last revised 11/10/06

ASTRONOMY 219T/419T
Observational Cosmology Tutorial

Fall 2006
Course Information


Instructor
Professor Karen B. Kwitter (kkwitter@williams.edu)
Office: 112 TPL
Office Hours: Monday 10 AM - noon, and Wednesday, 9-10 AM. Except for Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I am happy to talk with you any time.
Phone: x 2272

Text
An Introduction to Modern Cosmology, 2nd edition by Andrew Liddle. It's published by Wiley, available at Water Street Books, Amazon.com, or other outlets. Click here for the text website; here is a list of errors in the second edition. There will also be readings from Foundations of Modern Cosmology by Hawley & Holcomb, which will be on reserve in Schow, along with a selection of other useful books.

Topics to be Covered
Introduction & History
Newtonian Gravity
The Friedmann Equation
Cosmological Models & Geometry
The Cosmological Constant
The Age of the Universe
Dark Matter
Dark Energy; The Accelerating Universe
The Early Universe
Nucleosynthesis
The Cosmic Microwave Background
Galaxy/QSO Surveys
Inflation
The Origin of Structure

Assignments
419T Week 9   219T Week 9
419T Week 10   219T Week 10

Course Links
Here is a page with links relevant to this course.

Grading
The final course grade will be calculated as follows:

30% written papers
30% presentation of papers
30% response to partner's presentations
10% growth in understanding over the semester.


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