The University of Chicago
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physical Sciences 120

The Origin of the Universe and How We Know

Winter Quarter 2008

25 March 2008. The course is over. The grade list can be found here.

General information about the course: PDF

Textbook:"Universe" (8th edition) by Roger Freedman and William Kaufmann

Schedule of lectures, homeworks, laboratories, and exams: PDF

Assignment list for Lab sections: PDF

Exams:

• Midterm Exam 1. PDF. Friday, 25 Jan 2008 in class.
  Midterm 1 solutions: PDF
• Midterm Exam 2. PDF. Wednesday, 13 Feb 2008 in class.
  Midterm 2 solutions: PDF
• Final Exam. Monday, 17 Mar 2008 in class.
  Final exam solutions: PDF

Homework assignments:

• Homework 1. PDF. Assigned 11 Jan 2008. Due Friday, 18 January, in class.
  Homework 1 solutions: PDF
• Homework 2. PDF. Assigned 18 Jan 2008. Due Friday, 25 January, in class.
  Homework 2 solutions: PDF
• Homework 3. PDF. Assigned 1 February 2008. Due Friday, 8 February, in class.
  Homework 3 solutions: PDF
• Homework 4. PDF. Assigned 8 February 2008. Due Wednesday, 13 February, in class.
  Homework 4 solutions: PDF
• Homework 5. PDF. Assigned 22 February 2008. Due Friday, 29 February, in class.
  Homework 5 solutions: PDF
• Homework 6. PDF. Assigned 29 February 2008. Due, Friday 7 March, in class.
  Homework 6 solutions: PDF Homework 7. PDF. Assigned 7 March 2008. Due, Friday 14 March, in class.
  Homework 7 solutions: PDF

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  Lecture slides:

  • Lecture 1. 7 Jan 2008."Intro. Finding Our Place in our Galaxy."
  • Lecture 2. 9 Jan 2008."Our plance in the Milky Way. Mapping structure of the Galaxy."
  • Lecture 3. 11 Jan 2008."Mapping the disk of the Miky Way. Disk rotation and evidence for dark matter."
  • Lecture 4. 14 Jan 2008."Other Galaxies. Types of Galaxies. Hubble law."
  • Lecture 5. 16 Jan 2008."The realm of galaxies. Discovery of the expansion of the Universe."
  • Lecture 6. 18 Jan 2008."Distance ladder. Cosmic web. Mergers of galaxies."
  • Lecture 7. 23 Jan 2008."Galaxy formation. Observational evidence for dark matter."
  • Lecture 8. 28 Jan 2008."Observational evidence for dark matter. (continued)"
  • Lecture 9. 30 Jan 2008."Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei."
  • Lecture 10. 1 Feb 2008."Quasars and their central engines."
  • Lecture 11. 4 Feb 2008."The Olbers paradox. Einstein's theory of general relativity."
  • Lecture 12. 6 Feb 2008."General relativity and expansion of the Universe."
  • Lecture 13. 8 Feb 2008."Expansion of the Universe. Cosmological redshift. Big Bang."
  • Lecture 14. 11 Feb 2008."Hot Big Bang and primordial nucleosynthesis of light nuclei."
  • Lecture 15. 18 Feb 2008."Consequences of the Hot Big Bang: Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation."
  • Lecture 16. 20 Feb 2008."Temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background."
  • Lecture 17. 22 Feb 2008."The idea of inflation during the early stages of the Big Bang."
  • Lecture 18. 25 Feb 2008."Discovery of the accelerating Universe."
  • Lecture 19. 27 Feb 2008."Discovery of the accelerating Universe (continued)."
  • Lecture 20. 29 Feb 2008."Interpretation of the accelerating expansion of the Universe: cosmological constant, dark energy, modified gravity."
  • Lecture 21. 3 Mar 2008."Age of the Universe. Early stages of evolution."
  • Lecture 22. 5 Mar 2008."Early stages in the evolution of the Universe."
  • Lecture 23. 7 Mar 2008."Early stages in the evolution of the Universe (continued)."
  • Lecture 24. 10 Mar 2008."Formation of structures in the Universe."
  • Lecture 25. 12 Mar 2008."Formation of structures in the Universe (continued)."
  • Pre-final review. 14 Mar 2008.

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