| Instructor | Teaching Assistant |
|---|---|
| Yuk Tung Liu | Michael Katolik |
| Astronomy Building Room 125 | Astronomy Building Room 233 |
| Email: ytliu@illinois.edu | Email: katolik2@illinois.edu |
| Office Hours: Thu. 3:30—4:30pm, or by appointment | Office Hours: Mon. 3:00—5:00pm |
The subject of this course is sweeping in scales of both space and time. We will discuss the large-scale structure of our Milky Way Galaxy, and use our understanding as a springboard for a study of the other galaxies that fill the universe today. Then we will further enlarge our scope to encompass the universe itself. We will discuss the earliest moments of the big bang, from the Planck time of 10-43 sec to the birth of stars and galaxies to the future fate of the universe billions of years from now.
The emphasis will be on physical arguments and quantitative estimates to understand observations. We will see that laboratory physics allows us to understand much about the cosmos on these grand scales. For example, we will see that when the early universe cooled to its present state, it went through phases controlled by nuclear and then atomic processes. Thus, by applying some basic nuclear and atomic physics (which we'll review), we can understand the formation of the lightest elements, and of the cosmic fireball that we see today as the microwave background. But we will also find unanswered questions, such as the nature and identity of the dark matter and dark energy, and of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. The answers to these questions may require new physics beyond that currently known. Indeed, we will see how the universe can be used as "the poor person's accelerator," to probe conditions inaccessible to terrestrial laboratories and accelerators.
| Requirement | Percentage of Grade |
|---|---|
| Problem Sets (best 11 of 12) | 11×5% = 55% |
| Midterm Exam | 15% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
The official course webpage is located at Illinois Compass2g. Grades and lecture notes will be posted on the course webpage. Be sure to regularly check for important updates and information.
The following table shows the approximate grading scale in this course.
| Grade | Approximate Range |
|---|---|
| A | > 90.0% |
| B | 80.0 — 90.0% |
| C | 70.0 — 80.0% |
| D | 60.0 — 70.0% |
| F | < 60.0% |
Final course grades will follow these guidelines. Plusses and minuses will be used.
The ranges are approximate in that I may have to adjust them if, for example, I give an exam that is a little too hard. In any case, I will not increase the minimum cutoffs for each letter grade. If you end up on the borderline between two grades, a number of other factors will decide whether you will get the higher or lower grade. These factors include consistency, effort and in-class participation.
You are not required to purchase these books, but they are useful for you to study the material covered in this course.
There will be 12 problem sets given throughout the course. These assignments represent the bulk of the work you will do for the course. The problem sets are meant to sharpen your thinking on the material covered in lecture, to develop physical intuition and quantitative skills, and to help prepare you for the exams. Problem sets are due at the beginning of class on almost every Friday.
Problem sets count for the bulk of your grade, at 55% of the total points. Your best 11 homework grades will be counted. However, you are responsible for all of the material covered on all 12 homework assignments. Thus, it is to your advantage to do all 12 of the assignments, and hand them in on time.
Late assignments will be penalized 10% per day (excepting weekends and University holidays) until the next assignment due date, after which they will not be accepted. For a well-documented excuse (such as illness) the penalty may be waived at the instructor's discretion.
These days it is probably possible to find the solution to any reasonable problem in other textbooks or on the internet. You should not seek solutions to the assigned problems from any such resource. In any case, this would be a foolish thing to do, since the assignments are designed to help you learn the course material and also serve as practice for the exams, which consulting outside sources is not allowed.
There will be a midterm exam and a comprehensive final exam. Dates are as follows.
Further information about each exam will be forthcoming as the exam approaches.
Attendance: You are expected to attend lectures. I will cover material in class that will not always be in the readings, and the lecture material will be included on the exams. Class time is the most valuable for you if you come prepared, ready to actively engage the material.
Academic Integrity: Academic honesty is essential to this course and the University. Any instance of academic dishonesty (including but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, falsification of data, and alteration of grade) will be documented in the student's academic file. In addition, the particular exam, homework, or report will be given a zero.
Guidelines for collaborative work: Discussing course material with your classmates is in general a good idea. However, you are expected to do your own work. You are responsible for understanding every part of your results and solutions, and for writing these in your own words. Finally, on exams your work and your answers must of course be entirely your own.
Personal Issues: To insure that disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning, students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to participate in this class are asked to see the instructor as soon as possible.
For the benefit of your fellow students and your instructor, you are expected to follow these basic rules of decorum.
Electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and the like, are tools that can enhance the classroom but also can be disruptive if misused. I will allow the use of such devices in class for the purpose of taking notes only. But you are expected to pay attention in class, and these devices can be very distracting; you are expected to use them only for note-taking.
Students must respect the classroom environment. Unless specifically directed by the instructor, students shall refrain from sending email and instant messages, or from engaging in other activities (reading non-course materials, engaging in private conversations and so on) that disrespect the classroom environment and learning conditions for others.
Students considering late registration, particularly after Jan. 30, are welcome but strongly encouraged to speak with the instructor prior to joining the course.
Out of fairness, the same grading standards will be used for all students in the course, and all students will be responsible for all assignments and all lecture material. Those students who register late are welcome, but join the course with the understanding that they are responsible for the material covered before they joined the course. The policy of dropping the lowest homework assignment allows late registering students to avoid penalty on any assignment missed before joining the course, as long as the remaining assignments are completed.
Class times: MWF 10:00 - 10:50am at 134 Astronomy.
| Week | Dates | Topics | Homework Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan. 21 | Introduction, the Cosmic Scale | |
| Jan. 23 | Electromagnetic Spectrum | ||
| 2 | Jan. 26 | Photometry and Spectroscopy | |
| Jan. 28 | Stellar Structure | ||
| Jan. 30 | Stellar Evolution | 1 | |
| 3 | Feb. 2 | Stellar Populations and Star Clusters | |
| Feb. 4 | Distance Ladder, Galactic Coordinates | ||
| Feb. 6 | Mapping the Milky Way | 2 | |
| 4 | Feb. 9 | Structure of Our Galaxy | |
| Feb. 11 | Measuring Galactic Rotation | ||
| Feb. 13 | Rotation Curve and Dark Matter | 3 | |
| 5 | Feb. 16 | Gravitational Lensing | |
| Feb. 18 | Microlensing | ||
| Feb. 20 | Galactic Center | 4 | |
| 6 | Feb. 23 | Sagittarius A* | |
| Feb. 25 | Globular Clusters | ||
| Feb. 27 | Stellar Dynamics | 5 | |
| 7 | Mar. 2 | Globular Cluster Dynamics | |
| Mar. 4 | Galaxy Morphology | ||
| Mar. 6 | Galaxy Photometry | 6 | |
| 8 | Mar. 9 | Rotation and Tully-Fisher Relation | |
| Mar. 11 | Disk Galaxies: Spiral Structure, Elliptical Galaxies and the Fundamental Plane | ||
| Mar. 13 | Midterm Exam | ||
| 9 | Mar. 16 | Supermassive Black Holes, Galaxy Collisions | |
| Mar. 18 | Galaxy Clusters, Intracluster Medium | ||
| Mar. 20 | Active Galaxies | 7 | |
| — | Mar. 23—27 | Spring break | |
| 10 | Mar. 30 | Quasars | |
| Apr. 1 | Large Scale Structure | ||
| Apr. 3 | Cosmodynamics | 8 | |
| 11 | Apr. 6 | Friedmann Equations | |
| Apr. 8 | Multi-Component Universe | ||
| Apr. 10 | ΛCDM Model | 9 | |
| 12 | Apr. 13 | Cosmological Redshift, Distances, Lookback Time, K-Correction | |
| Apr. 15 | Cosmic Acceleration and Dark Energy | ||
| Apr. 17 | Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation | 10 | |
| 13 | Apr. 20 | CMB Power Spectrum, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations | |
| Apr. 22 | The Early Universe: Separation of Four Forces, Baryogenesis, Neutrino Decoupling | ||
| Apr. 24 | Big Bang Nucleosynthesis | 11 | |
| 14 | Apr. 27 | Cosmic Inflation | |
| Apr. 29 | Multiverse | ||
| May 1 | Cosmic Structure Formation | 12 | |
| 15 | May 4 | Growth of Density Fluctuations, Power Spectrum | |
| May 6 | Nonlinear Growth, Numerical Simulations | ||
| May 12 | Final Exam 7:00—10:00pm | ||