Study Guide for Quiz 4:
----------------------

Quiz 4 covers all of the material in lectures from February 25 - March 7
(Unit 5 on Cosmology).

Special Relativity:
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   First Postulate (uniformly moving observers)
   Second Postulate (speed of light)
   Newton's conception of absolute space & absolute time
   Einstein's conception of space & time as relative
   How time appears to different observers (the photon clock experiment)
   
General Relativity:
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   Shortest paths in spacetime
   Explanation of gravity as curved spacetime
      Matter tells spacetime how to curve, 
      Curved spacetime tells matter how to move.
   Experimental verification of GR:
      Perihelion shift of Mercury
      Bending of Starlight near the Sun 

Einstein's Cosmology:
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   Cosmological Principle:
      Universe is Homogeneous and Isotropic on Large Scales
   Cosmological Constant
   Evidence of large-scale homogeneity & isotropy

Observational Cosmology:
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   Hubble's Law
   Hubble Parameter, H0
      How it is measured
      Uncertainties in measuring H0
      Current rate of expansion of the Universe
   Redshift distances
   Redshift maps

The Cosmic Distance Scale:
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   Idea of Bootstrap methods for building up to cosmic distances
   Standard candles
   Cepheid P-L relationship - how calibrated
   Galaxy Standard Candles
   Galaxy Luminosities
   Redshift Distances
  
Big Bang Theory:
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   Basic features of the theory
   Expansion of the Universe (Hubble's Law)
   Densith Parameter (Omega0)
      Critical Density
      Omega0 determines the geometry of the Universe
   Age of the Universe (Hubble Time)
   
   Primordial (Big Bang) Nucleosynthesis
      Production of Deuterium, Helium, and light metals
      Predictions for observed abundances
     
   Cosmic Background Radiation
      Blackbody Spectrum & Temperature
      Observed properties 
      Conditions at the Epoch of Recombination

   Earliest phases of the Universe
      Connection to particle physics
      Inflation Epoch - explains flatness & smoothness of the present Universe
      Predictions for observed properties in the present Universe

   Fate of the Universe
      The role of the density parameter in determining the expansion histor
         of the Universe.
      How we measure the matter density
         starlight
         dark matter
      Evidence for an accelerating Universe (non-zero Cosmological Constant)
         Type Ia supernova results
      Future Evolution of an Open, Accelerating Universe