Teaching

ASTR 354 - Structure Formation in the Universe

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) Strauss & Willick (1995) pages 18-28 and 45-52
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)