Elements of general relativity. Physics of pulsars, cosmic rays, black holes. The cosmological distance scale, elementary cosmological models, properties of galaxies and quasars. The mass density and age of the universe. Evidence for dark matter and dark energy and concepts of the early universe and of galaxy formation. Reflections on astrophysics as a probe of the extrema of physics.
Contents
1 Class Repository 2 Texts and References 3 Topics by Date
3.1 The Smooth Universe
3.1.1 (Tu, Jan. 19) The Cosmological Principle; Hubble parameter H; scale factor a [Ch 1,2] 3.1.2 Friedmann equation; equation of state; radiation, matter, dark energy [Ch 3,4,5] 3.1.3 Density parameter Omega; open, flat, closed cosmological models [Ch 6] 3.1.4 Time evolution of H, Omega, and a [Ch 7] 3.1.5 Rudiments of general relativity; the Robertson-Walker metric [Ch 8, A1] 3.1.6 Basic kinematic properties: distance-redshift, time-redshift, age, angular sizes [A2]
3.2 The Bright Side 3.3 The Dark Side= 3.4 The Lumpy Universe 3.5 The Baby Universe 3.6 Black Holes 3.7 Selected Topics (student presentations)
Class Repository http://github.com/AaronParsons/astro161
Texts and References Topics by Date The Smooth Universe (Tu, Jan. 19) The Cosmological Principle; Hubble parameter H; scale factor a [Ch 1,2] intro to our universe
class mechanics
syllabus
references
tools for figuring stuff out
theoretical derivation
order-of-magnitude estimation
physical intuition (hands-on modeling, analogies)
numerical simulation
programming
Activities
collaborative map of our universe
astrobaki Friedmann equation; equation of state; radiation, matter, dark energy [Ch 3,4,5] Density parameter Omega; open, flat, closed cosmological models [Ch 6] Time evolution of H, Omega, and a [Ch 7] Rudiments of general relativity; the Robertson-Walker metric [Ch 8, A1] Basic kinematic properties: distance-redshift, time-redshift, age, angular sizes [A2] The Bright Side The Planck mass; the ugliest number in physics Thermodynamics of Fermi and Bose gases in an expanding universe The longest 3 minutes of your life Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: helium, deuterium, lithium, baryon-to-photon ratio [Ch 12] The Dark Side= Evidence for dark matter [Ch 9] Evidence for dark energy Two dark matter problems: baryonic vs non-baryonic What can they be? The Lumpy Universe Gravitational instability in a static universe Gravitational instability in an expanding universe Growth of cosmic structures Photon-baryon scattering physics; the cosmic microwave background [Ch 10, A5] The Baby Universe Successes of the standard Big Bang model [Ch 11] Problems of the standard Big Bang model [Ch 13] How to fix it? Inflation Black Holes Supermassive black holes at centers of galaxies 6.2 Gravity waves: sources: binary black holes Gravity waves: detection Selected Topics (student presentations) 
