IDS160B - Relativisitic Astrophysics and Cosmology - Syllabus

Instructor: George Smoot

Spring Semester 1995

Text for 160B:
Gerhard Borner, The Early Universe: Fact and Fiction, 2nd ed. (1992).
Matts Roos, Introduction to Cosmology, Wiley (1994).

Supplementary texts (for reserve and for the use of the instructor in preparing lectures):
Dirac, The General Theory of Relativity, Wiley (1975)
Ohanian & Ruffini, Gravitation and SpaceTime, 2nd ed. (1994)
Longair, High Energy Astrophysics, 2nd ed. (1992--93);
Narlikar, Introduction to Cosmology, Cambridge 2nd ed. (1993)
Shapiro and Teukolsky, Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (1983 --- paperback addition available);
Rowan-Robinson, The Cosmological Distance Ladder (1985);
J. Frank, A.R. King and D.J. Raine, Accretion Power in Astrophysics, 2nd ed. (1992 --- paperback edition available);
Alan Lightman et al, Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation (1975)

IDS 160B. Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology (4 units)
Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.
Prerequisites: Senior standing in Astronomy or in Physics, or permission of the instructor. IDS160A, Physics 112, and either Physics 110A-B or Physics 137A-B. A prior knowledge of Astrophysics comparable to that offered in Astronomy 7 is useful but not required.
Elements of general relativity. Physics of pulsars, cosmic rays and 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 concepts of the early Universe and of galaxy formation. Reflections on astrophysics as a probe of the extrema of physics.

Postscript version of the original course syllabus.

IDS 160B: Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology
45 lecture hours --- 30 lectures --- 4 units 3 hours/week lecture, 1 hour/week discussion

• Elements of General Relativity (3 lectures)
  Equivalence principle
  Coordinate transformations and local Minkowski frames
  Geodesic motion, gravitational redshift and gravitational lensing
  Statement of Einstein equations
  Schwarzschild and Robertson-Walker Metrics
  Gravitational Lenses
  
• Pulsars and Synchrotron Nebulae (2 lectures)
  Radio, O, X and Observations
  Synchrotron Nebulae
  -- Synchrotron Radiation
  -- Nebulae - Relativistic Power Input by Pulsars
  The Magnetized Neutron Star Model
  -- Clock Stability
  -- dP/dt > 0
  -- Magnetized Spin Down model
  ---- Vacuum and Non-vacuum Models (Magnetospheric Voltage)
  -- Magnetic Fields of Neutron Stars
  ---- Field Strengths - Normal and Millisecond Pulsars
  Outstanding Problems (High Energy Particle Acceleration, Emission)
  
• Cosmic Rays (2 lectures)
  Observations
  -- Total Spectrum
  -- Composition: propagation effects and lifetime
  Cosmic Ray Origins
  -- Supernova Remnants (qualitative - dimensional analysis)
  -- Shock Acceleration (qualitative)
  
• Black Holes (2 lectures) (I taught 3 lectures including thermodyanmics)
  Basic Structure
  -- Particle orbits
  -- Reality of singularities
  Summary of other black hole physics
  -- Evaporation
  -- Disk accretion onto Black Holes
  Thermodynamics of Black Holes
  -- Entropy = Area, Temperature
  -- Quantum States and Information
  
• The Expanding Universe (2 lectures)
  Observational Motivations
  -- Redshift (naive Doppler, relativistic effects)
  -- Hubble/Quasar controversy
  Evidence for a Hot Big Bang
  -- Expansion of the Universe & Dark Night sky (Olbers' Paradox)
  -- 2.73K Background Radiation
  -- Primordial Element Abundances
  -- Homogeneity and Structure
  Friedman-Lemaitre Universes
  -- Roberston-Walker Metric, Friedman equations, Newtonian analog
  Evolution of Scale parameter in pressureless Universe
  -- Critical density, open and closed Universes
  -- Causality, horizon
  -- Cosmological constant
  
• Structure Formation (3 Lectures) (see later)
  
• Determination of Cosmological Parameters (5 lectures)
  
• The Hubble Parameter --- Cosmological Distance Ladder (3 lectures)
  -- Trigonometric Methods
  -- Methods from Stellar Physics
  -- Main sequence
  -- Cepheids
  -- Supernovae of type Ia
  -- Planetary Nebulae
  -- Methods from Galaxy Physics
  ---- Basic Properties of Galaxies
  ---- Tully-Fisher
  ---- D-n sigma
  ---- Surface Brightness fluctuations
  -- The Basic Uncertainties
  
• The Density of the Universe (3 lectures)
  Depth of Potential Wells
  -- Virial Methods
  -- Temperature of cluster gas
  -- Gravitational lensing
  -- Dynamical Methods
  -- Principle: Observed velocity =
  -- Inputs:
  ---- Velocity flows
  ---- Deviation from Hubble flow
  ---- Conversion of radial velocities to 3D velocities
  -- large scale structure
  -- Growth of density fluctuations
  -- Various Estimations of
  -- Uncertainties
  Geometric Measurement
  -- Measurements of curvature
  ---- Definitions of distances
  ---- Volume element
  ---- Luminosity vs. redshift (Sandage, SN Ia)
  -- Number counts
  -- Volume element evolution
  -- Evolutionary diffculties
  Conclusion: 90% of the Universe is dark
  
• The Age of the Universe (1 lecture)
  Radioactive dating
  Age of globular clusters
  White dwarfs
  Is the cosmological constant nonzero?
  
• Gravitational Radiation (2 lectures)
  Weak Field Approximation, polarization, nature
  Quadrupole Radiation
  Binary Pulsar and Orbit Decay (and coallescence)
  
• Quasars (3 lectures) (I did not spend 3 lectures on this, though I did have the class attend a colloquium by Martin Rees on the Black Hole model.)
  Phenomelogy of Radio quiet, jet free QSOs
  Phenomenology of Radio loud QSOs with jets
  Black Hole in a Galaxy model for QSOs
  -- Large scale disks
  -- X-Ray and UV emission - blue bump
  -- Disk Outflows - Jets
  ---- Observations of jets
  ------ Superluminal motion
  ------ Termination of jets in radio sources
  ---- Equilibrium jet models
  High brightness temperature radio sources - relativistic on T_b
  QSO Emission lines
  QSO Absorption Lines --- Probes of the Universe at High Redshift
  -- Gunn-Peterson Effect
  -- Lyman- forest ---early galaxies?
  
• The Early Universe (6 lectures)
  Thermodynamics in an Expanding Universe
  Radiation Dominated Universe
  Number of Degrees of Freedom
  Evolution of Temperature
  -- Fossil Radiation
  -- Decoupling of Relic Radiation
  -- Transparency -> Relic Backgrounds
  ---- Electromagnetic Radiation
  ---- Neutrinos
  ---- Gravitational Waves
  ---- Phase Transitions
  ------ Inflationary episodes
  ------ Topological singularities
  The Microwave Background
  -- Experimental Techniques
  -- Spectrum
  -- Large Scale Anisotropy
  ---- Dipole
  ---- Causality, horizon, inflation
  -- Small scale anisotropy --- predictions and current efforts
  -- Conclusions --- Fundamental intial conditions for galaxy formation
  
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis & Baryogenesis (2 Lectures)
  The Number of Baryons in the Universe
  Baryon-antibaryon asymmetry
  -- Experimental absence of antimatter
  -- Potential explanation from particle physics
  -- Expected large photon to baryon ratio
  -- Primordial nucleosynthesis
  -- Experimental determinations
  -- Nucleosynthesis theory
  -- Ratio of baryons to photons, cosmological limits to number of neutrino families
  -- Density of the Universe in baryons
  
• The Nature of Dark Matter
  Baryonic Dark Matter
  Constraints
  The search for dark massive objects: gravitational lenses and MACHOS
  Non-baryonic dark matter
  -- Summary of evidence and theoretical prejudices
  -- Thermal equilibrium cases
  ---- Freeze out and relic abundance
  ---- Light massive neutrinos
  ---- Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS): current searches
  ---- Other candidates
  
• Philosophical Remarks (1 lecture)
  The Union of the large and small
  Extremes of the behavior of mass-energy
  The Big Bang to the formation of stars and planets
  -- Origin of Life
  -- Current ideas
  -- Searches
  We live in a special Universe?
  -- Copernican principle
  -- Anthropic principle
  Cosmology and Mythologies
  

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