History of Universe

Fall 2010: ASTR 6000
Astrophysics Seminar: High-Redshift Galaxies
 

Instructors: Michael Shull and Michele Trenti

Class Meeting Times: Th (4:00 - 5:00 pm)
Duane E126 (Duane Physics & Astrophysics)

Course information (see list of topics below on this page)

Instructors: Contact Information

Goals of the Seminar:

To show graduate students how to critically read, evaluate, write, and referee scientific papers. Students will become familiar with frontiers of research, develop independent ideas for research, and gain experience in making effective public oral presentations at conferences, interviews, and other professional venues.

Astrophysics Seminar - High-Redshift Galaxies:

ASTR 6000 is the graduate astrophysics seminar, tied to one or more of the astrophysics courses each semester. After an introduction to the field by the instructors, students will read, present, and discuss scientific papers on the topic of "High-Redshift Galaxies". We will read current articles at the forefront of research. Related topics include reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM), formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes, evolution of quasars, sub-millimeter galaxies, radiation backgrounds, and cosmological simulations. We will end the term by discussing new telescopes and instruments for the coming decade (ALMA, JWST, GSMT, LSST).

Seminar Format:

This seminar will meet 15 times during the term, each Thursday from 4-5 pm, starting on August 26 and ending on Dec 9. After some preliminary lectures (reading review papers), the class will devote the next 12 sessions to reading and discussing scientific papers. We will assign teams of 2 students to lead the discussions of the "paper of the week". Each student will be responsible for leading the discussion of two papers (2 sessions) but all students are responsible for reading the weekly paper. Please come to prepared to describe the major results of the papers, and write down one or two questions about the results or claims in the article.

Seminar Topics & Discussion Leaders: