Big Bang to Black Holes
Physics 120 Spring 2006
This web
site is http://courses.umass.edu/phys120/
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Embedding diagram showing one slice of the curved
spacetime around a Black Hole. |
Instructor:
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Office:
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Lederle Grad Research Tower Rm 1034
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Phone:
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(413) 545-0993
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blaylock -at- physics.umass.edu
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Office hours
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by arrangement (please call or email)
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Teaching assistants:
Michael Thorn michaelt -at- physics.umass.edu
Emelia Clingman aclingma
-at- student.umass.edu
Course details
- Requirements
- Lectures
and Readings
You are expected to do all the readings on time. Lectures build upon
the readings; they do not repeat the readings (much).
- “Lecture
Highlights” notes
List three of the most important points covered in lecture in the
previous one or two weeks. Explain these points in detail. These should
be brief: one-half to one page. Think of these assignments as an
alternative to taking quizzes. Late work is graded for half credit
only.
Work that is later than 1 week beyond the due date will not be
accepted.
See the lecture highlights guidelines for
details.
- Problem
sets
Four or five sets throughout the semester. Late assignments are graded
for half credit only. Work that is later than 1 week beyond the due
date
will not be accepted. You are encouraged to ask questions and work
together but NOT to copy others’ work.
- Midterm
paper
5 pages or equivalent project
paper due March 17
outline due March 3
See the midterm instructions for details and
suggested topics.
- Final
paper
5 pages or equivalent project
paper due May 22
outline due May 5
See the final instructions for details and
suggested topics.
- Texts
“Relativity Simply Explained”
by Martin Gardner
“Black Holes and Time Warps”
by Kip Thorne
“Big Bang" by Simon
Singh (not required)
- Further (optional) Reading
For those who
want more on specific topics, an extended bibliography is here.
- Grading
Weekly assignments (lecture highlights & problem
sets) 40%
Papers
30% each
- Private WebCT pages with course calendar,
discussion board, posted lectures. Accessible only to students
registered for the course.
Syllabus
Special Relativity (~3
weeks)
Einstein’s theory for motion at very
high speeds, covering notions of space and time, inertial and
accelerated reference frames, length contraction, time dilation,
simultaneity.
Electromagnetism and
Light (1 or 2 lectures)
Overview of electricity and magnetism
and their unification with light, notions of light waves, diffraction,
interference, Doppler shift.
General Relativity
(many weeks)
Newtonian gravity, the equivalence
principle, bending of light, gravitational lenses, black holes,
gravitational redshift, curved spacetime, wormholes, gravitational and
inertial mass, the geodisic effect, frame dragging.
Particle
Physics (2 lectures)
Overview of the particle constituents
of matter, the four forces, particle decay, fermions and bosons, lasers.
Astronomy (~2 weeks)
Stellar evolution, supernovas, white
dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes (again), galactic cores.
Gravity waves (2 or 3
lectures)
Gravity fields, gravity wave detection
techniques, resonant oscillation, LIGO, the binary pulsar.
Quantum
Mechanics (~1 week)
The uncertainty principle, virtual
particles, zero point energy, waves and particles, the photoelectric
effect, black hole evaporation, conservation laws.
Cosmology
(~2 weeks)
The history of the universe, the big
bang, dark matter, models of the universe, multiverses, dark energy,
wormholes and time machines.
Other Related Websites (click the images
and follow the links)
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"Manholes on the Move" from
NPR's Morning Edition Nov 29, 2004. Reported by David Schaper.
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"Explaining
Relativity to the Cat" by Jennifer Gresham, as read by Garrison Keillor
on PRI's Writer's Almanac Feb 3, 2006.
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Apparently, this movie
(sequel to "What the Bleep do We Know") is quite a fad. Despite the
advertisement, it has pretty well nothing to do with quantum mechanics.
Good for entertainment, but what little science is here is mostly
wrong. This NYT review
pretty much summarizes my position.
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Einstein's birthday: A
tribute
from PRI's Writer's Almanac March 14, 2006.
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Planning your next vacation? Check out "Virtual trips to
Black Holes and Neutron Stars", a
NASA site with
several simulations of relativistic star flight.
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Want to know what the view
looks like BEFORE you build that retirement home on a black hole? Check
out this simulation of black hole panoramas.
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"Gravity Probe B", one of the
most sophisticated (and most delayed) experiments ever to test the
General Theory of Relativity, has recently passed its 10,000th orbit
and continues to analyze data on the geodetic and frame dragging
effects. Results are expected at the end of 2006.
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Last updated $Date: 2006/03/27 15:04:05 $