Physics 607: Galaxies and Galaxy Dynamics
Spring 2022

Instructor Andrew Baker Serin W309 Phone: 848-445-8887 Email: ajbaker[at]physics.rutgers.edu Office hours: TBD (via Zoom for at least the first two weeks) Venue TF3 (12:10-1:30pm): online for at least the first four meetings (Jan 18, 21, 25, 28), in-person in HLL-009 (Hill Center) at some point thereafter

Textbooks

There are two required textbooks for this course:

• The first (2020) edition of Cimatti, Fraternali, & Nipoti, Introduction to Galaxy Formation and Evolution (ISBN-13 9781107134768).
• The second (2008) edition of Binney & Tremaine, Galactic Dynamics (ISBN-13 9780691130279).

Overview

Here's a condensed version of the official course catalog listing:

Prerequisite: 750:507, Classical Mechanics

Properties of galaxies: photometry, structure, kinematics, gas content, chemical evolution. Structure of the Milky Way. Equilibrium, stability, and evolution of stellar systems. Dynamics and evolution of disk galaxies (spiral patterns, bars, warps) and elliptical galaxies. Examples of chaotic astrophysical systems.

In addition to learning about the observed properties of galaxies, and how they evolve over cosmic time, we will also study the modern theory for how galaxies form in the context of the 'hierarchical structure formation' picture provided by the Cold Dark Matter theory. Topics that will be covered include: structure formation in the Cold Dark Matter model; galaxy clustering and bias; the Milky Way and the Local Group; demographics of nearby galaxies; galaxies and their environment; interactions and mergers; galaxy evolution over cosmic time; dynamics and stability of galactic disks; dynamics and evolution of elliptical galaxies; black holes and Active Galactic Nuclei.

I plan to broaden this list of topics to include galaxies' relationships with the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and the intergalactic medium (IGM). In general, I will try to highlight subjects that are important to areas of current research in extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology (e.g., galaxy formation, the enrichment of the intergalactic medium, and the reionization of the universe).

Schedule

Both the sequence of lectures and the assignment due dates are preliminary at this point; I will update them as needed during the course of the semester.

I will include in the schedule the dates of any local talks that are relevant to the subject matter of this course. Attendance is encouraged but not required!

LECTURE	DATE	TOPIC	TEXT	DUE
1	Jan 18	course introduction; (p)review of the ISM
2	Jan 21	cosmic distance ladder		three adjectives
3	Jan 25
4	Jan 28			HW1
5	Feb 1
6	Feb 4			HW2
7	Feb 8
8	Feb 11			HW3
9	Feb 15			individual galaxy slides
10	Feb 18			HW4
11	Feb 22
12	Feb 25			HW5
13	Mar 1
14	Mar 4			HW6
15	Mar 8
16	Mar 11			HW7
17	Mar 22
18	Mar 25			HW8
19	Mar 29
20	Apr 1			HW9
21	Apr 5
22	Apr 8			HW10
23	Apr 12
24	Apr 15			HW11
25	Apr 19
26	Apr 22			HW12
27	Apr 26
28	Apr 29			HW13

Grading

Your course grade will be based on a weighted combination of four elements:

• homework assignments (50%)
• observing proposal (20%)
• summative project (20%)
• individual galaxy project (10%)

Homework assignments will generally be made available on Friday and submitted (in class, or by emailed PDF before 5pm) the following Friday. They will include three types of exercises: straightforward examples or extensions of material discussed in lecture; more involved applications to areas of current research, which may encompass some computational work; and true/false questions that simulate the challenge of refereeing a journal paper.

The observing proposal will be for a telescope of your choice whose actual proposal deadline falls between March 1 and April 30, 2022. Your proposal for this class should be submitted to me two weeks before that actual deadline (e.g., as specified below). You may choose one of the following telescopes (italicized dates are currently estimated and will be updated as needed), or a similar telescope with a deadline in the March/April window:

Observatory	Period	Real deadline	Assignment deadline
Submillimeter Array (SMA)	semester 2022A	Mar 3	Feb 17
Chandra X-ray Observatory	Cycle 24	Mar 10	Feb 24
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)	summer 2022	Mar 17	Mar 3
Keck Observatory	semester 2022B	Mar 17	Mar 3
European Southern Observatory (ESO)	Period 110	Mar 25	Mar 11
Hubble Space Telescope	Cycle 30	Mar 25	Mar 11
NOIRLab	semester 2022B	Mar 31	Mar 17
Gemini Observatory	Fast Turnaround (March)	Mar 31	Mar 17
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)	Cycle 9	Apr 21	Apr 7
Gemini Observatory	Fast Turnaround (April)	Apr 30	Apr 16

The proposal should focus on observations of one or more galaxies, galaxy groups, or galaxy clusters. Students who are pursuing research in astronomy may discuss initial ideas with their research advisers (or with me), but should otherwise execute the proposals by themselves; the two-week lead time is meant to allow for revision of the proposal with your adviser as a collaborator so that it can be submitted for real if you wish. Students who are not pursuing research in astronomy are welcome to discuss ideas and resources for building up the requisite background knowledge with me. Your proposal's technical justification will not be graded in detail but should be complete and worked through at a rough level (e.g., it would be advisable not to propose an observation that would require 3000 hours of time on a given telescope).

The summative project will either be a final exam (take-home, open-book, and open-note), or a simulation of a Time Allocation Committee (TAC) review of your observing proposals. I expect to decide on one of these formats shortly after spring break, based on how things have been going in the first part of the course.

The individual galaxy project will be to submit a four-slide PDF presentation on an individual galaxy that will be assigned to you. The four slides should present (i) the basic properties of the galaxy, and (ii) three interesting results on the galaxy that have been published in the literature. Text and figures are expected to be clear, appropriately referenced, and self-explanatory. You can earn one point of extra credit (up to three over the course of the semester) for each time you contribute a relevant insight about your assigned galaxy to an in-class discussion or the Canvas chat room.

Other items

• Absences
  I will have to miss two of our regularly scheduled classes. These will either be taught by guest lecturers or rescheduled as extra classes at an alternative time. If you need to miss a class for some reason, there will be no direct penalty to your grade; however, since I will not be posting my full notes to the course website, you will generally need to rely on your classmates' notes to catch up. (I will aim to provide the equations from my notes for each lecture, but without the context of the lecture these are likely to be less useful.)
• Late assignments
  You will begin the semester with a total of seven "grace days" that you may "spend" to avoid being penalized for late work. If and when you have spent all seven days (e.g., homework 3 was two days late and the individual galaxy project was five days late), I will start docking points at a rate of 10% off the top per day for each assignment.
• Collaboration policy
  On the problem sets, you should first try every exercise yourself before discussing it with others. If you get stuck (or finish and would like to compare answers), you may discuss exercises with other students in the course and/or me, but you should always write up your own solutions and indicate on your solutions whom you collaborated with. You may consult books and published papers, but not old solution sets from previous offerings of this course or similar courses elsewhere.
• Students with disabilities
  If you have a disability, let me know early in the semester so that we can make the necessary arrangements for you to have a successful learning experience. Please consult this web page for more details.