LARGE SCALE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE
Docenten:
Rien van de Weygaert,
ZG 186, tel. 3634086, weygaert@astro.rug.nl
Erwin Platen,
ZG 187, tel. 3634087, platen@astro.rug.nl
Announcements: Required Knowledge: Lectures: Exam: Literature: Lecture Notes:
The lecture of tuesday Feb. 13 is postponed to the 2nd lecture week.
This because of the exam ISM on Feb. 13.
Instead, the lecture will take place on wednesday Feb. 21, from 13:15-15:00.
As of thursday February 22, room ZG 257 has been reserved for the tutorial/ "werkcollege".
On wednesday February 21 the list with 19 report topic suggestions has been distributed. Students are invited
to select a topic and to write a report of around 20 pages. Reports may be written alone or
in groups of two (see section below)
Wednesday February 28, room ZG 257 (!!!!): for those of you who are interested, there will be a "question" lecture in which you
may ask any question/problem you have with respect to FRW cosmology and Big Bang cosmology. In the first
set of lectures undoubtedly various issues could not be treated in depth, here is your chance to find out !
As of wednesday March 7 the "question lectures" are repeated each week, 13:15-15:00, room ZG 161.
Werkcollege/tutorial March 8: Virgo computercluster, ZG 291
Thursday April 5: last werkcollege is transformed into round-off lecture (crucial topic)
Friday April 20, 10:00, ZG161: question hour
Although it will be helpful to have followed the basic lecture course "Cosmology", this is
not a requisite.
A recapitulation, overview and summary of the necessary knowledge of basic Cosmology (including some General Relativity),
will be the subject of the first week's lectures.
The lecture schedule will be:
Monday 09:15-11:00 hoorcollege ZG 161
Tuesday 11:15-13:00 hoorcollege ZG 161
Thursday 09:15-11:00 werkcollege ZG 257
The exam will consist of three/four elements:
written exam -- April 24, 2007: 09:15-12:30
report special topic
3 computer tasks (point processes,
correlation function, Gaussian random fields)
The course will be based upon the lecture notes, to be distributed during the course.
No specific book will be followed,
for the purpose of the necessary backup information and context the following book is recommended:
Cosmological Physics
John Peacock
Cambridge University Press, 1998
ISBN 0521422701 (paper)
In addition, THE book on basic cosmology that I will always warmly recommend (but which you are not required
to have) - one of the few textbooks really fun reading and a marvel of didactic writing -- is:
Introduction to Cosmology
Barbara Ryden
Addison Wesley, 2002
ISBN 0805389121 (hardcover)
The course is based upon the lecture notes. Below you find a listing of the notes.
Part of the notes you can download in 3 forms:
* ppt file, a colour pdf (handout, 2 slices/page) and a greyscale pdf (handout, 2 slices/page)
* pdf file texed notes
* xerox copy, distributed during the course
Below you find a listing. You may download the pdf and ppt files.
Please check the hotes you have. When you are missing one or more items contact me.
General Relativity pdf
Not exam material: for your information only
FRW cosmology pdf
The Cosmic Web ppt
The Cosmic Web, h2pdf handout, pdf, colour
The Cosmic Web, gh2pdf handout, pdf, greyscale
Gravitational Instability Theory Handout
Overview & Outline gravitational instability theory (& course)
Important for exam !!!!
Linear Perturbation Theory pdf
Key chapter !!!!!!
Use the next item, the cosmic flows draft, as illustration of linear velocity fields.
Cosmic Flows ppt
Cosmic Flows, h2pdf handout, pdf, colour
Cosmic Flows, gh2pdf handout, pdf, greyscale
Random Field Theory Handout
"Starting Conditions"
Important for exam !!!!
Power spectra & Correlation functions
pdf + handout
CDM power spectra
SDSS & 2dFGRS power spectra
SDSS & 2dFGRS 2pt correlation function
REFLEX cluster power spectrum & 2pt correlation function
Statistical Measures Handout
Ergodic theorem
Two-point correlation function (spatial and sky)
not exam: redshift space correlations, higher order correlations, other measures
Fluctuation Modes/Mass Scales Handout
Fluctations modes (adiabatic, isocurvature, isothermal)
Jeans Instability, Jeans Mass, Silk Damping, Silk Mass, Meszaros effect
Important for exam !!!!
Going nonlinear pdf
Exam material:
Zel'dovich approximation, Spherical Model, Ellipsoidal Model
Not exam material: Lagrangian Perturbation Theory
Also see handout "Systems of High Symmetry"
Systems of High Symmetry Handout
Includes exam material:
Spherical Model,
Ellipsoidal Model,
Press-Schechter Formalism
CMB ppt
CMB, h2pdf handout, pdf, colour
CMB, gh2pdf handout, pdf, greyscale
For exam: Sachs-Wolfe effect; the rest: read thoroughly
(ie. you are supposed to know to answer a general question, without equations, on the CMB)
Large Scale Structure movies
It is highly instructive to study the following movies:
Galaxy Distribution:
SDSS3 galaxy redshift survey, zoom-out
SDSS3 galaxy redshift survey, rotateComputer Simulations Structure Formation:
Virgo LCDM simulationCourtesy: Volker Springel & Virgo consortium
Millennium simulation, zoom-inCourtesy: Volker Springel & Virgo consortium
Millennium simulation, flythroughCourtesy: Volker Springel & Virgo consortium
Tentamen
Attached you find the file with tentamen Large Scale Structure 2002 (2004 was an oral exam)
Tentamen LSS2002Werkcollege (tutorials)
Attached you find the files with the werkcollege assignments.
Feb. 19
Werkcollege I/Tutorial I Feb. 22
Werkcollege II/Tutorial II Mar. 29
Werkcollege III/Tutorial III Mar 8
Computer Task I the Soneira-Peebles Model
explanatory manuscript, Schaap & van de Weygaert
Mar 15
Computer Task II Mar 22
Computer Task III You are expected to solve the assignments yourself that were not completed during the werkcollege/tutorial class. Please turn them in to your tutor (ie. Erwin) !
Report Topics:
The report is part of the final exam. The intention is to investigate in some detail and to some depth one particular topic related to the formation of structure in the Universe. You are expected to acquaint yourself with a few of the essential literature references and to critically assess them (do not always take statements for granted, the field is moving quickly, knowledge may get outdated, viewpoints may change or be proven wrong).
Write a report of around 20 pages (of course this may vary, anything from 15-30 will probably be acceptable). Include some essential equations, calculations, results and figures, whenever applicable. You are more than welcome to include your own discussions, equations, viewpoints, calculations (also computer calculations), plots if you would like to do so ! In other words, the content is entirely up to your own preference ! Evidently, include a reference list, as unbiased as possible (not easy !).
Large Scale Structure Report TopicsA list of 19 topics has been distributed during the 4th lecture (see above). You are invited to choose a topic and write the report in groups of two. Given that none of the topics is really trivial and may involve working through some tough material (front research !) it is usually beneficial to be able to discuss about the involved issues and problems with a collaborator. In fact, these days it is rare to write papers and work on a project all by yourself: also astrophysics and cosmology has entered the era of cooperate and consortium science ! Evidently, you are also welcome to work on a topic by yourself.
Each topic has been accompanied by a list of relevant literature references. These are intended to provide a guideline. You are welcome to stroll around all by yourself through the literature and find yourself (better) references. You do not need to exhaustively read everything ! Usually the best thing to do is to start with a recent up-to-date review paper, it often provides a reasonable idea of what is going on in the field.
Please select a topic and establish a collaboration, subsequently inform me (Rien) about your project choice and collaborator.
We are looking forward to some illuminating and interesting papers ! Recall this may be deep stuff and we need to learn far more ourselves about most issues too. So please educate us !
Rien and Erwin
For searching the astronomical literature the two most important website to consult are those of
ADS: NASA Astrophysics Data System
astro-ph: astrophysics
e-print serverNotice that ADS allows you to expand your literature search via the references of the paper under consideration, as well as the links to the papers that refer to it. While using this possibility wisely you may quickly find most relevant studies. Also notice that the links of ADS to the journals in which the papers are published may need you to use your student number + password for the University library, or you have registered with the University Library, when working from outside the university (e.g. from home). Otherwise you will not be able to use the university subscription to these journals.
Interesting Literature
During the course several papers relating to the lecture content will be handed out. Here you may download them.
Hamilton A.J.S., 2001Formulae for growth factors in expanding universes containing matter and a cosmological constant
MNRAS 322, 419
Soneira R.A., Peebles P.J.E., 1978A computer model Universe: simulation of the nature of the galaxy distribution in the Lick catalog
Astron. J. 83, 845
Lecture Schedule:
(provisional, changes possible)
| Week | Dates Hoorcollege | Subject Hoorcollege | Dates Werkcollege | Subject Werkcollege |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb. 12 (c) Feb. 15 (c) | The Cosmic Web, an Inventory: from Galaxies, Groups, Clusters, Superclusters to the CMB General Relativity, Basic Cosmology: Cosmological Principle, Robertson-Walker metric, Redshift, Cosmic Distances Friedman Equations Cosmic Components: Radiation, Matter - Baryonic & Dark - and Dark Energy Cosmic Epochs | Feb. 15 (w) | no werkcollege |
| 2 | Feb. 20 (c) Feb. 21 (c) | Basic Cosmology: Cosmological Principle, Robertson-Walker metric, Redshift, Cosmic Distances Friedman Equations Cosmic Components: Radiation, Matter - Baryonic & Dark - and Dark Energy Cosmic Epochs | Feb. 19 (w) Feb. 22 (w) | Robertson-Walker metric FRW universe solutions Observational Cosmology: Number counts & Luminosity distance |
| 3 | Feb. 26 (c) Feb. 27 (c) | Gravitational Instability: (Linear) Perturbation Theory, Structure Growth Cosmic Flows Random Density & Velocity Fields Multidimensional Gaussian distributions Filtering Power Spectrum | Mar. 1 (w) | Linear Perturbation Equations: Physical & Comoving Coordinates |
| 4 | Mar. 5 (c) Mar 6 (c) | (Spatial) Statistical Analysis of the LSS: Correlation functions Counts in Cells Power spectrum Minkowski functionals Higher-order statistics Galaxy sky surveys, Galaxy redshift Surveys Clusters of Galaxies | Mar. 8 (w) | Point Processes (computer task) |
| 5 | Mar. 12 (c) Mar. 13 (c) | Origin Primordial Perturbations: Inflation Superhorizon and subhorizon perturbations Perturbation Evolution Radiation & Matter Perturbations Baryonic Oscillations Matter Scales Jeans Mass, Silk damping Power Spectra: Cold Dark Matter, Hot Dark Matter non-Gaussian perturbations | Mar. 15(w) | Two-point correlation function (computer task) |
| 6 | Mar. 19 (c) Mar. 20 (c) | Nonlinear Clustering & Structure Formation Hierarchical Clustering, Anisotropic Collapse and the Formation of Voids Spherical Model, Ellipsoidal Model Zel'dovich formalism Hierarchical clustering: Press-Schechter and Excursion set formalism Peak-patch formalism Halo Model | Mar. 22 (w) | Gaussian Random Fields (computer task) |
| 7 | Mar. 26 (c) Mar. 27 (c) | Cosmic Microwave Background CMB anisotropies, theory CMB anisotropies, analysis | Mar. 29 (w) | Power Spectrum & Spherical Model |
| 8 | Apr. 2 (c) Apr. 3 (c) | Intergalactic Medium: Lya forest & WHIM Gravitational Lensing, Cosmic Shear Dark Ages, First Stars & Reionization | Apr. 5 (w) | Press-Schechter Formalism & Halo Mass Functions |