Spring 2019
Lecture: Tuesday
Location: RITA, room 363
Time: 4:30 – 5:20 PM
Instructor: Dr. George Chartas
Office: RITA, room 307
Office hours: T 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Phone: (843) 953-3609
Email: chartasg@cofc.edu
A
preliminary outline of the course can be found at the SCHEDULE website. Some of
this material is subject to change and this site will be constantly up-dated so
please check it before each class.
_____________________________________________________________
Syllabus
Recommended materials:
The recommended textbooks for the course are:
Gravity’s Fatal Attraction, Black Holes in the
Universe Second Edition by Mitchell Begelman and
Martin Rees.
Black
Holes and Time Warps, Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne
Course Objectives:
Students will be introduced to
several special topics related to black holes and their environments. They
will learn to analyze and interpret data collected from
recent observations of objects that harbor black holes, and
perform numerical and theoretical calculations to estimate the observed
properties of black holes.
Learning Outcomes:
Demonstrate
conceptual understanding (through quizzes, projects, and tests) of the
following topics:
Gravitational
Lensing by Black Holes
The
effects of general relativity on GPS satellites
Calculations
of the precession rate for a binary pulsar
Frame
Dragging with Gravity Probe B
Extreme
effects near a black hole
Black
hole entropy and Hawking radiation
Black
Hole Accretion Disks and an introduction to calculating accretion disk spectra
A
method of finding stellar-mass black holes
Microquasars - Stellar-mass black
holes with jets
Analyzing
spectra of black hole accretion disks to constrain their mass and spin.
SPECIFICS
CREDIT: This is a one-credit
course.
PREREQUISITES: This
course is designed for science majors. Prerequisite is PHYS.112 and corequisite is ASTRO.210.
PROJECT/PRESENTATION: Every
student will be expected to complete a research project on a special topic
related to material covered in the course. A report describing the results of
this project will be due near the end of the semester.
Students
are expected to present their research project to the class. The presentation
may be in PowerPoint, Keynote, overhead or blackboard. It should include a list
of references.
There
will be a date near the end of the semester allocated to these research
presentations.
Grades
Your
final grade will be calculated as follows:
Participation |
10% |
Paper
presentation |
10% |
Final
Project presentation |
20% |
Final
Project Report |
60% |
Your
number grade will be converted into a letter grade as follows.
>85% |
A |
80-84% |
A- |
76-80% |
B+ |
72-76% |
B |
68-72% |
B- |
64-68% |
C+ |
60-64% |
C |
56-60% |
C- |
52-56% |
D+ |
48-52% |
D |
44-48% |
D- |
<44% |
F |
Special
Needs
If you have any special needs or disabilities that
might require special arrangements to be made for any aspect of this course,
please let me know at the beginning of the semester or as soon as you become
aware of them.
1.
Any student eligible for and needing accommodations because
of a disability is requested to speak with the professor during the first two
weeks of class or as soon as the student has been approved for services so that
reasonable accommodations can be arranged.
2.
The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons
with documented disabilities. Students should apply for services at the
Center for Disability Services/SNAP located on the first floor of the Lightsey
Center, Suite 104. Students approved for accommodations are responsible
for notifying me as soon as possible and for contacting me one week before
accommodation is needed.
3.
This College abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you have a documented
disability that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which
you may require accommodations, please see an administrator at the Center of
Disability Services/SNAP, (843) 953-1431) or me so that such accommodation may
be arranged.
Class
Policies:
Cellular
technology: Please respect your classmates
and keep your cellular devices off.
Class
and Attendance Policies:
Cellular
technology: Please respect your
class-mates and keep your cellular devices off.
You are expected to attend all classes.
College
of Charleston Honor Code and Academic Integrity:
Lying,
cheating, attempted cheating, and plagiarism are violations of our Honor Code
that, when identified, are investigated.
Each incident will be examined to determine the degree of deception
involved.
Incidents
where the instructor determines the student-s actions are related more to a
misunderstanding will be handeled by the
instructor. A written intervention
designed to help prevent the student from repeating the error will be given to
the student. The intervention, submitted
by form and signed both by the instructor and the student, will be forwarded to
the Dean of Students and placed in the student-s file.
Cases
of suspected academic dishonesty will be reported directly by the instructor
and/or others having knowledge of the incident to the Dean of Students. A student found responsible by the Honor
Board for academic dishonesty will receive a XF in the course, indicating
failure of the course due to academic dishonesty. This grade will appear on the student-s
transcript for two years after which the student may petition for the X to be
expunged. The F is permanent. The student may also be placed on
disciplinary probation, suspended (temporary removal) or expelled (permanent
removal) from the College by the Honor Board.
Students
should be aware that unauthorized collaboration--working together without
permission-- is a form of cheating.
Unless the instructor specifies that students can work together on an
assignment, quiz and/or test, no collaboration during the completion of the
assignment is permitted. Other forms of
cheating include possessing or using an unauthorized study aid (which could
include accessing information via a cell phone or computer), copying from
others- exams, fabricating data, and giving unauthorized assistance.
Research
conducted and/or papers written for other classes cannot be used in whole or in
part for any assignment in this class without obtaining prior permission from
the instructor.
Students
can find the complete Honor Code and all related processes in the Student Handbook at http://studentaffairs.cofc.edu/honor-system/studenthandbook/index.php