Astronomy 410 — Radio Astronomy, Fall 2007

Meeting place and time: CSS 2428, TTh 3:30 pm — 4:45 pm

 

Instructor: A. Harris, CSS 1229

Phone: 301-405-7531; e-mail: harris(at)astro.umd.edu

Office hours: You are encouraged to make an appointment or just drop by!

 

Astronomical observations at radio wavelengths are a vital part of the study of  nearly any object in the universe.  Radio astronomy plays a key role in discovering and understanding objects as diverse as the Cosmic Background Radiation, the huge jets of relativistic matter from the nuclei of luminous galaxies, ionized gas around young stars, pulsars, diffuse clouds of hydrogen atoms orbiting in galactic gravitational potentials, dense molecular clouds with embedded star formation, evolved stellar atmospheres, the Sun, and the planets.  This course is an introduction to the basic physics, instrumentation, and observational targets of radio astronomy.  This is an upper-division course that assumes some background in basic physics (waves and E&M in particular) and mathematics (calculus, vector analysis, simple differential equations). 

 

Course work includes twice-weekly lectures, approximately weekly take-home problem sets, a midterm, a cumulative final exam, and a term paper or project with topic to be decided by mutual agreement with class members and the instructor. 

 

Course grading and the grade distribution are set by:                 

                                                                       

                        Item

Weight

Homework

30%

Midterm

20%

Final

30%

Term paper or project

20%

 

Grade

% Total

A

90-100%

B

80-90- %

C

70-80- %

D

60-70- %

F

<60%

 

The exams will be rescaled (only upward if necessary) for an 85% class median.  Experience shows that this is an A/B class for most students.  Grading will use the plus/minus scheme linearly interpolated within each grade. 

 

Problem sets are due at the beginning of lecture on the due date.  Late problem sets will be accepted for 80% credit up to one lecture past due, but no credit will be awarded after that.  Working the problems is useful in any event, since some of the exam questions will be very familiar to those who have done the problems.

 

The course textbook is A student’s guide to Fourier transforms, Second Edition  by J.F. James for some of the mathematical background, a paperback from Cambridge University Press,  ISBN 0-521-00428-4.  Higher level recommended books are Tools of Radio Astronomy by Rholfs and Wilson and the classic Radio Astronomy by Kraus.  Since there  is no text at the right level, we won’t be following a text exactly, so lecture attendance and note-taking are important.

 

The University regulations apply strictly regarding academic honesty and excused absences.  Students with a documented disability who wish to discuss academic accommodations should contact me as soon as possible.


 

Astronomy 410, Fall 2007

Approximate schedule

 

Th, Aug. 30      Introduction; sources of radio waves

Tu, Sep. 4        Overview of detection schemes: direct and heterodyne

Th, Sep. 6        Heterodyne radiometers I: amplification and noise

Tu, Sep. 11      Mathematical tools: Fourier series and transforms

Th, Sep. 13      Heterodyne radiometers II: frequency conversion  (Football mess?)

Tu, Sep. 18      Spectrometers

Th, Sep. 20      The overall receiving system; the radiometer equation

Tu, Sep. 25      Antennas: diffraction in single dishes and interferometers

Th, Sep. 27      Antennas: wire antennas, single dishes, optics, and feeds

Tu, Oct. 2        Antennas: interferometry and aperture synthesis

Th, Oct. 4        Antennas: interferometry and aperture synthesis

Tu, Oct. 9        Practical observing and coordinate systems

Th, Oct. 11      Radiation: energy, power, flux density, Janskys, and all that

Tu, Oct. 15      Radiation: spectra revisited; radiative transfer, optical depth

Th, Oct. 18      Midterm

Tu, Oct. 23      Galactic continuum radiation: The Galaxy and other galaxies

Th, Oct. 25      Galactic continuum radiation: Synchrotron emission, cosmic rays

Tu, Oct. 30      Galactic continuum radiation: Free-free emission and young stars

Th, Nov. 1       The Interstellar Medium: Temperatures and line formation

Tu, Nov. 6       The Interstellar Medium: Neutral and ionized hydrogen

Th, Nov. 8       The Interstellar Medium: Molecular clouds

Tu, Nov. 13     Galactic dynamics

Th, Nov. 15     Stars and the Sun

Tu, Nov. 20     Pulsars

Th, Nov. 22     Thanksgiving break

Tu, Nov. 27     Radio galaxies, quasars, and active galactic nuclei

Th, Nov. 29     Cosmology: discrete sources

Th, Dec. 4        Cosmology: dust continuum and protogalaxies

Tu, Dec. 6        Cosmology: cosmic microwave background

Th, Dec. 11      Special topics

W, Dec. 19      Final Exam, 10:30-12:30  (as scheduled by University)