Then we will have a break ofr 10 or so minutes.

Then we resume with the journal club reports for 25 or so minutes:

Typically a person (a student or the instructor) or maybe sometimes 2 persons will read enough of some current article on cosmology (for Ast727: Cosmology) or galaxies (for Ast729: Galaxies) to report something of the main results. You just need to get enough from the article to report something that you find interesting.
The topics of cosmology and galaxies strongly overlap and, in fact, almost all galaxies topics can be considered cosmology though the the reverse is NOT true.
The person reports on his/her article for 15 or so minutes with discussion. It often goes longer.
If you are second person reporting and don't get a chance to talk because the first report dragged on, we just hold the report over the for next day.
Yours truly keeps a list of cosmology and galaxies articles from arXiv that seemed somehow interesting: see Cosmology and Galaxies Articles: Significant/Useful Articles. You can use that list or find your own article.
I suggest that you try to find short review articles or especially hot articles and avoid quantum cosmology which is a really deep for us, unless its quantum cosmology made easy.
I'll just ask for volunteers on a day for the next day.
Since there are typically 6 students and 1 instructor and about 30 lecture periods, we might each speak about 4 to 5 times or so, but there is no set number.
Giving reports and participating the discussions is 20 % of grade and everyone gets that with a fair effort.
The reports are intended to be low anxiety and maximum fun.

Cosmology Course

Cosmology Introduction

For nuts and bolts details of the course, see Syllabus: Short Version. For the official description, see Ast727: Cosmology.

There might be some changes since the course still in development.

The plan for the course is to cover my own lecture pdf notes and other complementary material for cosmology which are linked below.

A supplementary source is the cosmology book Liddle (2015) (by Andrew Liddle (1965--)). You do NOT need to buy Liddle (2015) since you can read it online: ProQuest: Ebook Central: Liddle (2015).

The material we cover is at a rather elementary level for graduate course. But this allows us to build up from the bottom.

But we will also have journal club reports which makes us surf current research in cosmology. This allows us to build down from the top.

We will never meet in the middle.

The alternative is to grind through a solid textbook, but for non-specialists that would probably be unmemorable---and difficult for a non-specialist instructor.

Note that the Cosmology Course and Galaxies Course are good complements to each other. In fact, yours truly considers them both courses on cosmology, just with different emphases: the first on overall universal features and the second on the large scale structure of the observable universe.

Note also that the Cosmology Course is a good complement to Carl Haster's Ast734: Relativity and Gravitation: this is an easy course and that is hard course, but there is some overlap.

This is a relatively easy graduate course.

Cosmology Lectures

Cosmology 1: History of Cosmology: Homework 1, Solution 1
1. In-class lecture: History of Cosmology: A online popular lecture. There are some notes with the images, but there is NO complete narrative. It gives an overview and it's traditional to start cosmology in the manner of Carl Sagan (1934--1996).
2. Required reading:
  1. IAL 4: History of Astronomy to Newton (OK for what it is).
  2. IAL 26: The Discovery of Galaxies (OK for what it is).
  3. IAL 28: Galaxies (low-cal and a bit dated).
  4. IAL 29: The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe (low-cal and a bit dated).
  5. IAL 30: Cosmology.
  I leave this all as reading. It is all easy, mostly qualitative stuff.
Cosmos 2: Miscellaneous Math Problems: Homework 2, Solution 2, No notes.
Cosmos 3: The Friedmann Equation and its Simpler Solutions: Homework 3, Solution 3, Notes 3a: 2023oct08, Notes 3b: 2023oct08.
Cosmos 4: Cosmological Geometry, Redshift, and Distance Measures: Homework 4, Solution 4, Notes 4: 2023oct24.

Exam 1 solutions: The questions are somewhat updated from the exam.
Cosmos 5: The Friedmann Equation and its More Advanced Solutions: Homework 5, Solution 5, Notes 5: 2023oct31.
See also supplement Cosmos 5: Cosmological Constant Models, Dark Energy, and the Λ-CDM Model.
Cosmos 6: The Cosmic Background Radiation, the Cosmic Temperature, and Recombination: Homework 6, Solution 6, Notes 6: 2023dec12.
See also supplement Cosmos 6: The Cosmic Background Radiation, the Cosmic Temperature, and Recombination.
Cosmos 7: Bayesian Analysis: Homework 7, Solution 7, Notes 7: 2023dec21.
See also supplement Cosmos 7: Bayesian Inference and Constraining Cosmological Models and An Education Note on Bayesian Analysis (which has never been quite finished).

Final solutions: Some questions have been corrected/improved since the final.

UNDER RECONSTRUCTION BELOW

Cosmos 8: The Age of the Universe: Homework 8, Solution 8:
Cosmos 9: The Density of the Universe and Dark Matter: Homework 9, Solution 9:
Required reading: Liddle, Ch. 9.
Cosmos 11: The Early Universe: Homework 11, Solution 11: which don't exist so far:
Cosmos 12: Nucleosynthesis: The Origin of the Light Elements: Homework 12, Solution 12: which don't exist so far:
Required reading: Liddle, Ch. 12 / Liddle, Ch. 12: Direct link.
Cosmos 13: The Inflationary Universe: Homework 13, Solution 13: which don't exist so far:
Required reading: Liddle, Ch. 13 / Liddle, Ch. 13: Direct link.
Cosmos 14: The Initial Singularity: Homework 14, Solution 14: which don't exist so far:
Required reading: Liddle, Ch. 14 / Liddle, Ch. 14: Direct link.
Cosmos 15: Overview: The Standard Model of Cosmology: Homework 15, Solution 15: which don't exist so far:
Required reading: Liddle, Ch. 15 / Liddle, Ch. 15: Direct link.
Cosmos 16: Structures in the Universe: Homework 16, Solution 16: which don't exist so far:
Required reading: Liddle, AT 1-5: Also for completeness:
1. Liddle, AT 1: Direct link: General Relativistic Cosmology.
2. Liddle, AT 2: Direct link: Classic Cosmology: Distances and Luminosities.
3. Liddle, AT 3: Direct link: Neutrino Cosmology.
4. Liddle, AT 4: Direct link: Baryogenesis.
5. Liddle, AT 5: Direct link: Structures in the Universe.

Galaxies Course

Galaxies Introduction

website

galaxies

For nuts and bolts details of the course, see Syllabus: Short Version. For the official description, see Ast729: Galaxies.

There might be some changes since the course still in development.

The plan for the course is to cover Cimatti et al.: Introduction to Galaxy Formation and Evolution: From Primordial Gas to Present-Day Galaxies (2020): hereafter, just Cimatti (See also Cimatti et al. 2019: ArXiv posted intro chapter.) Chapters 3--11. I leave just as readings Chapter 1 (which is introductory) and Chapter 3 (which cosmology per se and so is really part of the Cosmology Course). Cimatti seems to be a fairly broad, gentle introduction to galaxies.

In fact, I plan to lecture on only certain aspects of the chapters in Cimatti where it seems useful to expand on what Cimatti says.

Note Cimatti is a "required" textbook and yours truly thinks it is a reasonable investment, but in many respects it will be dated in a few years and it already is a bit and it has NO problem bank. However, if a student feels they do NOT need Cimatti and can rely on class notes and relevant articles (see extended syllabus section Galaxies Lectures), they can do without the textbook.

In addition to lectures based on Cimatti, we will also have journal club reports which makes us surf current research in galaxies. This allows us to build down from the top.

We will never meet in the middle.

Note that the Cosmology Course and Galaxies Course are good complements to each other. In fact, yours truly considers them both courses on cosmology, just with different emphases: the first on overall universal features (i.e., cosmology per se) and the second on the large scale structure of the observable universe.

This is a relatively easy graduate course.

Galaxies Lectures

Introduction to galaxies and 2. Introduction to cosmology corresponding roughly to Cimatti chapters 1 & 2:
1. Covered in class and required readings/homeworks:
  1. IAL 26: The Discovery of Galaxies (OK for what it is): Homework 26; Solutions 26.
  2. IAL 28: Galaxies (low-cal and a bit dated): Homework 28; Solutions 28. We just cover the galaxy rotation curves and galaxy quenching.
  3. IAL 29: The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe (low-cal and a bit dated): Homework 29; Solutions 29. We just cover the large scale structure of the observable universe and NOT the recapitulations.
2. Not covered in class, but required readings/homeworks:
  1. IAL 4: History of Astronomy to Newton: Homework 4; Solutions 4.
  2. IAL 30: Cosmology: Homework 30; Solutions 30.
  3. Cimatti: Chapters 1 and 2: A required reading if you have bought the textbook. No homeworks.
3. Optional reading.
  1. History of Cosmology: A online popular lecture. There are some notes with the images, but there is NO complete narrative.
  2. Exact Friedmann equations solutions: See p. 25? for the matter-Λ universe solution x(τ) and τ(x).
Galaxies 3: Cosmic Present Galaxies as a Benchmark for Galaxy Formation and Evolution: Homework 23, Solution 23, Notes 3: 2024feb20.
1. Cimatti: Chapter 3: A required reading if you have bought the textbook.
2. log_log_plot_dj_4.html: A general discussion is given of logarithms and astronomical magnitude system.
3. Keywords: early-type galaxies (ETGs), equivalent width, full width at half maximum (FWHM), galaxy, galaxy color-magnitude diagram (blue cloud galaxy, galaxy bimodality, green valley galaxy, red sequence galaxy), hydrogen (H) (hydrogen anion (H-), hydrogen ion (H+,H-), hydride (H-), hydron (H+)), late-type galaxies (LTGs, AKA star-forming galaxies (SFGs), lognormal distribution, luminosity function (LF) (Schechter luminosity function (Schechter function)), Sersic profile, spectral energy distribution (SED, luminosity per frequency/wavelength) (radiant flux, spectra flux density (luminosity per frequency/wavelength per area), surface brightness, Wolf-Rayet star (WR star), etc.
4. Galaxies: Lecture 3: Relevant Articles
Galaxies 4: Cosmic Present Star Forming Galaxies (SFGs): Homework 24, Solution 24, Notes 4: 2024mar18.
1. Cimatti: Chapter 4: A required reading if you have bought the textbook.
2. Keywords: dark matter halos, early-type galaxies (ETGs), galaxy, galaxy color-magnitude diagram (blue cloud galaxy, galaxy bimodality, green valley galaxy, red sequence galaxy), hydrogen (H) (atomic hydrogen (H_I), molecular hydrogen (H_2)), star-forming galaxies (SFGs) (AKA late-type galaxies (LTGs), luminosity function (LF) (Schechter luminosity function (Schechter function)), Sersic profile, surface brightness, X-factor (AKA X_CO factor), etc.
3. Galaxies: Lecture 4: Relevant Articles
Galaxies 5: Early Type Galaxies (ETGs): Homework 25, Solution 25, Notes 5: 2024apr02.
1. Cimatti: Chapter 5: A required reading if you have bought the textbook.
2. Keywords: dark matter halos, early-type galaxies (ETGs), galaxy, galaxy color-magnitude diagram (blue cloud galaxy, galaxy bimodality, green valley galaxy, red sequence galaxy), hydrogen (H) (atomic hydrogen (H_I), molecular hydrogen (H_2)), star-forming galaxies (SFGs) (AKA late-type galaxies (LTGs), luminosity function (LF) (Schechter luminosity function (Schechter function)), Sersic profile, surface brightness, virial theorem (virial theorem <T>=-(1/2)∑_kk<F_k·r_k>, virial theorem <T>=(1/2)∑_kk<U_k>, virial theorem <T>=-(1/2)<U_gravity>), etc.
3. Galaxies: Lecture 5: Relevant Articles
Galaxies 6: Cosmic Present Galaxy Environments: Interactions, Groups, Clusters, Superclusters, Large-Scale Structure: Homework 26, Solution 26, Notes 6a: 2024may05, Notes 6b: 2024may05.
1. Cimatti: Chapter 6: A required reading if you have bought the textbook.
2. galaxy files: See especially local_group.html, etc.
3. Keywords: baryonic dark matter, dark matter, dark matter halos, galaxy clusters, galaxy groups, galaxy groups and clusters, galaxy superclusters, interacting galaxies large-scale structure of the universe, merging galaxies, Local Group of Galaxies, N-body simulation, etc.
4. Galaxies: Lecture 6: Relevant Articles
Galaxies 7: Formation, Evolution, and Properties of Dark Matter Halos : Homework 27, Solution 27, Notes 7: 2024jan01.
1. Cimatti: Chapter 7: A required reading if you have bought the textbook.
2. Online lecture: An Educational Note on Quasi-Equilibrium Dark Matter Halo Physics. The direct link is 080_dark_matter_halo.pdf
3. Keywords: baryonic dark matter, Burkert profile, dark matter, dark matter halos, MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics), N-body simulation, NFW profile (Navarro-Frenk-White profile), r_200, radial-acceleration relation (RAR)), Sersic profile, virial theorem (virial theorem <T>=-(1/2)∑_kk<F_k·r_k>, virial theorem <T>=(1/2)∑_kk<U_k>, virial theorem <T>=-(1/2)<U_gravity>), etc.
4. Galaxies: Lecture 7: Relevant Articles
Acronyms:
See Keywords: galaxies in the insert below (local link / general link: keywords_galaxies.html).

EOF
See Galaxy Classification Systems and Types of Galaxies in the insert below (local link / general link: galaxy_types.html):

Evaluation

      __________________________________________________________________________
      Table:  Evaluations Items
      __________________________________________________________________________
      Item                  Percentage  Drops     Comment
                             of grade
      __________________________________________________________________________
      Readings                 0 %                For study
      Homeworks                0 %                The study guide
      journal club reports    20 %      2 drops   1 mark point each
      2 in-class tests        40 %      no drops
      comprehensive final     40 %      no drops
      extra credit             0 %                There is NO extra credit
      __________________________________________________________________________

academic calendars site

Readings are NOT marked but you should do them.
Homeworks are the study guide. The solutions will posted when the homeworks are posted. Yours truly is making them up as we go along. Try really hard before looking at the solutions. Self-testing is the key to test preparations. Report any mistakes that you find.
Journal club reports: ∼ 10 reports. We'll try to get everyone to have the same number of reports, but allow 2 drops if the number reports is not quite the same at the end of the semester.
The in-class tests will be out of 50 marks and consist of two parts:
1. 10 multiple-choice questions intended as easy warm-up questions worth 2 marks each.
2. 3 full-answer questions worth 10 marks each. Two of these will be drawn from the homeworks, maybe cut-down a bit for test mise-en-scene. The third question will be new if yours truly can think of one.
The final is 2-hour comprehensive final and will probably be 20 multiple-choice questions intended as easy warm-up questions worth 2 marks each and 5 or so full-answer questions with 3 or 4 drawn from the homeworks, maybe cut-down a bit for test mise-en-scene.

Yours truly does NOT use a fixed scale for letter grades. I just draw my own lines where I see fit at the end of the semester.

Until the end of the semester, I just use a curve which fixes the GPA at about 3.

I don't use WebCampus. I just post grades under anonymous aliases.

You can choose your own alias. It has to be absolutely NOT identifiable as anyone.