PHYS378: General Relativity and Cosmology

Macquarie University 2005

Description

2nd Semester 2005, 3 credit points.
PHYS378 is a core unit in the BSc Astronomy and Astrophysics program and is an option for students in the BSc program. The unit begins with a review of special relativity which leads to the idea of flat spacetime. This leads on to the idea of curved spacetime, which requires the study of tensors. The Einstein field equation is studied, as is the Schwarzschild solution to it for a spherically symmetric geometry. Experimental tests of general relativity are discussed. The last major topic is the application of the theory to a variety of cosmological models.

Prerequisites

PHYS202(P) and MATH235(P). If you do not have these prerequisites please see Dr. Peter Browne (unit coordinator).

Lecturers

Lecture times

• Monday 10 am E6A 108
• Tuesday 9 am E6A 109
• Thursday 10 am C3B 306
• Thursday 12 am C3B 306

Text

Lecture topics

Online material related to lectures

Assessment

You will also be asked to write a 1500-word essay on a topic relevant to the unit. Essay topics will be advised in due course. There is some scope to write on a subject of your choosing (if it is not already on the list) but alternatives must be approved by Dr. Browne.

Assignments	20%
Essay	10%
Final Examination	70%

Other Important Information

Generic Skills

• Reading, interpreting and understanding reading resources;
• numerical, quantitative and mathematical skills - assignment problems, tensor calculus in lecture content and problems;
• problem solving - assignments;
• research and writing skills - essay;
• creativity - problem solving approach;
• developing an appreciation of a new view of the nature of the physical world.

Plagiarism

"Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and presenting it as one's own. Any of the following acts constitutes plagiarism unless the source of each quotation or piece of borrowed material is clearly acknowledged:

• copying out part(s) of any document or audio-visual material (including computer-based material);
• using or extracting another person's concepts, experimental results, or conclusions;
• summarising another person's work;
• in an assignment where there was collaborative preparatory work, submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student.

A general discussion of plagiarism, definitions, examples, procedures that will be followed by the University in cases of plagiarism, and recommended penalties are available from the MQnU website at http://www.student.mq.edu.au/plagiarism/. The University expects students to familiarise themselves with the website.

Special Consideration

The university's policy regarding special consideration can be found at:
http://handbook.mq.edu.au/PDFs/2005/ug-bachelor-degree-rules.pdf

Student Liaison Committee

The Physics Department values quality teaching and engages in periodic student evaluations of its units, external reviews of its programs and course units, and seeks formal feedback from students via focus groups and the Student Liaison Committee. Please consider being a member of this committee, which meets once during the semester (lunch provided), with the purpose of improving teaching via student feedback. The class will be asked to nominate two students as representatives for the PHYS 378 unit on the student liaison committee. This nomination process will be conducted during lectures and the lecturer will forward the names to the Head of Department. The SLC meetings are minuted and student representatives receive copies of the minutes from the two preceding SLC meetings prior to the meeting. An update on the responses that have been made by the department to the feedback obtained at the two preceding SLC meetings are reported by the Head of Department at the beginning of each SLC meeting. These responses are also minuted. The feedback is acted upon in a number of ways mostly initiated via Physics Dept meetings, where decisions on actions are taken.

Student Portals

All students should be aware that the Student Portal is now the mandated point of contact for many official communications from the University, e.g. notices regarding Library fines and advice regarding examinations etc. In most cases there is no associated paper based communication. If you do not regularly open your Portal page, you are taking a risk in that you may not become aware of official communications in a timely manner. For example, a student may be removed from the graduation list because of outstanding Library fines, which the student was unaware of because of not regularly accessing his/her Portal page. To put things more plainly: failure to do this could result in your not graduating when you thought you would. It is therefore important that all students should regularly (at least weekly) open their Portal page and check for official communications from the University. (Note: There is a built-in option for forwarding Portal mail to another e-mail address, should a student wish to do this).