Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology

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.

Logistics

• Syllabus
• Class Repository: http://github.com/AaronParsons/astro161
• Main Text: Liddle, An Introduction to Modern Cosmology

Topics by Date

The Smooth Universe

(Tu, Jan. 19) The Cosmological Principle; Hubble parameter H; scale factor a [Ch 1,2]

• Topics
  • Cosmological Principle
  • Hubble's Law
  • Scale Factor
• class mechanics
  • syllabus
  • references
  • tools for figuring stuff out
    • theoretical derivation
    • order-of-magnitude estimation
    • physical intuition (hands-on modeling, analogies)
    • numerical simulation/programming
      • Python Installation and Basic Programming

(Th, Jan. 21) Friedmann equation; equation of state; radiation, matter, dark energy [Ch 3,4,5]

• Topics
  • Friedmann Equation
  • Spatial Curvature
• Problem Set 1, due 1/29, 4pm

Density parameter Omega; open, flat, closed cosmological models [Ch 6]

• Topics
  • Critical Density
  • Equations of State

Time evolution of H, Omega, and a [Ch 7]

• Topics
  • Solutions to the Friedmann Equation
  • Equations of State
• Problem Set 2, due 2/5, 4pm

Rudiments of general relativity; the Robertson-Walker metric [Ch 8, A1]

• Topics
  • Age of the Universe
  • Two Component Universe

Basic kinematic properties: distance-redshift, time-redshift, age, angular sizes [A2]

• Topics
  • Robertson Walker metric
  • Comoving Radial Distance
  • Angular Diameter Distance