When: Spring 2010, TR 9:35-10:50am
Where: 6638 Stevenson
Textbook: Assigned readings
| Other helpful books: | "Structure Formation in the Universe" by Padmanabhan (Cambridge). |
| "Introduction to Cosmology" by Ryden (Adison Wesley) | |
| "Modern Cosmology" by Dodelson (Academic Press) | |
| "Cosmological Physics" by Peacock (Cambridge) |
Syllabus and Course Info: syllabus
Preprint Archive: http://arXiv.org/list/astro-ph.CO/recent
Lecture Slides: Main slides, Cameron's xi(r) slides
Week 1: January 14
| Topics: | Galaxies |
| Reading: |
Week 2: January 19-21
| Topics: | SDSS, fluxes/magnitudes/surface brightness/colors, Stellar spectra, Stellar populations, Distance indicators |
| Reading: |
Week 3: January 26-28
| Topics: | Distance indicators, Redshift, Hubble law, Redshift distortions |
| Reading: | Freedman et al. (2001) |
| Assignment: | Assignment #1 due Thursday, February 4: Assignment 1 |
Week 4: February 2-4
| Topics: | Redshift surveys, Flux/Volume-limited samples, K-corrections, Selection functions, Luminosity functions |
| Reading: | |
| Assignment: |
Assignment #2 due Thursday, February 11: Assignment 2
For the assignment, you will need this file: SDSS_DR7.dat |
Week 5: February 9-11
| Topics: | Photometric redshifts, Galaxy morphology, Galaxy Environments |
| Reading: | Blanton et al. (2005) |
Week 6: February 16-18
| Topics: | Galaxy groups and clusters |
| Reading: |
Week 7: February 23-25
| Topics: | The 'bullet cluster', Galaxy clustering statistics |
| Reading: |
Zehavi et al. (2005) Sections 1, 2, and 3
Hamilton (1997) |
| Assignment: |
Assignment #3 due Tuesday, March 23: Assignment 3
For the assignment, you will need these files: SDSS_Mr21_rspace.dat, SDSS_Mr20_rspace.dat, SDSS_random.dat, SDSS_Mr20_zspace.dat, DM.dat, DM_random.dat |
Week 8: March 2-4
| Topics: | Power spectra, Cosmological parameters |
| Reading: | Frieman et al. (2008) |
| Assignment: | Read the above paper and think about what method of constraining Dark Energy you want to study and present in your final project. The four methods are: Supernovae, Clusters, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, Weak Lensing |
Week 9: March 16-18
| Topics: | The Friedman equation, Cosmological parameters |
| Reading: | Ryden |
Week 10: March 23-25
| Topics: | Cosmological parameters, Distance measures |
| Reading: | Hogg (2000) |
| Assignment: | Assignment #4 due Friday, April 9: Assignment 4 |
Week 11: March 30-April 1
| Topics: | Linear evolution of the density field, Nonlinear evolution: the spherical collapse model |
| Reading: | |
Week 12: April 6-8
| Topics: | Nonlinear evolution: N-body simulations, Dark matter halos and galaxy formation |
| Reading: | Jenkins et al. (2001) |
Week 13: April 13-15
| Topics: | |
| Reading: |
|
Week 14: April 20-22
| Topics: | |
| BAO: | Lauren and Trey |
| Supernovae: | Cody |
| Clusters: | Daniel |
| Weak Lensing: | Brittany |
| Reading: |
Review:
Frieman et al. (2008)
BAO: Seo & Eisenstein (2003) Eisenstein et al. (2005) Supernovae: Riess et al. (1998) Wood-Vasey et al. (2007) Clusters: Haiman et al. (2001) Vikhlinin et al. (2009) Weak Lensing: Munshi et al. (2008) Benjamin et al. (2007) |