Course description

Astronomy 340 is an introduction to modern Cosmology, i.e., the scientific study of where our Universe came from and how it is evolving. We will start by briefly looking at the history of Cosmology – we shall see that people have been pondering the nature of the Universe for thousands of years! We shall then discuss the modern scientific view of the Universe that began with Nicholas Copernicus, was revolutionized by Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and is still being worked on by scientists today. In the course of our exploration, we will come across exotic topics such as the Big Bang, curved space and time, black holes, and antimatter.

The course website is at

http://www.astro.umd.edu/~chris/Teaching/ASTR340_Fall_2002/astr340_fall02_2002.html

It will contain links to course information, and copies of past homeworks and lecture notes.

Course Pre-requisites

It will be assumed that you have some knowledge of astronomy to the ASTR100 or ASTR101 level. In addition, some mathematics (high-school level algebra, and geometry) will be required for the classes, homeworks and examinations. Simple calculus will be used in a few of the classes, and may be needed to answer a small number of the homework questions. However, no calculus will be required for the examinations.

Course expectations

Attendance: In order to successfully complete this course, I expect you to attend class 2 times a week. If you have to miss a lecture, please be sure to obtain a copy of the notes (either from another student, the web-site, or from me) and make sure that you understand what you missed. There will also be times when I will ask for class participation either in small groups or as individuals – extra credit will be given for participation in these activities. The syllabus cover sheet, to be turned in at the beginning of the next class, is worth 5 pts of extra credit.

Preparation: I expect you to be prepared to work. We will be covering some fascinating but very challenging concepts - you will understand this material much more easily if you preview the recommended chapter of the course book ahead of time, as well as giving it a more careful read after the lecture. You also should review your class notes sometime before the next lecture to make sure everything is clear. I encourage you to ask questions in the lectures or during my office hours.

Study Habits: Study wisely and ask for help if you need it. It is better to keep up with the material on a daily basis than cram the night before the exam. I encourage you to chat about problems with your friends and classmates – you will learn a huge amount from trying to explain confusing issues to each other. However, please keep in mind that all graded materials, including class-assignments and home-works, must be your own thoughts in your own words.

Grading

Grades are based on a point scale with different assignments weighted as shown below.

Assignment	Homeworks	Exam 1	Exam 2	Total
POINTS	150	150	200	500

Letter grades will be assigned based upon your cumulative score. The minimum grade you obtain will be determined from your point-score according to the following table.

Letter grade	Course Total	Percentage
A	450-500	90%-100%
B	400-449	80%-90%
C	350-399	70%-80%
D	300-349	60%-70%
F	0-299	0%-60%

However, I may adjust the number of points required to get a given grade depending on the class average. Such adjustments will always be such as to make it easier to get a given grade, not harder. No + or – grades will be given.

Midterm exam

There will be one in-class examination on the 15^th October 2002. This exam will be closed book, and no calculators will be allowed. The exam will consist of a section of short answer questions, followed by longer essay and problem solving questions. University regulations will apply regarding academic honesty and excused absences. Please see the Schedule of Classes for these policies. If you are not able to take an exam due to illness or other legitimate reasons, you must contact me on or before the day of the exam either by email or voice mail. In addition, you must document the reason for your absence. A make up exam must be taken promptly. I will give at most one make-up exam. If you must miss both the midterm and its make-up exam, I will give an oral examination.

If, for whatever reason, the University is officially closed on the day of the exam, the exam will be re-scheduled for the next lecture date.

Final exam

As per the University rules, the final exam for this course will be held on Thursday 19^th December 2002, 10.30am-12.30pm, in room CSS2400. The final exam is cumulative in the sense that it will cover all material discussed in this course. The format of the final exam will be the same as the midterm exam, with a section of short answer questions and a section of longer essay or problem solving questions.

Homeworks

There will be a total of seven homeworks in this course. On the due date, homeworks should be handed in at the front of the class. Homeworks will be considered late by the end of class and will no longer be accepted. If you cannot make it to class, you should either ask a friend/classmate to hand it in for you, or make sure that it gets to me (room CSS1243) before the time that it is due. If you have a valid emergency, you should send me an email or voice mail message before the due date telling me the nature of the emergency. Please document all such emergencies.

If, for whatever reason, the University is officially closed on the day of the due date, the due date will be moved to the next lecture.

Extra credit

There will be no specific extra credit papers. You may obtain extra credit by answering the extra credit questions on the homeworks. In addition, I may ask extra credit questions in class or give class assignments worth extra credit. These are the only ways to earn extra credit.

Academic Integrity

The University’s policies and rules on academic integrity are laid out in the Spring 2002 Schedule of Classes on Page 35. In essence, you must never engage in acts of academic dishonesty at any time. Acts of academic dishonest include cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, or helping any other person to do any of these things. These rules apply to homeworks and quizzes as well as exams. As a part of these rules, you must give credit to any book (including the course textbook!), published article or web-page that you have used to help you with a particular assignment. The University takes these issues extremely seriously, as do I.

To underscore the need for academic integrity, the University asks you to write the following pledge on any assignment or exam:

“I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination.”

Preliminary course outline

Date of class	Subject material	Homework	Chapter
9/3/2002	Course outline, syllabus, and the scope of cosmology
9/5/2002	Early astronomy and cosmology	HW1 due	1 & 2
9/10/2002	The Newtonian Universe I : Newton's laws of motion		3
9/12/2002	The Newtonian Universe II : Gravity and the weak equivalence principle		3
9/17/2002	The Newtonian Universe III : The speed of light problem		6
9/19/2002	The discovery of the extragalactic universe	HW 2 due	10
9/24/2002	The cosmological distance ladder, and discovery of the expanding universe		10
9/26/2002	Special Relativity I : Einsteins postulates, time dilation, length contraction		7
10/1/2002	Special Relativity II : Simultaneity & Causality		7
10/3/2002	Special Relativity III : Mass and Energy	HW 3 due	7
10/8/2002	General Relativity I : Basic principles		8
10/10/2002	General Relativity II : Gravity and curved space-time		8
10/15/2002	EXAM 1
10/17/2002	General Relativity III : Tests of General Relativity		8
10/22/2002	General Relativity IV : Black Holes		9
10/24/2002	Standard Cosmology I : Cosmological Principles and Standard Models	HW 4 due	6, 10 & 11
10/29/2002	Standard Cosmology II : More about standard models		11
10/31/2002	Standard Cosmology III : Non-standard models		11
11/5/2002	Standard Cosmology IV : The cosmic microwave background		12
11/7/2002	Standard Cosmology V : Primordial Nucleosynthesis	HW 5 due	12 & 13
11/12/2002	Standard Cosmology VI : Weighing the Universe and the need for dark matter		14
11/14/2002	Standard Cosmology VII : Structure formation		14
11/19/2002	Standard Cosmology VIII : The cosmic concordance
11/21/2002	Early Universe I : The very early Universe	HW 6 due	13
11/26/2002	Early Universe II : Problems with the standard model		15
12/3/2002	Early Universe III : Inflationary cosmologies		15
12/5/2002	Early Universe IV : Different inflationary scenarios		15
12/10/2002	The Anthropic Principle	HW 7 due
12/12/2002	Review class
12/19/2002	FINAL EXAM (10.30am-12.30pm CSS2400)