PHYS 175T Physical Cosmology and Galaxies
MW 4:00-5:15 p.m. in McLane 258.
2019 Fall Class Syllabus:
Please read carefully.
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Instructor: Professor
Ringwald
E-mail: ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @
Phone: (559) 278-8426
Office: Room 11 of the J wing of McLane Hall
This is east of the large McLane 161 classroom.
Office hours: MoWe 11:00-11:50 a.m. and 5:30-6:00 p.m., TuTh 5:00-6:00
p.m.
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Course description: (3 credits). Prerequisites: PHYS 4C. The physical
origin and history of the Universe as a whole. The astronomical distance
scale: Hubble's law. Geometrical cosmology: the Robertson-Walker metric.
Big Bang thermodynamics: the cosmic background radiation.
Nucleosynthesis, baryogenesis, inflation. The large-scale structure of
the Universe. Galaxy formation and evolution. Normal and active galaxies.
Dark matter, dark energy.
Required Course Texts:
(1) Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology, Second Edition, by Peter
Schneider (2015), ISBN-13: 978-3662500606.
Recommended texts:
(1) Used Math (2nd ed.), by Clifford E. Swartz (1993). All science
and engineering majors should have a copy.
(2) A Ph.D. is Not Enough, by Peter J. Feibelman (1993). If you
want to be a professional astronomer or a research scientist in any
other field, read this entire book.
Student Learning Outcomes:
(1) Students will review the physics of stars, and how astronomers know
this from observations of stellar evolution. Students will also review
how astronomical sources such as stars and galaxies radiate light by
thermal and line radiation. This will provide context for the wide
variety of astronomical observations to be presented throughout the
course, of the properties, history, and origin of the Universe on its
largest scale.
(2) Students will measure distances across the Universe with the
astronomical distance scale, using observations of trigonometric
parallaxes, Cepheid variables, Type Ia supernovae, and other objects, and
how to use these objects as standard candles.
(3) Students will use the Doppler shift to see how Edwin Hubble discovered
that the Universe is expanding, and how Hubble's law was measured
precisely with Hubble Space Telescope.
(4) Students will survey Einstein's General Theory of Relativity briefly
but enough to derive the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. Students will
use this metric to show that because of gravity, the Universe cannot be
static, but must be expanding.
(5) Students will use Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity to calibrate
the Doppler shift to measure accurate distances at cosmic distances, out
to the edge of the Observable Universe.
(6) Students will analyze observations of the thermal radiation that makes
up the cosmic background radiation, and how they demonstrate that the
Universe began in a hot, dense state, known colloquially as the Big Bang.
Students will analyze the thermodynamics of the Big Bang, to calculate how
globular star clusters and the first stars formed directly from the
primordial chaos.
(7) Students will review nuclear physics and examine nucleosynthesis
during the first three minutes of the existence of the Universe, and
compare this with observations of the cosmic abundances of the deuterium,
helium, and lithium.
(8) Students will make calculations of baryogenesis during the first
second of the existence of the Universe, which explain why anti-matter is
so rare. Students will also demonstrate how this theory is tested by both
astronomical observations and by high-energy physics experiments.
(9) Students will examine theoretical and observational evidence for a
phase of rapid expansion during the first 10-35 second of the
existence of the Universe, referred to as cosmic inflation.
(10) Students will calculate two-point correlation functions to describe
quantitatively the large-scale structure of the Universe, in order to
deduce how structure arose in the Universe because of gravity. Students
will also demonstrate how this reveals the existence of dark
matter.
(11) Students will review the concept of look-back time: that since the
speed of light has a finite speed, looking deeply into the Universe is
like looking into a time machine. Students will use these observations to
find how both normal and active galaxies formed and how they continue to
evolve.
(12) Students will use recent look-back observations of supernovae to
provide evidence that the Universe is dominated by the unexpected, novel,
and still largely unknown phenomenon of dark energy. This will provide
the students with a jumping-off point for their own research careers.
TENTATIVE list of chapters to be covered (updated
2019 November 12):
| Week
| Date
| Chapter
| Topic to be covered Monday
| Date
| Chapter
| Topic to be covered Wednesday
|
| 1
| 8/19
| -
| No class
| 8/21
| 1
| Overview: your "Ultimate Address"
|
| 2
| 8/26
| Appendix B
| Stars and stellar evolution
| 8/28
| Appendix A
| Thermal and line radiation: how stars and galaxies shine
|
| 3
| 9/02
| -
| Holiday (Labor Day)
| 9/04
| 2
| The Milky Way as a galaxy
|
| 4
| 9/09
| 2
| The Milky Way as a galaxy
| 9/11
| 3
| Normal galaxies
|
| 5
| 9/16
| 3
| Dark matter
| 9/18
| 3
| The astronomical distance scale
|
| 6
| 9/23
| 3
| Hubble's law and the expanding Universe
| 9/25
| 1-2
| Mid-Term Exam 1
|
| 7
| 9/30
| 4
| Overview of General Relativity
| 10/02
| 4
| Geometrical cosmology: the Robertson-Walker metric.
|
| 8
| 10/07
| 4
| The Robertson-Walker metric; relativistic Doppler correction
| 10/09
| 4
| The cosmic background radiation: observations
|
| 9
| 10/14
| 4
| Big Bang thermodynamics
| 10/16
| 4
| Nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang
|
| 10
| 10/21
| 4
| Baryogenesis: cosmology and particle physics
| 10/23
| 4
| Dark energy
|
| 11
| 10/28
| 4
| Cosmic inflation
| 10/30
| 5
| Active galaxies
|
| 12
| 11/04
| 5
| Active galaxies
| 11/06
| 6
| Clusters and groups of galaxies
|
| 13
| 11/11
| -
| Holiday (Veterans' Day)
| 11/13
| 7
| Formation of cosmic structure
|
| 14
| 11/18
| 7
| Formation of cosmic structure
| 11/20
| 8
| The large-scale structure of the Universe
|
| 15
| 11/25
| 8
| The large-scale structure of the Universe.
| 11/27
| -
| Holiday (Thanksgiving)
|
| 16
| 12/02
| 9
| The deep Universe
| 12/04
| 9
| The deep Universe; Take-Home Mid-Term Exam
2 due.
|
| 17
| 12/09
| 10-11
| Galaxy formation and evolution
| 12/11
| 10-11
| Galaxy formation and evolution
|
Course grades will be awarded for the following final
percentages:
90.0-100% = A; 80.0-89.9% = B; 70.0-79.9% = C; 60.0-69.9% = D; 0-59.9%
= F.
These percentages will be computed with the following weights:
|
25%
|
Homework. Sorry, but no late assignments will be accepted.
|
|
20%
|
Mid-Term Exam 1 (in class, closed book and closed notes, on
Wednesday, September 25).
|
|
20%
|
Mid-Term Exam 2 (take-home, due Wednesday, November 20).
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| 35%
| Final Exam (in class, closed book and closed notes: Wednesday,
December 18, 5:45-7:45 p.m.).
|
Sorry, but Professor Ringwald doesn't give make-up exams. If any student
must be absent for a valid reason (job interview, illness documented by a
physician's note), that student's grade for that exam will be voided and
the remainder of the grade counted as 100%.
Class web page: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/phys175Tcosm.html
There are no computing prerequisites or lab for this course, so the
emphasis will be on pencil-and-paper theory.
Too many students treat doing their homework and their assigned readings
as dreadful chores. Please remember that cosmology is an elective course
and a competitive profession. If working the homework problems and doing
the readings isn't fun for you, something is wrong.
- The Central Valley Astronomers
are Fresno's amateur astronomy club. They will have meetings at 7-9 p.m.
in East Engineering 191 on September 14, October 12, November 9, and
December 7.
- Star Parties (weather permitting) with the CVA are scheduled for
after 7 p.m. on August 31, September 28, October 26, and November 23.
These will be at Eastman Lake State Park.
Please make every effort to attend every one of these meetings, star
parties, and other CVA and Downing Planetarium community events.
Honor Code: Members of the California State University, Fresno
academic community adhere to principles of academic integrity and mutual
respect while engaged in university work and related activities.
Students should:
(a) understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic
integrity in this course (including no cheating, plagiarism and
inappropriate collaboration)
(b) neither give nor receive unauthorized aid on examinations or other
course work that is used by the instructor as the basis of grading.
(c) take responsibility to monitor academic dishonesty in any form and to
report it to the instructor or other appropriate official for action.
Instructors may require students to sign a statement on exams and
assignments that “I have done my own work and have neither given nor
received unauthorized assistance on this work." (This section on the honor
code was a required syllabus policy statement by Fresno State.)
Students with Disabilities: The Department of Physics
cooperates with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to make
reasonable accommodations for qualified students with physical,
perceptual, or learning disabilities (cf. Americans with Disabilities Act
and Section 504, Rehabilitation Act). Students with disabilities should
present their written accommodation request to Professor Ringwald within
the first two weeks of class.
Upon identifying themselves to the instructor and the university, students
with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodation for learning and
evaluation. For more information, contact Services to Students with
Disabilities in Madden Library 1049 (559-278-2811).
Ethnic, gender, and cultural perspectives: Cosmology is among
the most active, exciting fields in physics today. New instruments have
revolutionized the field, with the first precise (or often, any!)
measurements of various properties of the entire Universe. Observations
with Hubble Space Telescope have now measured the age of the
Universe to within two percent, at 13.80 + 0.02 billion years.
Another NASA spacecraft has measured that the Universe is expanding
within one percent of the rate it needs to keep expanding forever. This
is almost certainly not a coincidence: amazingly, it's a clue about
physical processes occurring during the first 10-35 of a
second of the existence of the Universe, and there is independent
observational confirmation to support this. We are now in the era of
precision cosmology—and as cosmologist Mike Turner observed in
1999, "Five years ago, 'precision cosmology' would have been an
oxymoron."
Cosmology has nothing to do with hair or makeup: that's
cosmetology. Cosmology is the study of the origin of the
Universe. This course will be strictly a physics course: it won't cover
metaphysics or religion, from any culture. This no doubt would have
annoyed Thoreau, who was angered when he bought a book about frogs and
found it was limited to pictures of dissections. Nevertheless, there are
now more than enough physical observations of the origin and history of
the Universe to fill a one-semester course for advanced undergraduate
majors in physics and related fields, to be taught by the Department of
Physics. We will even go so far as to avoid using the word "creation,"
since this connotes the presence of a supernatural agent, a concept from
outside of science since it must evoke the supernatural. Science is
always concerned with natural phenomena. While we will of course always
be careful to respect everyone's beliefs and opinions, this course will
be specifically about natural phenomena, how we can observe them, and how
we can understand them rationally.
Since this will expressly be a science course, it's debatable whether it
will involve any ethnic or gender perspectives. As Chomsky has observed,
"Perhaps it is another inadequacy of mine, but when I read a scientific
paper, I can't tell whether the author is white or is male...I rather
doubt that the non-white, non-male students, friends, and colleagues with
whom I work would be much impressed with the doctrine that their thinking
and understanding differ from 'white male science' because of their
'culture or gender and race.' I suspect that 'surprise' would not be
quite the proper word for their reaction."
Cheating and plagiarism:
Professor Ringwald will not allow students to take work of any kind from
the Internet or elsewhere, and turn it in as their own work. This is now
easy for professors to detect, with www.plagiarism.org. If Professor
Ringwald finds anything on web page anywhere that closely resembles any
student's work, that web page had better have the student's name on it.
If it doesn't, the student's turning in that work with the student's name
on it will be interpreted as an attempt to misrepresent someone else's
work as the student's own, which constitutes plagiarism. Remember,
always: you are responsible for anything with your name on it.
Modifying someone else's work slightly, or changing the text around, or
stringing someone else's paragraphs together, even if they're cited, is no
better: none of these dubious practices make it your work. For
information on the University's policy regarding cheating and plagiarism,
refer to the Schedule of Courses (Legal Notices on Cheating and
Plagiarism) or the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).
If Professor Ringwald finds any plagiarized work, the student will
receive an F for the entire course. Professor Ringwald may also send
the plagiarized work to the Dean and recommend the student be expelled
from the University. Do NOT plagiarize!
Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive
acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit;
such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such
acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this
definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination
situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that
are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or
deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists
of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by
misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used
as one's own work." Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a 0
or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion
from the university. For more information on the University's policy
regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Class Schedule
(Policy/Legal Statements) or the University Catalog (University policies).
Computers: At California State University, Fresno, computers
and communications links to remote resources are recognized as being
integral to the education and research experience. Every student is
required to have his/her own computer or have other personal access to a
workstation (including a modem and a printer) with all the recommended
software. The minimum and recommended standards for the workstations and
software, which may vary by academic major, are updated periodically and
are available from Information Technology Services or the University
Bookstore. In the curriculum and class assignments, students are presumed
to have 24-hour access to a computer workstation and the necessary
communication links to the University's information resources.
Disruptive Classroom Behavior: The classroom is a special
environment in which students and faculty come together to promote
learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that
respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the
professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic
freedom are maintained. Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be
expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating
an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with
clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their
identities, and to develop and understanding of the community in which
they live. Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not
be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from
class.
Copyright policy: Copyright laws and fair use policies protect the
rights of those who have produced the material. The copy in this course
has been provided for private study, scholarship, or research. Other uses
may require permission from the copyright holder. The user of this work
is responsible for adhering to copyright law of the U.S. (Title 17, U.S.
Code). To help you familiarize yourself with copyright and fair use
policies, the University encourages you to visit its copyright web page,
at:
http://www.lib.csufresno.edu/libraryinformation/campus/copyright/copyrtpolicyfull.pdf
Digital Campus course web sites contains material protected by copyrights
held by the instructor, other individuals or institutions. Such material
is used for educational purposes in accord with copyright law and/or with
permission given by the owners of the original material. You may download
one copy of the materials on any single computer for non-commercial,
personal, or educational purposes only, provided that you (1) do not
modify it, (2) use it only for the duration of this course, and (3)
include both this notice and any copyright notice originally included with
the material. Beyond this use, no material from the course web site may
be copied, reproduced, re-published, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or
distributed in any way without the permission of the original copyright
holder. The instructor assumes no responsibility for individuals who
improperly use copyrighted material placed on the web site.
Other astronomy and related courses at Fresno State include:
This syllabus and schedule are subject to change in the event of
extenuating circumstances. Any student who is absent from class is
responsible for checking on announcements made while that student was
absent.
Go to
Professor Ringwald's home page
Last updated 2019 December 18. Web page by Professor Ringwald
(ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @)
Department of Physics,
California State University,
Fresno. Please read this disclaimer.
