Modern General Relativity: Black Holes, Gravitational
Waves, and Cosmology (Astronomy 421)
Mike Guidry
guidry@utk.edu (Office: 308 South College)
Spring, 2023
http://eagle.phys.utk.edu/guidry/astro421/
Class Meeting Times
12:55-2:10 pm, TR
304 Nielsen Physics Building
Grade
Homework 30% (graded for completeness, not correctness, but solutions will be provided). 100% for homework turned in on time and complete. Minus 25% per day for late or incomplete. Here is the homework assignment schedule. Here are solution sheets for previous homework. (If you are late with your homework, do not consult the solutions before turning in your work.)
Midterm Test 35%
Final Test 35%
Optional Extra Credit
Up to 5 points added to final average for a presentation relevant
to the subject matter of the class in a recognized seminar at UT or
ORNL. Topic can be journal-club or research in nature. You must
notify me of your intentions beforehand, so that I can approve the
topic and schedule to attend.
Textbook
Modern General Relativity: Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmology, Mike Guidry, Cambridge University Press (2019)
We will handle all assignments (problems and tests) electronically. Since a large number of assignments must be processed, you are asked to adhere to this set of rules concerning turning in your homework and test assignments.
Supplemental:
Potentially useful Maple worksheets and tutorials (binary files, so transfer to your machine and open with Maple). The tutorials were written by others, not by me. The standalone Maple worksheets are mostly mine. Some may be not completely debugged and tested, so they have worked as tested but they are offered as-is with no warranties. UT has site licenses for both Maple and MatLab (see https://webapps.utk.edu/oit/softwaredistribution/ ). Both are useful for problems of the sort encountered in this course and I encourage you to learn to use them if you haven't already.
Also available are some additional resources that may be useful.
Independent Study:
Students taking Astro 421 for independent study should consult this homepage.
Students with Disabilities
Any student who feels they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact Student Disability Services in Dunford Hall, at 865-974-6087, or by video relay at, 865-622-6566, to coordinate reasonable academic accommodations.