[4097] Physics 316: Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology
Latest News & Developments

Many of the topics covered in this course are by no means fully "worked out". Indeed most are the subject of intense study at the current time. Exciting new results & ideas are being presented all the time, requiring a "rewriting of the textbooks". Some of these are listed below, and will be discussed in class.

Note This is by no means a fully inclusive list, just a few highlights I happened to notice

Science Results Other News
2003 Mar
More WMAP results & images from Max Tegmark

2003 Feb
THE FIRST MAP RESULTS ARE RELEASED... and the answers are: Age=13.7 Gyr (+/-1%); Geometry Flat; Baryons 4%, Dark Matter 23%, Dark Energy 73%; H0 = 71 km/s/Mpc (+/-5%); Support for Inflation, Dark Energy more like cosmological constant than Quintessence CMB ripples made 3.8x105 yrs after BB, First Stars made 200x106 yrs after BB (!)

2002 Dec
New preprint from the BOOMMERanG team reporting continued support for inflation (flat universe 13.5 Gyr old; 5% baryonic matter, 30% cold dark matter, & 65% dark energy; scale invariant initial density perturbations).

2002 Sep
DASI reports the detection of polarization in the CMB consistent with predictions of the current paradigm [Press Release]

End of Course
[Undoubtedly there will continue to be numerous & frequent advances since the end of the course. However only the most "dramatic", significant will be noted here]

2002 Apr
HST observations detects white dwarfs with ages 12-13 Gyr in the Milky Way Globular cluster M4, placing the age of the universe at 13-14 Gyr [Press Release]

2002 Apr
Neutrino oscillations are confirmed at a higher level of confidence by the SNO Team

2002 Feb
Evidence for a non-zero Lambda (& low matter density) found by the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (see Efstathiou et al., 2002, MNRAS, 330, L29)

2002 Jan
Further limits on the nature of Dark Matter using CXO (Chandra X-ray Observatory) observations of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4636 (Loewenstein and Mushotzky at GSFC)

2002 Jan
Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) from 2MASS (Two Micron All-Sky Suvey) confirms burst of star-formation in the early universe.

2001 Dec
There is no difference between the clustering of visible & dark matter - there is no biasing (Verde et al 2002 MNRAS in press [astro-ph/0112161])

2001 Oct
SN 1a found at z=1.7 (SN 1997ff) - a "glimpse" at the epoch of deceleration (Riess et al, 2001, ApJ, 560, 49)

2001 Apr
DASI (Degree Angular Scale Interferometer) results presented showing evidence for second (& maybe third) hamonic peaks in the fluctuation power spectrum of the CMB. Baryon density 0.042+/-0.008 of critical density.

2001 Apr
BOOMMERanG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalctic Radiation and Geophysics) detects multiple peaks in the fluctuation power spectrum of the CMB.

2001 Apr
MAXIMA (Millimeter Anisotropy Experiment Imaging Array) detects multiple peaks in the fluctuation power spectrum of the CMB.

2000 Apr
BOOMMERanG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalctic Radiation and Geophysics) detects acoustic peak in the fluctuation power spectrum of the CMB.

2000 Apr
MAXIMA (Millimeter Anisotropy Experiment Imaging Array) detects acoustic peak in the fluctuation power spectrum of the CMB.

1998 Feb
Announcement that SNe 1a indicate the universe is accelerating at the current epoch. (Riess et al, 1998, AJ, 116, 1009)

2002 Jun 06 (8pm)
Lecture by Anthony Tyson on Dark Matter at Air & Space Museum

End of Course
[Only the most significant news will be noted here]

2002 May 01 (8pm)
Lecture by Vera Rubin on Dark Matter at Air & Space Museum

2002 May
Astronomy magazine contains a ("popular") article on the Ekpyrotic model

2002 Apr 11 (8pm)
Lecture by Robert Smith on 20th century cosmology at Air & Space Museum

2002 Apr
Sky & Telescope magazine contains a series of ("popular") articles on Inflation

2002 Mar 13 (8pm)
Lecture by Owen Gingerich on Copernican revolution at Air & Space Museum

2001 Oct
MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe) reaches its observing station near L2. Latest Mission Status

2001 Sep
Explore the Universe exhibition now on at the Air & Space Museum