Prof. Massimo Ricotti
Office: CSS 0213
E-mail: ricotti@astro.umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405 5097
Office hours: by appointment
Class web page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/
ricotti/NEWWEB/teaching/ASTR688s08.html
Schedule
Lectures on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30pm to 1:45pm
Room CSS 0201
Course Description
The evolution of the Universe from the Big-Bang to the era of stars and galaxies. The course is divided in two main parts. Part I: the linear evolution of the Universe. Part II: the non-linear growth of perturbations and galaxy formation. Part I covers (i) Inflation, (ii) baryogenesis, (iii) thermal history and neutrino decoupling, (iv) nucleosysnthesis, (v) recombination and radiation decoupling, (vi) CMB radiation, (vii) growth of cosmological perturbation, (viii) CMB anisotropies. Part II covers: (i) measuring cosmological parameters, (ii) Large scale structure and galaxy formation.
Textbooks
Required: ``Cosmology'' by Peter Coles and Francesco Lucchin
Recommended: ``Cosmological Inflation and Large-Scale Structure''
by Andrew R. Liddle, David H. Lyth
Course Grading
| Homework | 25% |
| Project | 15% |
| Midterm Exam | 30% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
There will be one in-class Midterm exam and an in-class Final (the dates of the exams are shown below in the ``Tentative course outline'' section). Class participation is strongly encouraged. Class attendance is required. During the semester I will hand out 4-5 homework. Their due dates will be announced at the time they are assigned. On the due date the students will be expected to turn in their homework in class. Each of you will write a review paper or a web page on a cosmology topic of your choice. At the end of the semester you will give a short presentation.
Letter Grades
| 85%-100% | A |
| 70%-85% | B |
| 55%-70% | C |
| 40%-55% | D |
I may rescale the grades depending on the average class
performance. The rescaling can only increase your final grade.
According to the class preference the final letter grade may have a
finer division. In this case I will assign A
if your score is
between 100%-95%, A if your score is 95%-90% and A
if your
score is 90%-85%. Analogously for the other letter grades.
Code of Academic Integrity
"The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html."
cm
A. Era of ``non-standard'' particle physics - 5 lectures
B. Era of ``standard'' particle physics - 10 lectures
C. CMB anisotropies - 4 lectures
Part II: non-linear Universe (extragalactic astronomy) - 9 lectures
D. Large scale structure and galaxy formation - 7 lectures