Astronomy 507 | Spring 2020

Course Schedule 

Note:  The lecture material may vary, but the assignment dates are fixed. Check back to this page for updates on the topics and readings.
Date Topic Assignment Due
Wed Jan 22 Introduction
Fri Jan 24 History and Observational Overview
Mon Jan 27 Newtonian Cosmology
Wed Jan 29 Cosmodynamics
Fri Jan 31 Friedmann Universes Preflight 1
Mon Feb 3 Friedmann Universes
Wed Feb 5 Density and Destiny
Fri Feb 7 General Relativity Problem Set 1
Mon Feb 10 General Relativity
Wed Feb 12 Relativistic Cosmology
Fri Feb 14 Lifestyles in FRW Spacetimes Preflight 2
Mon Feb 17 Lifestyles in FRW Spacetimes
Wed Feb 19 No Class Meeting
Fri Feb 21 No Class Meeting Problem Set 2
Mon Feb 24 Cosmological Distances
Wed Feb 26 Dark Energy: Evidence and Discovery
Fri Feb 28 Dark Energy: Evidence and Discovery Preflight 3
Mon Mar 2 Dark Energy: Cosmic Acceleration and Implications
Wed Mar 4 Dark Energy: (Un?)Physical Models
Fri Mar 6 Dark Energy: Outlook Problem Set 3
Mon Mar 9 CMB: Discovery and Basic Properties
Wed Mar 11 CMB: a Cosmic Scattering Problem
Fri Mar 13 CMB: Decoupling and Recombination Preflight 4
Mar 16-20 No Class Meeting: Spring Break
Mon Mar 23 CMB: Recombination History
Wed Mar 25 CMB: Decoupling
Fri Mar 27 Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Theory Problem Set 4
Mon Mar 30 Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Observations
Wed Apr 1 Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Concordance
Fri Apr 3 Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Implications Preflight 5
Mon Apr 6 Particle Dark Matter
Wed Apr 8 Inflation: Motivation
Fri Apr 10 Inflation: Models Problem Set 5
Mon Apr 13 Inflation: Exit and Reheating
Wed Apr 15 Inflation: Predictions and Status
Fri Apr 17 Structure Formation: Overview
Mon Apr 20 Structure Formation: History Through Recombination Preflight 6
Wed Apr 22 Structure Formation: CMB Anisotropies
Fri Apr 24 Structure Formation: Origin of the Power Spectrum
Mon Apr 27 Structure Formation: Spherical Collapse
Wed Apr 29 Structure Formation: Press-Schecter Problem Set 6
Fri May 1 Intergalactic Medium
Mon May 4 Cosmic Star Formation
Wed May 6 Finale
Wed May 13 Final Problem Set Due