Physics 3368

Principles of Astrophysics and Cosmology - Fall 2012

Course Information

• Lecturer: Professor Randall J. Scalise
• Lecture meeting times and place: TR 11:00AM - 12:20PM in room 26 Fondren Science Building
• Office hours: Monday noon-1pm in room 107 Fondren Science and by appointment.
• Contact:
  • Call or leave a message at 768-2504, or
  • Leave a note in the Physics Department Office - 102 Fondren Science, or
  • send me e-mail: <scalise@smu.edu>
• Text:
  • Astrophysics in a Nutshell by Dan Maoz
• Grading:
  • Homework 60%
  • Midterm Exam 20%
  • Presentation 20%
• Syllabus
• Homework Assignments Due dates are strictly enforced.
  • Assignment #1: Read Maoz chapter 1, do problems 1 and 2 - due Friday 31 August 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #2: Read Maoz chapter 2, do problems 1-5 - due Friday 7 September 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #3: Read Maoz chapter 3 up to section 3.6, do problems 1-5 - due Friday 14 September 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #4: Finish reading Maoz chapter 3, do problems 6-7 - due Friday 21 September 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #5: Start reading Maoz chapter 4, do chapter 3 problems 8-9 - due Friday 28 September 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #6: Finish reading Maoz chapter 4, do problems 1-3 - due Friday 5 October 2012 at 5:00pm
  • No homework due on Friday 12 October 2012 because of the midterm exam on 11 October.
  • No homework due on Friday 19 October 2012 because of Fall Break.
  • Assignment #7: - Finish reading Maoz chapter 4, do problems 4-6 - due Friday 26 October 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #8: - Read Maoz chapter 7 and Ryden chapter 1 and chapter section 2.1, do Ryden chapter 2 problem 1 and verify with Monte Carlo computer code - due Friday 2 November 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #9: - Read Maoz chapter 8, do is Middle Earth flat? - due Friday 9 November 2012 at 5:00pm
  • Assignment #10: - Finish reading Maoz chapter 8, do problems 7-3, 8-1 - due Friday 16 November 2012 at 5:00pm
  • No homework due on Friday 23 November 2012 because of Thanksgiving.
  • Assignment #11: - Do problems 8-2 and 8-3 - due Friday 30 November 2012 at 5:00pm
• Homework solutions
  
  
• Midterm Exam - Thursday 11 October 2012 in class
• Links:
  • Red Giants and White Dwarfs Make Explosive Stellar Pairings
  • Olbers' Paradox - Minute Physics
  • Olbers' Paradox from Wikipedia
  • How many neutrinos in the sky? Three. Dammit.
• Recommended Reading:
  • Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation by Alan P. Lightman, William H. Press, Richard H. Price, and Saul A. Teukolsky
  • Introduction to Cosmology by Barbara Ryden
  • The First Three Minutes: A Modern View Of The Origin Of The Universe by Steven Weinberg
  • Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip Thorne
  • Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity by Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler
  • Einstein for Everyone by John D. Norton
  • Dark Matter by Don Lincoln
  • MIT open Quantum Mechanics
  • Leonard Susskind's General Relativity
  • A History of Dark Matter by Gianfranco Bertone and Dan Hooper
  • Lectures on Inflation by Leonardo Senatore
  • Introduction to General Relativity by Gerard 't Hooft
  • Lecture Notes on General Relativity by Sean M. Carroll
  • Expanding Confusion
  • Modified Gravity vs Particle Dark Matter. The Plot Thickens.
  • Warping Spacetime by Kip Thorne
• Cosmology - Leonard Susskind (2009)
• Cosmology - Leonard Susskind (2013)

Back to Professor Scalise's Home Page