The era of ``Re-ionization''
Active Galactic Nuclei; accretion power, super-massive black holes
Gravitational Lensing

REQUIREMENTS AND POLICIES

HOMEWORK

LATE HOMEWORK POLICY:

COLLABORATION POLICY:

GRADING

class attendance and participation (10%)
homework sets (30%)
mid-term exam (20%)
final exam (40%)

The reason for the class attendance requirement: I like to see your smiling faces in person... and to encourage discussion, which will often clarify points that would otherwise remain obscure. Also, the material presented in class will often be independent of the assigned readings (they complement each other). Questions are strongly encouraged in class - it is guaranteed that any question you ask is also one that will benefit more than a few of your classmates.

Both exams will be open note, take-home. "Open note" means that anything presented in class via slides (which will be available on the class web site) or on the white board (and thus recorded in your notes) will be available to you while working the exams. Of course, you must complete the exams yourself (no collaboration allowed).

SYLLABUS

Week 1: Jan 6-10: Cosmology and galaxy formation: introduction, historical perspective Slides shown Tues Jan 07 class
Astrophysical units, conventions, definitions, observational tools Slides shown Thurs Jan 09 class
[Reading: Schneider 1.2; Appendices A-C]; [Reading: Schneider 1.2; Appendices A-C]

Week 2: Jan 13-17: Galaxies: morphology, structure, kinematics, stellar populations, "fossil record" Slides shown Tues Jan 14 class
Galaxies: luminosity function, mass function, scaling relations Slides shown Thurs. Jan 16 class
[Reading: Schneider 3.1-3.5; 3.10; 6.3-6.4]; [Reading: Schneider 3.1-3.5; 3.10; 6.3-6.4]

Week 3: Jan 20-24: Scaling Relations II
The extragalactic distance ladder; Hubble flow Slides shown in class, Jan 21,23 classes
[Reading: Schneider 4.1-4.3; 8.3]; [Reading: Schneider 4.1-4.3; 8.3]

Week 4: Jan 27-31: Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model of the expanding universe
Cosmography: measurements of distance and time in an expanding universe Cosmology notes from Jan 28+30 classes
Cosmological geometry (and tests to measure it)
[Reading: Schneider 8.1-8.3; 8.6-8.8; Distance Measures in Cosmology ]
[Reading: Schneider 8.1-8.3; 8.6-8.8; Distance Measures in Cosmology ]

Week 5: Feb 3-7 [midterm exam period Feb 5-11]: Thermal history of the Universe
The Cosmic Microwave Background [Schneider 8.6-8.7]
Lingering problems (and their proposed solutions) [Schneider 4.5; Inflation: Review Article by Alan Guth ]
What is Dark Matter? Dark Energy? [Reading: "Dark Matter and Dark Energy": review Article by Marc Kamionkowski ]

Week 6: Feb 10-14: Growth of structure in a universe dominated by cold dark matter [Schneider 7.1-7.4]
Non-linear evolution of structure; dark matter halos [Schneider 7.5-7.6]

Mar 10 (Tuesday): Final exams available for pickup in person at the end of class.
Mar 18 (Weds) : Final exams due by 5pm Weds., handed to either Steidel or Huang (or put in Steidel's mailbox.)

TEXTBOOKS

REQUIRED

Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology: by Peter Schneider
ISBN 978-3-642-54082-0: (2015 Springer); * Note that Caltech students have free access to the electronic version of the textbook here

This is a very recently updated book that covers all of the material we cover in Ay21 at just about the right level; it is also well-illustrated.

SUPPLEMENTARY

These may be helpful for alternative treatments of selected topics. Copies are on reserve in the Cahill library. :

Introduction to Cosmology (second edition, 2017): by Barbara Ryden
ISBN 978-1107154834: (2017 Cambridge University Press)
This is a very nice book, at almost the perfect level for Ay21; it covers most of the cosmology topics we'll be looking at, but does not cover as much on galaxies, galaxy formation, and other more astrophysical concepts.

Observational Cosmology: by Stephen Serjeant
ISBN 978-0521157155: (2010, Cambridge University Press)
Rather light on theory and calculation, but comprehensive, well explained, and well-illustrated in full color.

Additional readings will be made available via links to PDF-format documents from the syllabus below:

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

You may find the following supplemental materials to be useful and/or enlightening:

Understanding the Microwave Background The Cosmic Symphony (Scientific American)
Inflation Review Article by Alan Guth
Dark Matter and Dark Energy Review Article by Marc Kamionkowski