01:750:346: Observational Astrophysics
Spring 2024

Lecturer/Instructor Prof. Eric Gawiser Serin W303 Phone: 848-445-8874 Email: gawiser[at]rutgers.edu Grader/Instructor Dilys Ruan Email: druan[at]physics.rutgers.edu

Learning Management System: Canvas

Course meetings
Lectures: Monday 2:00-3:20pm, SEC 220
Project Meetings: Wednesday 2:00-3:20pm, SEC 220
Office hours: immediately after class

Prerequisites
01:750:(341 or 342) and (345 or significant prior experience programming in Python, C++, or a similar language)

Textbook
This course does not have an official textbook.

Overview
The Physics & Astronomy 346 course offers a panchromatic introduction to observational astrophysics i.e., spanning the radio, optical/infrared, and X-ray regimes. Students will gain experience working with data in at least two of these wavelength regimes, and with both imaging and spectroscopy. A significant goal of the course is to develop skills (including programming and data analysis) that are crucial for research and other STEM careers.

Schedule
Lectures: The sequence of lecture topics may be updated during the course of the semester.
Projects: A majority of each student's grade will be determined by two group projects that will occupy slightly less than half of the semester each. The first project will feature the analysis of imaging data; the second project will feature the analysis of spectroscopic data. Groups will be assigned on the basis of preference among multiple project options. Weekly meetings of your group with one of the instructors to work on the project are required. Each project will have three key milestones:

• demonstration that students have successfully processed the data to a level enabling analysis (typically, this will be two weeks into the project)
• presentation of a 10-15 minute group report (with slides) in class
• submission of a written project report, prepared in LaTeX and including all necessary supporting figures

WEEK	DATES	LECTURE TOPIC	DUE
1	Jan 17	course organization; CCD data
2	Jan 22,24	practical aspects of observing	RUPhast setup & intro; Workshop 1 (optical imaging) on Jan 24
3	Jan 29,31	imaging vs. spectroscopy; coherent vs. incoherent detection	begin 1st Project
4	Feb 5,7	An optical imaging survey with the Dark Energy Camera	1st Project data check
5	Feb 12,14	Fourier transforms, convolution, and cross-correlations
6	Feb 19,21	radio astronomy: telescopes
7	Feb 26,28	radio astronomy: aperture synthesis	presentation rough drafts due Feb. 28
8	Mar 4,6	1st Project presentations	presentations on Mar 4; report rough drafts due Mar 5; reports due Mar 8
9	Mar 18,20	radio astronomy: deconvolution	Workshop 2 (nebular spectroscopy) on Mar 20
10	Mar 25, 27	X-ray astronomy	begin 2nd Project
11	Apr 1,3	optical/IR astronomy: telescopes and instruments	2nd Project data check
12	Apr 8,10	optical/IR astronomy: adaptive optics
13	Apr 15,17	gravitational wave astrophysics
14	Apr 22,24	2nd Project presentations	presentation rough drafts due Apr 22; presentations Apr 24
15	Apr 29	2nd Project report writing	report rough drafts due Apr 29; reports due May 4

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

• quizzes after each lecture (20%)
• participation during project meetings and lectures (20%)
• workshops and homework exercises (10%)
• presentations of projects (20%)
• written reports on projects (30%)

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to maintain the highest level of academic integrity. You must follow the university policy on academic integrity.

Use of external sources to obtain solutions to homework assignments or exams is cheating and is a violation of the University Academic Integrity policy. Cheating in the course may result in penalties ranging from a zero on an assignment to an F for the course to expulsion from the University. Posting of homework assignments, exams, recorded lectures, or other lecture materials to external sites without the permission of the instructor is a violation of copyright and constitutes a facilitation of dishonesty, which may result in the same penalties as explicit cheating.

Not only does the use of such sites violate the University's policy on Academic Integrity, using such sites interferes with your achievement of the learning you are paying tuition for. Assignments, quizzes, and exams are given not simply to assign grades, but to promote the active learning that occurs through completing assignments on your own. Getting the right answer is much less important than learning how to get the right answer. This learning is critical to your success in subsequent courses and your careers.

Almost all original work is the intellectual property of its authors. These works include syllabi, lecture slides, recorded lectures, homework problems, exams, and other materials, in either printed or electronic form. The authors hold copyrights in these works, which are protected by U.S. statutes. Copying this work or posting it online without the permission of the author violates the author's rights. More importantly, these works are the product of the author's efforts; respect for these efforts and for the author's intellectual property rights is an important value that members of the university community take seriously.

• Student absences
  Students who miss a lecture can rely on lecture slides posted on Canvas, but students who miss a project meeting will need to rely on other members of their group to catch up. All absences should be reported at this website.
• Late assignments
  I will deduct 10% off the top for each day an assignment is handed in late, with a maximum possible score of 50% once solutions have been made available for quizzes or homework assignments. This means, e.g., that an assignment handed in three days late will receive at best a grade of 70% if solutions have not yet been made available to those who submitted it.
• Collaboration policy
  Students may consult books, published papers, and reference materials on the internet, but not old lab reports from previous offerings of this course or similar courses elsewhere. Sources must always be cited in presentations and reports.
• 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.
• Student wellness services
  The School of Arts and Sciences and the Rutgers University Student Assembly have requested that all course syllabi include the following information on resources to support student wellness:
  • The Just In Case Web App provides access to helpful mental health information and resources for yourself or a friend in a mental health crisis on your smartphone or tablet, and easily contacts CAPS or RUPD.
  • Rutgers Counseling, ADAP & Psychiatric Services (CAPS) (848-932-7884; 17 Senior Street in New Brunswick) is a University mental health support service that includes counseling, alcohol and other drug assistance, and psychiatric services staffed by a team of professionals within Rutgers Health Services to support students' efforts to succeed at Rutgers University. CAPS offers a variety of services that include individual therapy, group therapy and workshops, crisis intervention, referral to specialists in the community and consultation, and collaboration with campus partners.
  • The Office for Violence Prevention & Victim Assistance (VPVA) (848-932-1181; 3 Bartlett Street in New Brunswick) provides confidential crisis intervention, counseling, and advocacy for victims of sexual and relationship violence and stalking to students, staff, and faculty. Staff can be reached by phone during office hours when the university; advocates can be reached by phone after hours.
  • The Office of Disability Services (848-445-6800; Lucy Stone Hall, Suite A145, Livingston Campus, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue in Piscataway) works with students with documented disabilities to determine eligibility for reasonable accommodations, facilitates and coordinates those accommodations when applicable, and lastly engages with the Rutgers community at large to provide and connect students to appropriate resources.
  • Scarlet Listeners (732-247-5555) is a free and confidential peer counseling and referral hotline, providing a comforting and supportive safe space.