Course overview
Phy 155 is a course on General Relativity for advanced undergraduate Physics and Astronomy students. I plan the course to be technically challenging, and assume students have a strong background in Special Relativity.
Class Meetings: TR 10:30-11:50 Rm 140, Physics Building
Instructor: Prof. Andreas Albrecht (ajalbrecht@ucdavis.edu)
TA: Arsalan Adil (aadil@ucdavis.edu)
Office Hours: Albrecht: Tuesdays 1:30-3:30*, Rm 285 Physics. Adil: Wed 12-1 Roessler 158 (he also plans on being at the h-bar... look for an annoucement on canvas). Discussions of currently assigned HW and exam problems are welcome during office hours.
* There will be an Albrecht office hour at the normal time and place (1:30-3:30 in Rm 285 Physics) on March 21
* Arsalan will hold a 2 hour office hour session on Wednesday March 22, 12n-2pm in Roessler 158. There is no h-bar on Friday March 24 and there will be no Phy 155 office hours that day.
*Special guest lectures (in person, at the usual time and place): Prof Knox: Feb 28, Prof Fassnacht: Mar 2
Additional Meeting Times: If you cannot make regular office hours, or would like a chance to discuss a matter individually, please contact Albrecht or Adil to arrange a meeting.
Required Text: Spacetime and Geometry (Carroll)
Topics: We will systematically work through chapters 2-4 of Carroll (chapter 1 is Special Relativity and should already be familiar to the students). Parts of Carroll can be quite formal, and I may try to deemphasize those somewhat. Based on where we stand at that point, I will select among applications such as black holes, gravity waves and cosmology to round out the course. This is my second time teaching the course, and will make adjustments to the course plan as we go along.
Communications: I plan to use messages and announcements in the Canvas system for electronic communications.