Astronomy 278--Graduate Seminar in Galaxy Formation and Evolution ========================================================== in Math-Sciences 8911 Tuesdays AND Thursdays 9--11am (with a 10-min break) There is no course textbook, although some chapters in Longair's "Galaxy Formation" are still generally relevant. (Actually the first 10 chapters are essentially review). It is available at the ASUCLA bookstore, and at the EMS reserve desk. Key articles and reviews will be assigned for each topic, and if desired xeroxes will be provided. Try to read them by the week we cover them in class. I am trying to condense my lecture notes into a series of pithy Powerpoint slides, which may be shown as a guide during lectures. The plan is to post these slides as html files on the astro278 web page AFTER they are covered in the course. Thus you are still strongly encouraged to take your own notes during class. note that our graduate course in Cosmology is NOT required for this seminar; the relevant concepts will be introduced and explained as needed. However, concurrent enrollment in Astro 275 would be useful, and is recommended for those who have not already covered the material. A very comprehensive review is given in Part II of Longair's book, for example. Familiarity with the material in his Part I, all of which is covered in our Galaxies course, will be useful. SYLLABUS: List of Topics I hope to cover (this can be edited to include or delete some items based on student demand): >Early observations: Excess dwarf blue galaxies, K-Corrections > Butcher-Oemler effect vs IR Hubble diagram for ellipticals Refs: ARAA 35, 389 >Early theory: ELS/monolithic collapse, Larson and Tinsley models vs. >bottom-up hierarchical growth > >Photometric Redshift methods > >Lyman Break Galaxies > >Emission Line Searches; Gas Phase Abundances > >Gravitational lensing (weak and strong), arcs > >Star Formation rates, integrated SFR (z); the Deep Fields > Refs: ARAA 38, 667 >Cosmic Evolution of Quasars; Growth of Black Holes > >Clustering/Dark Matter Models for growth of large scale structure > Refs: ARAA 36, 599 >X-ray emitting clusters; new CHANDRA results > >Theory and observation of collisions and mergers; high-Z galaxy morphologies > >Evidence for dust at high redshift NIR, sub-mm surveys > >Diffuse Infrared Background models and observations > >Future breakthroughs: large ground-based telescopes, SIRTF, ALMA, ... > > April 24--guest lecture from Dr. Mike Rich, on using "archaeology" of the Milky Way to reconstruct galaxy evolution May 1--guest lectures from Dr. Jean Turner and Pat Crossthwaite, on clues about star formation from detailed study of local examples Grades will be based on a term paper/report, in which you will review and explore some topic on galaxy formation or evolution in greater depth. Here are just a few examples, simply to give you an idea of the scope: What have we learned about distant galaxies from redshifted radio molecular lines? What have we learned about distant galaxies from Gamma-Ray Burst observations? What have we learned about distant galaxies from ultraviolet (and other) observations of local galaxies? Can we apply local galaxy "laws" (e.g. Tully-Fisher, Fundamental Plane) to high-redshift galaxies? What have we learned about protogalaxies from the Damped Lyman Alpha Absorbers? What have we learned about galaxy clusters from the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect? More topics can be provided. DO : --find the major important papers on the subject, which produced the big non-trivial results. If they depend on earlier work, you should track that down as well. --be critical. Point out the weak links in assumptions and data. Which interpretations and conclusions are most likely to require modification? --look for at least two points of view. Are there alternate ways of addressing the issues? Seek out papers from dissenters (who may not be referenced by the one clique of authors you first start reading...) --draw the clear CONNECTIONS between the authors' CONCLUSIONS and their supporting models and data. Follow the chain of argument, and try to cut through the welter of observational detail, to see the impact on the larger picture. Rather than repeating a large undigested pile of observational facts/phenomena, concentrate on HOW THEY KNOW what they (think they) know. If some of these connections are weak, you should say so, rather than just taking their word for everything claimed in their Abstracts. Most papers do not really "show" everything as decisively as they claim. Term Project Schedule: second week (April 12) turn in your proposed topic third week (April 19) turn in your bibliography of articles that you will be using for your project. I will try to confirm that you have not missed some key papers that are crucially relevant. Several papers--if they are the crucial ones--could give you enough material to review. fourth week (April 27) submit (e-mail) a detailed outline --the more thorough it is, the more useful feedback I'll be able to provide. seventh--ninth weeks--some class time will be available for students to make oral presentations to the seminar. Prepare enough vu-graphs for about 20 minutes. Especially for those whose presentations are earlier, suggestions and feedback will be available to help you with your final paper. end of tenth week--turn in your review paper