Relativistic Astrophysics (PHYS*7900)
Code and section: PHYS*7900*01
Term: Fall 2019
Instructor: Daniel Siegel
Details
Instructor
Daniel Siegel
Office: MacN 435C
Extension: 53983
Email: dsiegel@uoguelph.ca
Time and Location
Tuesday, Thursday
8:30a - 9:50a
Mini-Link Room -- MacN 203 (Guelph)
C2 278 (Waterloo)
Learning Resources
Required Resources
- Courselink
- Course notes - Spacetime and Geometry: An introduction to General Relativity
S. M. Carroll: (Pearson) - General Relativity
N. Straumann (Springer)
Recommended Resources
- B. Schutz: A first course in General Relativity (Cambridge)
(an excellent introduction at the undergraduate level) - E. Poisson: Gravity (Cambridge)
- R. M. Wald: General Relativity (U Chicago Press)
- C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne, J. A. Wheeler: Gravitation (Freeman)
Evaluation
30% Assignments
70% Final Exam
Assignments for this course will be handed out and submitted in class. Assignments will not be accepted after the corresponding deadline. Submitted assignment solutions must show calculation details, be legible, and written with a logical flow. Marks on assignments will rapidly approach zero if not presented well. The final exam will be closed text book and closed notebooks.
Course Aims and Objectives
Course Prerequisites
We will not have time reviewing standard undergraduate material. In particular, special relativity and associated mathematical methods are a prerequisite (e.g., Chapters 1-4 in Schutz’s book, see above). Students should also review introductory courses on (multi-)linear algebra and be familiar with concepts such as co-vectors and tensors on linear spaces (see, e.g., Chapter 3 in Schutz’s book). Standard undergraduate knowledge of mathematical methods, basic hydrodynamics, and electrodynamics is an expected prerequisite.
Course Description
This course provides a graduate-level introduction to General Relativity and its applications to Relativistic Astrophysics. It will introduce the basic mathematical concepts of Lorentzian manifolds, discuss physics in external gravitational fields, and introduce Einstein’s field equations. The theory will be applied to Relativistic Astrophysics and discuss applications such as black hole solutions, neutron stars, and the generation of gravitational waves.
Course Topics
- Mathematical foundations: manifolds, vector and tensor fields, Lorentzian manifolds, covariant derivative, geodesics and parallel transport, curvature
- Equivalence principle and physics in curved spacetime
- Einstein’s field equations
- The Schwarzschild solution and Birkhoff’s theorem
- Classical tests of general relativity: perihelion advance, deflection of light
- Neutron stars
- Generation of gravitational waves
Assignments and collaboration
Discussion between students regarding assignments is encouraged. All work submitted for grading in this course, however, must be each individual student’s own work. It is not acceptable to share assignment solutions in any way; the assignments are not group projects.
University Statements
Email Communication
When You Cannot Meet a Course Requirement
Undergraduate Calendar - Academic Consideration and Appeals
Graduate Calendar - Grounds for Academic Consideration
Associate Diploma Calendar - Academic Consideration, Appeals and Petitions
Drop Date
Undergraduate Calendar - Dropping Courses
Graduate Calendar - Registration Changes
Associate Diploma Calendar - Dropping Courses
Copies of Out-of-class Assignments
Accessibility
Academic Integrity
Recording of Materials
Resources
Disclaimer
Please note: This is a preliminary web course description. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. An official course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester and/or posted on Courselink.