TEXTBOOK: THE FIVE AGES OF THE UNIVERSE: Inside the physics of eternity, F. Adams and G. Laughlin (The Free Press, New York, 1999).
Reading assignments from the text in square [] brackets must be completed by the day indicated. "Preflight" questions are required to be answered by 8 am of that day. Click on the assignment below to get to the related preflight page. Please note that assignments are always due on the same day of the week. |
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| Th 4 Mar. | Introduction - the Big Bang scenario, large numbers, cosmological decades, into the future, the five ages of the universe. | Slides | |
| Tu 9 Mar. | [Introduction] | Tools for discussion: the Four Forces of Nature, the fight between gravity and entropy, the types of particles. | Slides |
| Th 11 Mar. | [Chapter 1] | Primordial Era I : The expanding universe, matter formation, nucleosynthesis, recombination and the cosmic microwave background radiation. | Slides |
| Tu 16 Mar. | Primordial Era II : The flatness and horizon problems, curved space, vacuum energy density, inflation. | Prof. McKay's Slides | |
| Th 18 Mar. | [Chapter 2] | Stelliferous Era I : Galaxy formation, dark matter, star and planet formation. | Prof. McKay's Slides |
| Tu 23 Mar. | Stelliferous Era II : Stellar evolution and death. | Slides | |
| Th 25 Mar. | [Chapter 3] | Degenerate Era I : Stellar remnants, degeneracy pressure. | Slides |
| Tu 30 Mar. | Degenerate Era II : collision & relaxation of galaxies, collision of remnants, proton decay. | Slides | |
| Th 1 Apr. | [Chapter 4] | What is a Black Hole? Types of Black Holes | Slides |
| Tu 6 Apr. | General Relativity : equivalence principle, time dilation, curved space revisited, Hawking Evaporation | Slides | |
| Th 8 Apr. | [Chapter 5] | Class Cancelled | |
| Tu 13 Apr. | Exam | ||
| Th 15 Apr. | [Conclusion] | The Dark Era : heat death, positronium, annihilation, and cooling through expansion. | |
Grading: The grade for this one credit course will be based on four considerations:
[1] The exam on Tuesday 13 April 2004 (50% of grade)
[2] A 1-2 page paper due on Friday 2 April 2004 (36% of grade)
[3] The abovementioned preflight questions (10% of grade)
[4] Participation in in-class ConceptTests (4% of grade)
You can also get a PDF version of the syllabus
I also provide, to ease your mind, a sample exam that you can look at. This "exam" consists of about half the questions I used on last year's test. Whether you think that means I definitely won't use them again (or definitely will) is up to you.
As the course goes on, I will occasionally send out emails to clarify confusing issues, or delve into things in more depth for which there was not enough time in lecture. I'll keep a copy of those things here. If you did not get these emails, and think you should be getting future emails, please email me!