The Physics of Galaxies, 10 ECTS (hp), Spring 2016
 

 

Literature:

Peter Schneider, 2015, “Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology”,  Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-54082-0 (hardback) or 978-3-642-54083-7 (eBook)

 

Contents:

Extragalactic astronomy, with emphasis on the properties, evolution and origin of galaxies

 

Prerequisites:

Knowledge corresponding to a Bachelor's degree in physics, or similar. In addition, basic knowledge about spectra, stellar physics, galaxies and cosmology corresponding to the course Astrophysics I is required.

 

Examination:

Seminars, literature report, hand-in exercises, laboratory exercise

 

Teacher:

Erik Zackrisson, erik.zackrisson(at)physics.uu.se

 

Time:

April-June 2016

 


If you are interested in participating, please notify Erik Zackrisson as soon as possible!

 

Schedule
Recent changes are marked in red

Date

Time

Room

Lecture/
Exercise session/
Seminar

Topics

To read

To turn in/prepare

April 12

10-12

Å80115

Lecture 1

Course introduction
Historical background
The extragalactic distance scale

Galaxy classification

1—1.4,

3—3.1.2,
3.9—3.9.6

 

 

 

 

April 14

13-15

Å2003

Lecture 2

The Milky Way
The Local Group

2.1—2.4.2,

6.1—6.1.3

 

 

April 19

15-17

Å80109

Lecture 3

Dark matter in galaxies

2.4.3, 3.3.4, 4.4.6,
7.6—7.6.3, 7.8,
8.2.2—8.2.3

 

April 21

15-17

Å11167

Lecture 4

Disk galaxies

Elliptical galaxies

3.2—3.4.5

 

 

April 26

13-15

Å80109

Lecture 5

Star formation
Population synthesis
Galaxy spectra

The interstellar medium
The cosmic star formation rate history

3.5-3.5.6,
3.7,
3.10—3.10.2,

9.6—9.6.2

April 27

10-12

Å12167

Exercise session I

Group exercise

Study solution set I carefully

Bring pen, paper, calculator (or computer)

May 3

13-15

Å13167

Lecture 6

Black holes

Active galactic nuclei

Introduction to the laboratory exercise

3.8-3.8.3

5—5.7

May 10

10-12

Å12167

Lecture 7

Galaxy groups
Galaxy clusters

Gravitational lensing

6—6.8,

3.11—3.11.4,
7.7—7.7.4,
8.4, 9.2.3

May 12

13-16

Å4003

Seminar I 

 

 

See instructions for seminar I

May 17

10-12

Å12167

Lecture 8

The high-redshift Universe

Cosmic reionization

The first stars and galaxies

8.5—8.5.3,
9—9.5,
10-10.7.2,
11—11.2

May 19

13-15

Å13167

Exercise session II

Group exercise

Study solution set II carefully

Bring pen, paper, calculator (or computer)

May 24

13-15
15-17

Å80109

Å11167

Seminar II

 

 

See instructions for seminar II

May 25

10-12

Å80109

Extra session if required

 

May 26

 

 

 

Please submit via email (preferably in pdf format)

 

Literature exercise: written report

May 31

13-15

Å11167

Literature exercise – oral presentations

 

 

Presentation

June 2

13-15

Å12167

Literature exercise – oral presentations

 

 

Presentation

June 7

 

 

 

 

 

Database exercise: written report

June 14

 

 

 

 

 

Hand-in exercises

           


Examination

 

·     Two exercise sessions

·     Hand-in exercises

·     Two seminars

·     One database exercise

·     Written essay (minimum 3 pages) + oral presentation (10 minutes)

 

 

 Course material

 

·     Exercise sets with solutions: I, II
Video tutorial: Set I, exercise 3

·     Hand-in exercises

·     Seminar instructions: I, II

·     Instructions for database exercise

·     Lecture notes
  grayscale: L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L8

  colour, full-size: L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L8

·     Assessment criteria


Errata

·     Until May 7, 2016, there was a typo in the solution to exercise 2 (Dust corrections) of exercise batch 2. In equation 12, the numerical constant should be 0.935 and nothing else. This affected the numerical results throughout the rest of the solution as well.  

·     Important update May 13, 2016: The written reports for the literature exercise and the database/computer exercise should be submitted to the URKUND system (a plagiarism detector used by Uppsala University), rather than to me directly.
You do this by submitting your report as an attachment in pdf format to: erik.zackrisson.uu[at]analys.urkund.se
You can read more about URKUND here.