2019 Evolution of the Universe

Overview

The course will examine different aspects of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the Universe. The course will start with a general introduction about how we can directly observe the evolution of the Universe, and what is actually observed. We will then give the broad outlines of the relatively simple formation of dark matter structures in the Universe leading to an understanding of what a galaxy actually is.

Following this introduction, we will then look in more detail at several aspects of the more complex evolution of the "baryonic" component of the Universe, the formation of stars and black holes in galaxies, the inflows and outflows of gas and so on.

The first goal is to give students an overall understanding of the most important processes observed in the evolving universe. What are the simple concepts that enable us to understand, in broad terms, why the universe looks the way it does, and why it evolved the way it did.

However, another very important goal for this course concerns more the nature of scientific research. By focusing on practical questions at the forefront of our knowledge, the course will also expose students to the challenges that are encountered in carrying out research using "passive" investigations, in this case astronomical observations. These include the challenges of inferring causal relations from data, the meaning of probability when describing classical phenomena, the difficulties of dealing with an evolving population, and the importance of the prevailing paradigm in formulating what are the most interesting scientific questions to be asked. Many of these issues will therefore be of general interest for other emerging areas of science in which large datasets are passively queried.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Simon Lilly

Substitute Lecturers: Dr. Jorryt Matthee

Schedule

Wednesday, HIT F 31.1, at 09.45 - 11.30

Program

The format of the course this year will be somewhat modified from last year, and will be as follows:

The first nine weeks will consist of more or less conventional lectures on the following topics, starting with the easy bit (the underlying dark matter structure formation) and then moving on to the harder bits (understanding how baryons produce what we see).

September 18: Introduction to the course − understanding the evolution of galaxies − some facts about the Milky Way − how we gain information − how we can interpret what we see − the ambiguities of passive science.

DownloadCourse_Introduction (PDF, 17.1 MB)
DownloadLecture_1 (PDF, 5.6 MB)

September 25: Big Bang Cosmology and Dark Matter − The expanding Universe − thermal history and the CMB − evidence for dark matter − dark matter possibilities.

DownloadLecture 2 (PDF, 20.2 MB)

October 02: Linear dark matter structure formation − primordial fluctuations − gravitational instability growth modes − the CDM spectrum − the last scattering surface of the CMB − concordance cosmology.

DownloadLecture 3 (PDF, 11.9 MB)

October 09: Dark Matter haloes − non-linear development of density fluctuations − dark matter haloes − the Press-Schechter mass function of haloes − hierarchical assembly of haloes − the cosmic web − galaxies − star-formation in disks.

DownloadLecture 4, part 1 (PDF, 4.9 MB)

October 16: Observations of galaxies: questions to be answered − the star-formation history of the Universe − the star-formation rates of individual galaxies − the Main Sequence − quenched galaxies − active galactic nuclei − scaling relations.

DownloadLecture 5, part 1 (PDF, 9.3 MB)

DownloadLecture 5, part 2 (PDF, 36.1 MB)

October 23: Theoretical approaches: Forward hydro-dynamical simulations − semi-analytic models − simplicity in outcomes − reverse engineering and other phenomenological approaches − strengths and limitations

October 30: Understanding the star-formation rate of the Universe and of galaxies − what controls the evolution of the Main Sequence star-formation rate - the gas regulator model - the numbers of haloes - a simple model to account for the star-formation history of the Universe over cosmic time.

DownloadLecture 6 (PDF, 8.5 MB)

November 06: Quenching, the end of star-formation − what physically causes quenching − is quenching a useful concept at all − phenomenological approaches − dangerous interpretations of cause and effect − possible physical causes of quenching − cooling and heating in haloes − sources of energy − galaxy structure: cause or effect?

DownloadLecture 7 (PDF, 8.8 MB)

November 13: Galaxian environments, sizes and structures − how can the environment affect galaxies? − quenching of satellites − what does separability tell us? − galactic conformity as a case study − interpreting probability in non-probabilistic systems − knowledge and lack of knowledge

DownloadLecture 8 (PDF, 18.7 MB)

November 20: The role of the central black holes − active galactic nuclei phenomena − supermassive blackholes − scaling relations − origin and growth of supermassive blackholes − reverse engineering again − cause and effect again − how black holes can affect galaxies

Seminars:
DownloadPreliminary seminar schedule (PDF, 34 KB)

DownloadFurther info on seminar, including list of reviews to help you get started (PDF, 48 KB)

The final five weeks will consist of student seminars on a number of related topics. These will be arranged in detail once we know how many students are taking part.