Recitation Notes and Schedule

Lecture 1: No Slides For This Lecture (Mon/Wed, Jan 13/15)

• Introduction to topics to be covered
• Challenge of vast range of scales, in space and time
• Review importance of units and formulae
• Review basic math skills such as scientific notation

Lecture 2: No Slides For This Lecture (Mon/Wed, Jan 20/22)

• Fermi Problems: estimation and order of magnitude problems
• Dimensional Analysis: how it can get you pretty close to the answer

Lecture 3: Telescopes (Mon/Wed, Jan 27/29)

• Introduction to telescopes
• Diffraction of waves and the diffraction limit
• Very Long Baseline Interferometry and its uses

Lecture 4: Standard Model of Particle Physics (Mon/Wed, Feb 3/5)

• Introduction to standard model
• 4 Fundamental forces
• Different particles and their properties
• Role of each force

Lecture 5: Stellar Structure (Mon/Wed, Feb 10/12)

• What does it take to build a stellar model
• Derive the set of equations that governs stellar structure
• A few research examples of solving the equations

Lecture 6: Relativity Part I (Mon/Wed, Feb 17/19)

• Introduction to special relativity
• Time dilation, length contraction
• Introduction to general relativity
• 4D Space-Time and Curvature

Lecture 7: Relativity Part II (Mon/Wed, Feb 24/26)

• Review special and general relativity topics
• Go deeper into space-time and curvature
• Non-rotating, empty space black holes
• Calculate special and general relativity corrections to satellites

Lecture 8: Star Birth and the Jeans Mass (Mon/Wed, Mar 3/5)

• What does it take to collapse a cloud of gas and dust?
• Derive Jeans Mass and Jeans Length
• Group project: calculate velocity of gas cloud
• Group project: calculate mass of gas cloud

Lecture 9: White Dwarfs and Supernovae (Mon/Wed, Mar 10/12)

• Simple quantum mechanics: uncertainty and exclusion principles
• Degeneracy pressure, non-relativistic and relativistic
• Mass-Radius relationships
• Group project: convert dyn/cm^2 to SI unit of Pascal
• Supernovae classification
• Nucleosynthesis: how to make elements larger than Iron

Lecture 10: Mass Transfer (Mon/Wed, Mar 17/19)

• Mass transfer and Roche Lobes
• Lagrangian points: what causes them, where are they?
• Algol paradox and its resolution
• How do supernovae and classical novae blow up?

Lecture 11: Relativity Part III (Mon/Wed, Mar 31/Apr 2)

• Review aspects of special relativity
• Where does the time dilation formula come from?
• Group Project I: What are the velocity addition formulas?
• Group Project II: How much doppler beaming takes place?
• What makes general relativity so messy?

Lecture 12: Cosmic Distances (Mon/Wed, Apr 7/9)

• Brief review of density wave theory
• What are standard candles and the magnitude system?
• Distances: Parallax, main sequence fitting, Cepheid variables
• Distances: Tully-Fisher, Type Ia Supernovae
• Here is the density wave animation with 3 orbits: Density Waves (3 orbits)
• Here is the density wave animation with 20 orbits: Density Waves (20 orbits)
• Here is the parallax animation: Parallax

Lecture 13: Active Galactic Nucleii (Mon/Wed, Apr 14/16)

• Briefly discuss expanding universe and Cosmological redshift
• History of Quasar discovery
• How to estimate the mass of the Quasar?
• How to estimate the size of the Quasar?
• What causes the jets?
• The jets are ... superluminal?

Lecture 14: Cosmology (Mon/Wed, Apr 21/23)

• Reminder of a few General Relativity topics
• What is the Hubble constant?
• What are the density parameters of modern Cosmology?
• Different epochs in the history of the universe
• Inflation
• Big Bang nucleosynthesis

Lecture 15: Cosmology Part II (Mon/Wed, Apr 28/30)

• Fundamental forces and when they first appeared
• Different eras of the universe and their properties
• Cosmic Microwave Background and why it appears
• Inflation and what it solves