AST1420

Materials related to AST1420 at the University of Toronto --- Galactic Structure and Dynamics

Table of Contents

• Logistics
• Assignments
• Lecture notes
• Additional reading
• Lectures, Q&As, and slides

Logistics

• Meeting time / room:

  • Lectures: Asynchronous, videos posted Tue morning at MS Stream (see Lectures and slides)
  • Weekly Q&A: Thu 12:10 – 1:30 pm on Zoom

• Instructor: Jo Bovy

• Email: jo - dot - bovy - at - utoronto - dot - ca

• Syllabus: Full details can be found in the syllabus

• Slack channel: #ast1420-fall2020 on the Astro@UofT slack.

Assignments

• Assignment 1: Available here, due Oct 15 at the start of class

• Assignment 2: Available here, due Nov. 5 at the start of class

• Assignment 3: Available here, due Nov. 19 at the start of class

Lecture notes

• Table of Contents

• Preface

• Week 1: Introduction and Appendix A: Coordinate systems

• Week 2: Gravitation, Elements of classical mechanics, and Orbits in spherical mass distributions

• Week 3: Equilibria of collisionless stellar systems and Masses of spherical stellar systems

• Week 4: Gravitation in galactic disks, Orbits in disks, and The kinematics and dynamics of galactic rotation

• Week 5: Equilibria of galactic disks, Gravitation in elliptical galaxies and dark matter halos, Surfaces of section, and Orbits in static triaxial mass distributions

• Week 6: Numerical methods

• Week 7: Formation of dark matter halos; also read Sec. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5. in MvdBW10 (see below)

• Week 8: See additional reading below.

• Week 9: Equilibria of elliptical galaxies and dark matter halos and see additional reading below.

• Week 11: See additional reading below.

Additional reading

• Week 1: BM98 Chapter 1 for general background, BM98 Chapter 2 for review of astronomical measurements.

• Week 2: BT08 Sec 2.1 and 2.2 (mostly covered in notes). BT08 Appendix D (classical mechanics). BT08 Sec. 3.1.

• Week 3: BT08 Sec 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.8 (almost entirely covered in notes). Wolf et al. (2010), van Dokkum et al. (2016), Walker & Penarrubia (2011).

• Week 4: BT08 Sec. 2.3 (mostly covered in notes), 2.6 (alternative approach to that in the notes), 3.2 (mostly covered in notes). BM98 Sec. 8.2, Sec. 9.1, 9.2.

• Week 5: BT08 Sec. 2.4, 2.5, 3.2.2, 3.3, 3.7.3, 3.8. BT08 Sec. 4.4, 4.5, 4.8 (pp. 353--356), 4.9.3.

• Week 6: BT08 Sec. 2.9, 3.4; Dehnen & Read (2011).

• Week 7: MvdBW10 Sec. 5.1, 5.2, 5.5; Sec. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5.

• Week 8: BM98 Sec. 5.2, 5.3, 5.4; for extra reading on chemical evolution: Andrews et al. (2017); Conroy (2013).

• Week 9: BT08 Sec. 3.3.2, 3.3.3; BT08 6.1, 6.2, 6.5; Sellwood & Binney (2002).

• Week 11: BT08 8.1, 8.3, 8.5.

Here, the books referenced are

• BT08: Binney & Tremaine, Galactic Dynamics, 2nd Edition, 2008, Princeton University Press. See this link for errata.

• BM98: Binney & Merrifield, Galactic Astronomy, 1998, Princeton University Press. See this link for errata.

• MvdBW10: Mo, van den Bosch, & White, 2010, Cambridge University Press. See this link for errata.

Lectures, Q&As, and slides

Prerecorded lectures and the recorded Q&As are available on MS Stream and require you to log in with your UofT credentials.

• Week 1:

  • Lecture 1: Introduction (slides)
  • Lecture 2: Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 1: Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (recorded; slides)

• Week 2:

  • Lecture 3: Overview of a typical galaxy (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 4: Timescales (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 5: Introduction to gravitation (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 6: Gravitation in spherical systems (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 7: Elements of classical mechanics (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 8: Orbits in spherical potentials (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 2: Intro to galaxies and spherical mass distributions (recorded; slides)

• Week 3:

  • Lecture 9: Introduction to dynamical equilibria (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 10: Equilibria of spherical galaxies (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 11: The masses and mass distributions of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 3: Intro to dynamical equilibria (recorded; slides)

• Week 4:

  • Lecture 12: Gravitation in disks (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 13: Orbits in disks (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 14: Galactic rotation (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 4: Galactic disks (recorded; slides; activity)

• Week 5:

  • Lecture 15: Dynamics of stars in disk galaxies (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 16: The vertical equilibrium of galactic disks (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 17: Gravitation in spheroidal and ellipsoidal systems (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 18: Surfaces of section and orbits in static, non-axisymmetric potentials (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 5: More on galactic disks and elliptical galaxies (recorded; slides; activity)

• Week 6:

  • Lecture 19: N-body simulations: gravity solvers (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 20: N-body simulations: numerical orbit integration and N-body simulations (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 6: Numerical methods (recorded; slides)

• Week 7:

  • Lecture 21: Evolution of small overdensities in the Universe (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 22: Formation of dark matter halos (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 7: Formation of dark matter halos (recorded; slides)

• Week 8:

  • Lecture 22: Chemical evolution (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 23: Chemical evolution of abundance ratios (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 24: Stellar population synthesis modeling (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 8: Galactic chemical evolution (recorded; slides; activity)

• Week 9:

  • Lecture 25: Are elliptical galaxies flattened by rotation? (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 26: Schwarzschild modeling (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 27: The stability of disks (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 9: Shape of elliptical galaxies etc. (recorded; slides)

• Week 11:

  • Lecture 28: Bars in galaxies (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 29: Spiral structure in disk galaxies (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 30: Mergers and dynamical friction (prerecorded)
  • Lecture 31: Tides (prerecorded)
  • Q&A 10: Bars, spiral structure etc. (recorded; slides)

• Week 12:

  • Lecture 32: Review (recorded; slides)