Steinn Sigurðsson - Astronomy 120 Spring 2008

E-mail me - steinn@astro.psu.edu if you have any difficulty reading or downloading pages

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Syllabus and Basic Information:

The class TA is Cece Hedrick, office hours are 3-4 Tue and 2:30-4 Thu. Office is 445 Davey.

• Syllabus
• Ancillary information - rules etc
• Final Paper:

  The final paper should be 2-3 pages, types, double spaced.
  The topic should be chosen from one of those listed below. If you want to choose a different topic, you must consult with the instructor and get explicit permission by the 10th of April.
  The paper should be written in your own words. Any quotes or paraphrasing should be shown explicitly using in-text quotation marks and an explicit direct citation to the source. Quotes and paraphrases may also be highlighted in text.
  The paper may include judicious use of figures. Any figure used from an external source must be acknowledged as such and cited.
  The paper is expected to be a précis of the topic, at the level understandable by a university student, summarising the issue, current level of understanding and the authors personal take on the issue.

  Suggested topic list:
  • Nature of Cold Dark Matter
  • The Landscape
  • Holography and the Universe
  • The Anthropic Principle
  • It from Bit and the Computational Universe
  • Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
  • Textures and Flaws
  • Dark Energy: what could it be
  • Cosmogony and modern Cosmology
  • The Axis of Evil

Some useful links:
• Office of Space Science - Missions
• ESA science missions
• Penn State Astronomy
• Cosmic Variance
• Bad Astronomy
• Space Telescope
• Picture of the Day
• Hubble Space Telescope - Heritage
• Astropix.com
• SETI@home - search for intelligent life in the galaxy using your home computer!
• The sky at different wavelengths
• Deep Sky photos of stars
• Galaxy Pictures
• Bill Keel's Mosaic of Galaxies

Schedule.
Lecture notes are now coming online - schedule of future lectures is tentative.
I will be filling in, expanding and adding links to past lecture notes as and when I have time.
Caveat: - class topic sequence may be extended, folded, cut or expanded at my discretion without notice.

Approximate Outline of course

Class	Date	Topic	Class	Date	Topic
1	14 Jan	1. Cosmology vs Cosmogony	2	16 Jan	2. In the beginning...
3	18 Jan	3. Eschatology and Principles	4	21 Jan	No class
5	23 Jan	5 Size matters - Homework 1	6	25 Jan	6 Size matters - nonlocal
7	28 Jan	7 Evolution	8	30 Jan	8 Distance Ladders Homework 1 due
9	01 Feb	9 Recession and redshift	10	04 Feb	10 A Big Bang - Open or Closed case
11	06 Feb	11 CMB Mapped - Homework 2	12	08 Feb	12 Inflation
13	11 Feb	13 Neutrinos	14	13 Feb	14 Nucleosynthesis - Homework 2 due
15	15 Feb	15. First Quiz	16	18 Feb	16 Ripples
17	20 Feb	A Cold Dark Universe - Homework 3	18	22 Feb	18 Structure Formation
19	25 Feb	19 First Stars	20	27 Feb	20 Second Stars - duh - Homework 3 due
21	29 Feb	21 Third Stars Black Holes	22	03 Mar	22 7 Samurai and CDM
23	05 Mar	23 Galaxies	24	07 Mar	24 Alternatives for MOND
25	10 Mar	25 Spring Break	26	12 Mar	26 Spring Break
27	14 Mar	27 Spring Break	28	17 Mar	28 Cluster Catastrophes
29	19 Mar	29 Ia to the rescue Homework 4	30	21 Mar	30 A Concordance
31	24 Mar	31. Second Quiz	32	26 Mar	32 A Dark What? Homework 4 due
33	28 Mar	33 W, W' - future $ and Rips	34	31 Mar	34 Space Warps and Time Travel
35	02 Apr	35 Seriously - Back to the Vacuum Homework 5	36	04 Apr	36 How big is big again?
37	07 Apr	37 Details - sticky bricks	38	09 Apr	38 Large Extra Dimensions Homework 5 due
39	11 Apr	39 Chaos and Inflation	40	14 Apr	40 Donuts and other weird possibilities
41	16 Apr	41 Multiverses Homework 6	42	18 Apr	42. Third Quiz
43	21 Apr	43 Manyfold and Ekpyrotic	44	23 Apr	44 The Landscape and Anthropism Homework 6 due
45	25 Apr	45 Holography	46	28 Apr	46. It from Bit Final paper due
47	30 Apr	47 Issa Game, Innit?	48	02 May	48 Long View and Overflow

This class follows the departmental academic integrity policy as described here in the dept web pages

Last updated 01/08

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