teaching

Galaxies and Cosmology

Fall 2006

Instructors: Matthias Hoeft and Marcus Brüggen
Course Number: 210 321 and 310421
Times: Tues 11:15 - 12:30 (East 5) and Wed 8:15 - 9:30 (East 5)
Type: Mandatory for majors in Geosciences and Astrophysics who specialise in Astrophysics

Course description

In this course we explore the structure of the Milky Way and other galaxies out to the youngest galaxies in the far distant universe. Drawing from observations from across the entire electromagnetic spectrum we will discuss the composition of galaxies, their evolution and formation.

We further study the distribution of galaxies in the universe and their environments at different epochs. This will be accompanied by a discussion of the basics of cosmology and the formation of structure in the universe. This course is aimed at students who major in Geosciences and Astrophysics as well as interested students from physics and mathematics.

Textbooks

Sparke and Gallagher
Galaxies in the Universe
Cambridge University Press

Liddle
An Introduction to Modern Cosmology
Wiley

Lecture notes

There is script for this lecture. (It is not complete and there is no guarantee for the content, so be aware that there might still be a lot of typos. When you find a significant typo or mistake, please, let me know.)

Exams and grading

There will be a final exam and continuous homework assignments. The final exam will contribute 60% and the homework 40% to the final mark. There will be no midterm exam.

Class schedule

1 Introduction
2 Stars in the Milky Way
3 Motion under gravity
4 Stellar evolution and feedback
5 The gaseous disk
6 Galactic structure: Bulges, bars and spiral arms
7 Star formation
8 Elliptical galaxies
9 Galaxies in the universe: The large-scale picture
10 The homogenous, expanding universe
11 The hot Big Bang
12 From Hydrogen recombination to the distribution of galaxies

Problem sheets

No. Topic Problem sheet Due date

1 The magnitude system PDF September 13

2 Jeans mass and color of a galaxy PDF September 20

3 Initial mass function PDF September 27

4 Mass of a globular cluster PDF October 6

5 Test PDF in class

6 Oort's constants PDF StarList October 23

7 Epicyclic motion PDF October 30

8 Age of the Universe PDF November 15

9 Space-time geometry PDF Novemeber 22

11 Lensing and max number of visible galaxies PDF December 5

No.	Topic	Problem sheet	Due date
1	The magnitude system	PDF	September 13
2	Jeans mass and color of a galaxy	PDF	September 20
3	Initial mass function	PDF	September 27
4	Mass of a globular cluster	PDF	October 6
5	Test	PDF	in class
6	Oort's constants	PDF StarList	October 23
7	Epicyclic motion	PDF	October 30
8	Age of the Universe	PDF	November 15
9	Space-time geometry	PDF	Novemeber 22
11	Lensing and max number of visible galaxies	PDF	December 5