Physics 644: Galaxies & NOTE: THIS IS A PRELIMINARY COURSE OUTLINE THAT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE Class: We will meet 10:05-11:25am MW in Trottier 2120. Our first class is on Wednesday, Sep. 1 and our last class is on Monday, Dec. 6. Note that Thursday, Oct. 14 is a make-up day and operates on a Monday schedule, so there will be a lecture on that day. Instructors: • Prof. Victoria Kaspi: [email protected], McGill Space Institute Rm. 203 • Prof. Adrian Liu: [email protected], McGill Space Institute Rm. 206 • Prof. Katelin Schutz: [email protected], Rutherford Rm. 319 Office hours will be on a day TBD, in a room reserved by the department that has enough space to be consistent with pandemic guidelines. Communication: Please contact us via email; We will try to respond to all emails within one weekday (24 hours). Course announcements will be sent to registered students at their mcgill.ca email address; they will also be posted to the MyCourses website. All registered students are responsible for knowing the content of email announcements within one weekday of receiving them. • Please let me know if you are not registered and would like to receive announcements. • Problem sets and supplementary materials will be posted to the MyCourses website. Course outline and philosophy: This course is intended to serve as an introduction to astro- physical phenomena on galactic scales and larger, hence the course name “Galaxies & Cosmology”. Naturally, this is a very broad purview, and any topic that we cover could reasonably constitute an entire course in its own right. Our goal is therefore not to provide a definitive treatment of “Galaxies & Cosmology”, but to instead highlight the core principles and vocabulary, so that you are able to further your knowledge by attending talks and reading research papers. The course will be roughly divided into the following topics (subject to minor changes):

• Galactic dynamics and galaxy formation (8 lectures) • Zeroth-order cosmology (10 lectures) • First-order cosmology (7 lectures) A detailed course outline is appended to the end of this syllabus. This may be updated as the term progresses, and any updates will be reflected here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ 1sC9C1ge3BInAxbtRAZ7rKpho2AxnMRY6iJEf6Fq6ru0/edit?usp=sharing. Grading: We will assign final grades based on the following breakdown: 60% problem sets, 40% final poster project

• McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see https://www.mcgill.ca/students/ srr/honest for more information). • In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. • Additional policies governing academic issues which affect students can be found in the McGill Charter of Students’ Rights. • Problem sets: We will assign six problem sets (two from each of us). They will be posted to the MyCourses website and will be due either a week or two weeks later (depending on the length of the problem set).

– You are encouraged to collaborate with other students on the problem sets. Nevertheless, the solutions that you hand in must reflect your own work.1 – Use of solution sets in graded homework is plagiarism and will be treated accordingly. This includes consulting previous years’ solution sets, instructor solution manuals, or similar documents (e.g. solutions obtained from the internet). – Late problem sets will not be accepted unless an extension has been approved by one of us prior to the due date. Extensions will be granted only in the case of a serious, documented illness or emergency.

• Poster project: In teams of two, you will create a poster on a topic of your choice within the broad umbrella of “Galaxies & Cosmology”. In lieu of our final class, we will have a poster session where you will present your poster.

– Your chosen topic needs to be approved by us by Nov 1. – The topic may not be a rehash/summary of what we cover in class, although of course one expects that the class material with serve as useful background. – Ideally, your poster topic should be one of current research interest. You will likely have to consult the literature in addition to textbooks. – If pandemic rules permit, the poster session will be in-person. If not, it will be a virtual session on gathertown. – If the poster session is in-person, we will provide guidance regarding the design and printing of posters as the poster session approaches. Note that it costs ∼ $30 (∼ $15 per student) to print a poster. If you are unable to afford the printing fee, please let us know by Nov 1.

Prerequisites: We will assume a basic knowledge of undergraduate physics (i.e., basic mechanics, statistical mechanics, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics). We will also assume an under- standing of basic astronomical concepts (e.g., what stars are, what a spectrum is, how Doppler shifts can be used to measure velocities, etc.) We will not assume knowledge of general relativity. Please ask if you have any questions or concerns—it is your responsibility to make sure you are properly equipped to take on this class. Texts: Our material will be drawn from multiple textbooks and research papers, and thus there is not a single text that neatly covers all of our topics. However, the following are useful references:

• “Galaxy Formation and Evolution” by Mo, van den Bosch, and White. This is the official text, and it covers a good amount of the material that we’ll see in this course. Suggested readings from this book are on the course calendar.

1In other words, we want you to discuss ideas and mathematical techniques with your colleagues; it is fine to sketch out strategies for attacking the problem, it’s even OK compare results at the end to help each other find errors. But when you sit down to write out your solution, this should be your own work that demonstrates what you understand about the problem. • “An Introduction to Modern ” by Carroll and Ostlie. This is a general book on astrophysics, and as such it does cover “Galaxies & Cosmology”, albeit in less depth than our treatment. • “Introduction to Cosmology” by Ryden is a cosmology text that is aimed primarily at under- graduates. Nonetheless, it is pedagogically excellent from a conceptual standpoint, and thus it is a useful resource even for researchers. • “Modern Cosmology” by Dodelson is an excellent advanced text. In many areas it provides a more in-depth coverage than we will have time for. It is an excellent resource for those who want the details behind the “it can be shown that...” crutch that we will inevitably have to use. • “Cosmology” by Weinberg is an advanced text that will satisfy those who crave mathematical rigour.

Note: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. PHYS 644: Galaxies and Cosmology

Date Topic Lecturer Text/Notes Galaxies Sep 1 Galaxies overview Katelin Sep 6 NO CLASS LABOUR DAY Sep 8 Dynamics of scattering Katelin Sep 13 Collisionless Boltzmann Equation Part 1 Katelin Sep 15 Collisionless Boltzmann Equation Part 2 Katelin Sep 20 Jeans stability Katelin Sep 22 Gas cooling/infall + basic star formation recipes Adrian Sep 27 Supernova and AGN feedback Adrian Sep 29 Ensemble stellar populations, SEDs, Luminosity Functions Adrian

Zeroth-order cosmology (no perturbations) Oct 4 Kinematics of our Universe: Hubble's Law, peculiar velocities, redshift, Newtonian cosmology, Friedman Equations Vicky Oct 6 Dynamics of our Universe: constituents of the Universe (“Omegas” and their equations of state), fate of the Universe. Vicky Oct 11 NO CLASS THANKSGIVING Oct 13 NO CLASS FALL BREAK Oct 14 Geometry of our Universe: FLRW metric, distance definitions/measures, lookback time, age of Universe Vicky Make-up day; runs on Monday schedule Oct 18 Timeline of the Hot Big Bang model: thermal history of our Universe, basic thermo and stat mech of the early Universe. Vicky Oct 20 Lead-up to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), weak-interaction freezeout etc. Vicky Oct 25 BBN, elemental abundances. Vicky Oct 27 Qualitative discussion of what comes after: matter domination, recombination, reionization, and dark energy domination Vicky Nov 1 WIMP miracle Katelin Nov 3 Non-WIMP Katelin Nov 8 Inflation as a possible solution to problems with the Hot Big Bang model; inflation as a mechanism for seeding structure Katelin

First-order cosmology (w/ perturbations) Nov 10 Inflation as a mechanism for seeding structure Katelin Nov 15 Two-point statistics and seed fluctuations from inflation Adrian Nov 17 Linear perturbation theory Adrian Nov 22 Matter power spectrum and galaxy surveys Adrian Nov 24 CMB Part 1 Adrian Nov 29 CMB Part 2 Adrian Dec 1 CMB Part 3 Adrian Dec 6 Poster session Everyone!

Office hours: TBD Assessments: No exams 6 Prob Sets, 10% each (2 from DH, VK, AL) Projects/Poster Presentation (in pairs; must be outside your area of research; profs must approve topics)