Galactic Dynamics: Ph 607 Fall 2008
General Description
In this course, we will learn about the
dynamical structure of galaxies, their equilibria, stability and
evolution and the evidence for dark matter. We will also briefly
discuss chaos in dynamical systems. The course is quite mathematical.
All students with PhD research projects in astronomy should take this
course, but no graduate level astronomy courses are required as
background. Students should have a general familiarity with the
observed properties of galaxies such as from "Galaxies and the Milky
Way" (Physics 543), those without this may find they need to do a
little background reading, but should be able to keep up.
Logistics
The class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:20
pm in ARC rm 207.
My room number is W308 in the Serin labs and internal telephone
extension 5-5287. I have no particular office hour - please feel free
to come to see me at any reasonable time.
Books
I will work closely from the excellent book Galactic Dynamics
Second Edition (2008) by J. Binney and S. Tremaine (Princeton University
Press).
Some useful background material for those unfamiliar with galaxies and
how quantities are derived observationally can be found in Galactic
Astronomy by Binney & Merrifield, or Galaxies in the
Universe by Sparke & Gallagher.
I have produced a few pages of notes desribing some of the more
common, and a few uncommon, mass models that
are used as disk or spherical mass distributions. The list is far
from complete, and the formulae may contain typos, but it may help to
identify simple models that are often referred to in the literature
and gives a number of useful references. Suggestions of additions or
corrections to these pages are welcomed.
Assessment
There will be three main methods of assessment: class participation,
homework and a term paper. Homework questions will be drawn from the
textbook, possibly supplemented by other questions.
Lecture Notes
I will expect you to have read my lecture notes before each class,
and to have followed up by looking at the relevant parts of BT. I
will expect all students to have done this reading assignment and to
be ready to ask and/or answer questions on it. This will be an
experimental approach to teaching for me, and I expect the procedure
will evolve with experience.
Notes for my lectures should be available well ahead of each class, but are
password protected. I will give out the username and password in
class that will enable you to access them from here.
Term Paper
The term paper should be on a topic closely related to the course. It
should be a review of research papers, building on the material in the
lectures, but going into more detail. It should include your own
appraisal of the work reviewed. It will count 50% of your grade and
will be assessed in three parts:
a) A preliminary plan (5%) should be in note form (about 1 page),
state the main issues to be discussed in the final paper and list some
relevant research and/or review papers. The preliminary plan is due
on October 27.
b) The written paper (30%) must be typewritten and approximately 12
pages in length. The paper should constitute a critical assessment of
the recent literature on the topic chosen and not simply be a summary
of one or two papers. It is due on November 24.
c) Oral presentation (15%): You will make a half hour presentation of
your paper to the rest of the class. The presentation will be
assessed for a clear explanation of why the topic is of interest, the
central few points of the paper, statements of the main uncertainties
and criticisms, and finishing within the allotted time. Presentations
will be in classes in the last couple of weeks of the semester.
I encourage students to choose their own topics, but will be happy to
suggest or refine topics for those who would like some guidance.