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General Information about 8.286 for 2022:


2022 Lecture Notes

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2022 Lecture Slides:

Format Size: Slides
10.67 x 8 in
Letter (4up)
11 x 8.5 in
1 Wednesday
09/07/22
Welcome to 8.286 PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
1 Wednesday
09/07/22
Slides for Opening Lecture: Overview
Inflationary Cosmology: Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse, Part 1
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
2 Monday
09/12/22
Inflationary Cosmology: Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
3 Wednesday
09/14/22
The Doppler Effect and Special Relativity
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
4 Monday
09/19/22
Inflationary Cosmology: Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse, Part 3
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
4 Monday
09/19/22
The Kinematics of a Homogeneously Expanding Universe
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
5 Wednesday
09/21/22
The Dynamics of Newtonian Cosmology, Part 1
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
6 Monday
09/26/22
The Dynamics of Newtonian Cosmology, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
7 Wednesday
09/28/22
The Dynamics of Newtonian Cosmology, Part 3
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
8 Monday
10/03/22
The Dynamics of Newtonian Cosmology, Part 4; Introduction to Non-Euclidean Spaces, Part 1
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
10* Wednesday
10/12/22
Introduction to Non-Euclidean Spaces, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
11 Monday
10/17/22
Introduction to Non-Euclidean Spaces, Part 3
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
12 Wednesday
10/19/22
Introduction to Non-Euclidean Spaces, Part 4
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
13 Monday
10/24/22
Introduction to Non-Euclidean Spaces, Part 5
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
14 Wednesday
10/26/22
Black-Body Radiation and the Early History of the Universe
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
15 Monday
10/31/22
Black-Body Radiation and the Early History of the Universe, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
16 Wednesday
11/2/22
Black-Body Radiation and the Early History of the Universe, Part 3
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
17 Monday
11/7/22
Black-Body Radiation and the Early History of the Universe, Part 4
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
20** Wednesday
11/16/22
The Cosmological Constant
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
21 Monday
11/21/22
The Cosmological Constant, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
22 Wednesday
11/23/22
Problems of the Conventional (Non-Inflationary) Hot Big Bang Model
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
23 Monday
11/28/22
Grand Unified Theories and the Magnetic Monopole Problem
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
24 Wednesday
11/30/22
Grand Unified Theories and the Magnetic Monopole Problem, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
25 Monday
12/5/22
Grand Unified Theories and the Magnetic Monopole Problem, Part 3;
Cosmic Inflation!

PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
27*** Monday
12/12/22
Cosmic Inflation, Part 2
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)
28 Wednesday
12/14/22
Cosmic Inflation, Part 3
PDF (1 up) PDF (4 up)

The 4-up option is intended mainly for printing. It will almost certainly give smaller
margins, and therefore larger type, than any option in your printer software.

* There are no slides from Class 9, which was Quiz 1.

** There are no slides from Class 18 or 19, which were Quiz 2, and an all-blackboard discussion of Notes on Thermal Equilibrium.

*** There are no slides from Class 26, which was Quiz 3.

Compilation of all Lecture Slides (1-28, 2022)


2022 Problem Sets:

Problem Set #1: Due Friday, September 16, 2022 PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #2: Due Monday, September 26, 2022* PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #3: Due Saturday, October 1, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #4: Due Saturday, October 15, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #5: Due Saturday, October 22, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #6: Due Saturday, October 29, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #7: Due Saturday, November 5, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #8: Due Saturday, November 19, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem Set #9: Due Saturday, December 3, 2022** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Related Links:
  • Perlmutter et al. 1998 Supernova Ia Data: [ TEXT | CSV | EXCEL ]
    This data is taken from Tables 1 and 2 of http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9812133, later published as Perlmutter et al., Astrophysical Journal 517:565--586 (1999).
  • Riess et al. 2004 Supernova Ia Data. [ TEXT | CSV | EXCEL ]
    This data is taken from Table 5 of http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0402512, published as Riess et al., Astrophysical Journal 607:665-687 (2004).
    The graph shown as Figure 4 of the paper apparently includes all the supernova measured with the HST (Hubble Space Telescope), and all the supernova classified as "gold".
Problem Set #10: Due Wednesday, December 14, 2022*** PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Problem set due at 5:00 pm, by upload to Canvas.
* Problem set due at 11:00 pm, by upload to Canvas.
Please ignore previously anounced deadline of 5:00 pm.
** Problem set due at 12:00 noon, by upload to Canvas.
*** Problem set due at 11:00 am, by upload to Canvas.
  Like the 4-up option for slides, the 2-up option is intended mainly for printing.

For historians:

Compilation of all Problem Sets (1-10, 2022)

2022 Quizzes:

Review Problems for Quiz 1: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 1: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 1 Solutions: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Review Problems for Quiz 2:
Revised 11/3/22 9:30 pm to fix solution bookmarks.
PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 2: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 2 Solutions: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
Review Problems for Quiz 3:
Revised 12/3/22 11:30 pm to include solution to Problem 20.
PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 3: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)
   Quiz 3 Solutions: PDF (1 up) PDF (2 up)

Compilation of all quiz files — Quizzes, Solutions, and Review Problems (2022)


2022 Grade Histograms:

Quiz 1, with cuts PDF
Quiz 2, with cuts PDF
Quiz 3, with cuts PDF
Midterm Weighted Average, with Extra Credit, 11/22/22,
including Problem Sets 1-6 and Quizzes 1-2, with cuts
PDF
Problem Set Averages, with Extra Credit, with cuts PDF (1up)
Total Weighted Averages, without Extra Credit, with cuts PDF (1up)
Total Weighted Averages, with Extra Credit, with cuts PDF (1up)


8.286 Web Page Information from Previous Years


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Last modified: Sunday, August 20, 2023 1:58 pm