Report+of+Spring+2010+Committee


 * Summary of Recommendations**

**Graduate Curriculum Committee** **Spring 2010** Matt Malkan, Chair Steven Furlanetto James Larkin Mark Morris Alice Shapley

The Graduate Curriculum Committee met in the Spring of 2010 to reconsider and update the required curriculum for Astronomy graduate students. The Committee was specifically charged with addressing the following issues: The particular issues of immediate concern were: (1) is the two-quarter Electricity & Magnetism course necessary?; (2) how can we best incorporate new fields such as exoplanets into the curriculum?; and (3) how can we smooth out the student workload?
 * • Which, if any, of the current core courses are no longer necessary for students?
 * • Which, if any, areas are missing from the core but should be required?
 * • Which, if any, areas are missing from the current course offerings but should be offered regularly?
 * • How can we balance the students’ workload more effectively?
 * • In the longer term, how can the curriculum be designed flexibly, so as to allow interdisciplinary approaches, new course technology, etc.?

To answer these questions, **the Committee believes that the “core” curriculum must provide the following benefits to students:**
 * • //Provide the physics tools and techniques necessary to study astronomical objects//, such as dynamics, radiative transfer, and quantum mechanics
 * • //Provide a broad base of knowledge in the fundamental areas of astronomy//, such as stars, galaxies, and the interstellar medium
 * • //Provide practice in the tools, techniques, and methods of astrophysical research//, so that students may develop the necessary problem-solving skills to be independent researchers.
 * • //Prepare students to begin a research project in any area of astrophysics represented at UCLA//, so that they may (through their thesis) produce original work of the highest quality.

**The Committee therefore recommends the following:**


 * 1) **1. The establishment of a “two-tier” curriculum of nine required core courses supplemented by a “menu” of electives from which students must choose two**. At least four electives must be taught in each two-year span.
 * 2) a. The nine required courses are: Astrophysical Dynamics; Quantum Mechanics; Radiation I; Radiation II; Stellar Astronomy; Cosmology; Galaxies; The Interstellar Medium (which should include introductory fluid mechanics); Instrumentation and Observational Techniques. Of these, Radiation I should be taught every year for new students in the Fall quarter. All other courses should be offered in alternate years. A recommended syllabus for all of the new courses is included below; Note #1 also contains a comparison to the existing curriculum.
 * 3) b. The menu of electives must include, during any two-year span, all of the following course offerings: Exoplanets; High-Energy Astrophysics; Numerical and Statistical Methods; Order of Magnitude Astrophysics.
 * 4) c. This revised plan places the same teaching burden on astrophysics faculty (averaged over any two year span) as the current system (when the average load of special seminars over the past few years is included), although a larger number of individual courses are offered.
 * 5) 2. This curriculum should be scheduled in such a way that **students take no more than two (and at least one) required courses at a time during their first two years**, and no more than three including electives. Such a schedule is included below.
 * 6) 3. The faculty should immediately **consider expanding the menu of allowed electives** to include appropriate Physics courses (for example, General Relativity and Particle Astrophysics) and Earth and Space Sciences courses. This will allow students maximum flexibility in designing a sequence that best prepares them for their research without unduly burdening them with too much coursework.
 * 7) 4. The faculty should also **consider allowing alternate core tracks for students whose intended research bridges two or more disciplines**. To facilitate this, the background physics has been (to a large extent) collected into three courses: Astrophysical Dynamics, Radiation I, and Quantum Mechanics. The other “topical” courses could in principle be swapped out for comparable courses in other departments, so long as the faculty determines that the set of such courses fulfils the other goals of the core: that is, they provide (1) a sufficiently broad base of knowledge, (2) sufficient practice in the tools, techniques, and methods of astronomical research, and (3) a foundation to initiate a research project in a large portion of astronomy, broadly interpreted. When such a need is identified, a committee of interested and knowledgeable faculty should be formed in order to develop and oversee the alternate curriculum. (See Note #2 for more commentary on this issue.)
 * 8) 5. T**he second-year research project should remain unchanged.**

**Note #1:** The principal changes from the current core sequence are: (1) remove the required two-quarter Electricity & Magnetism sequence and move the relevant material to the Radiation I and II sequence; (2) expand Astrophysical Dynamics to a full-quarter course, while adding some astrophysical context about the solar system, the Milky Way, and other stellar systems; (3) add a required Interstellar Medium course; (4) embed the necessary fluid mechanics with The Interstellar Medium; and (5) consolidate Stellar Atmospheres and Stellar Interiors into a single course (with some of the Atmospheres course content serving as examples in the Radiation sequence). In addition, the revised curriculum creates three new elective courses: Exoplanets, High-Energy Astrophysics, and Numerical and Statistical Methods. The net result is a relatively modest change to the existing curriculum, with most courses having clear correspondences: Fluids and Dynamics Astrophysical Dynamics Radiation Radiation I Electricity & Magnetism (2) Radiation I and II  Stellar Atmospheres Stellar Astronomy Stellar Interiors Stellar Astronomy Cosmology Cosmology Galaxies Galaxies Quantum Mechanics Quantum Mechanics Instrumentation Instrumentation OOMA OOMA and several mostly new electives: The Interstellar Medium (previously taught as 278 seminar) Numerical and Statistical Methods (new) Exoplanets (previously taught within M285) High-Energy Astrophysics (previously taught as 278 seminar) Two other changes are worth noting: the revised core teaches dynamics and quantum mechanics only every other year. This is not ideal but was recommended because: (1) it maintains the same total teaching commitment for the faculty, (2) these courses are typically not //essential// for the remaining core courses, although they may be helpful (in cases where they are essential – such as Dynamics for Galaxies and Quantum Mechanics for ISM – the schedule places them sequentially in the same year), and (3) our peer institutions typically treat these courses in a similar fashion (and, in the case of Quantum Mechanics, often simply have no similar course).

**Note #2:** The Committee carefully considered the costs and benefits of reducing the Astronomy core further in order to allow students even more flexibility. For example, one could restrict the “essential” courses to the physics background (Astrophysical Dynamics, Quantum Mechanics, and Radiation I) while allowing students to chose from a much broader group of electives, including the remainder of the proposed core. The arguments in favor are: (1) such an option provides maximum flexibility for students interested in increasingly diverse areas of astronomy (some of which bridge disciplines, such as exoplanets and astroparticle physics), (2) it (may) allow students to more rapidly focus on their research interests and so move through the program faster, and (3) it has already been (to some extent) demonstrated in practice with the success of Physics students who pursue PhD’s in the astronomy group. However, we found the arguments against such an approach to be more persuasive. These are: **Proposed Schedule of Required Courses**
 * • Most importantly, we believe a fundamental mission of the core is to educate our students in a broad foundation of astronomy, from stars to the Milky Way to extragalactic astronomy. We believe that students with an “Astronomy” degree should have a firm background in all of these fields; students only interested in planetary science or particle physics are best served by joining our partner departments.
 * • We believe that the proposed path serves the vast majority of students very well, so we think it best to define it as the standard and allow alternate approaches to develop organically.
 * • While these “topical” courses may not contain “new” physics, they demonstrate vitally important applications of physics and so teach our students the tools and techniques of astrophysical problem-solving. For example, the thermal history of the Universe and thermodynamics; black hole accretion for fluid mechanics and radiation; HII regions for much of atomic physics and radiative transfer; stellar structure for nuclear physics and heat transfer. These “synthesizing” applications give the students important practice in building the complex interpretive models necessary for their own research, and they apply most of the essential undergraduate physics we require.
 * • Given our teaching power, we are simply not able to offer “many paths” to a PhD: our limits are stretched by the current curriculum, so it is not realistic to teach more specialized courses outside of an occasional Special Topics seminar. The only way to achieve this goal is by partnering with another department (or with our Physics colleagues), which by definition places these efforts in an interdisciplinary context. It is therefore not clear how best to address them, and each one may be approached differently – through a dedicated interdisciplinary program or a less formal collaboration between groups.
 * • Related to this is the student population: with only 3-5 incoming students per year, class sizes will be extremely small if most courses become optional. Given the collaborative nature of learning in problem set-based courses, we believe the students are better served by having more colleagues in each class.
 * • We also recognize that the proposed core curriculum will, of necessity, leave many students somewhat short of the background they need to begin research immediately. For example, students pursuing theoretical cosmology require extensive exploration of more advanced cosmology (especially structure formation), some observational students require extensive background in adaptive optics, and some astroparticle physicists and cosmologists are best served by taking extra courses. There is, unfortunately, no way to completely remedy this situation without dramatically expanding the course offerings. Students pursuing interdisciplinary fields are therefore not as exceptional as one might think.
 * • Although Physics students have had very successful theses here and elsewhere, these students still pursue a rigorous core sequence (albeit in physics). They are generally more specialized in their astronomical field than their peers, and they must find the self-motivation to explore other areas of astronomy if they later wish to work in such a department. Nevertheless, simply because they have chosen to study //Physics//, their degree reflects this, and institutions that hire them as postdocs or faculty will //expect// a different level of preparation from them.
 * • The revised curriculum puts us entirely in the mainstream with our peer institutions. Although a broad range of approaches are represented nationally, only roughly 1/4 of comparable schools have cores that include only the basic physics courses. Many of those are much larger institutions with significantly more teaching power and so more electives. Of those institutions that do require cores similar in size to ours, over 80% require courses in Stellar Astronomy, Galaxies, Cosmology, and the ISM. About 50% require Quantum Mechanics, and about 30% require Instrumentation. Radiation and Dynamics are also very common, although often the latter is folded into a course on Galaxies.
 * • The committee recognizes that there is considerable interest among a significant fraction of incoming students in the topic of exoplanets, and although we saw no strong motivation for including a course on this specialized topic in the core, we recognize that this is an area where a separate committee with the appropriate expertise should later be convened, perhaps in collaboration with faculty in ESS, to explore the creation of an alternative track for study in this interdisciplinary area.

//For students entering UCLA in odd years://

Fall, 1st year: Radiation I Quantum Mechanics

Winter, 1st year: Radiation II Instrumentation

Spring, 1st year: The Interstellar Medium Numerical Methods

Fall, 2nd year: Astrophysical Dynamics (space for elective)

Winter, 2nd year: Cosmology Stellar Astrophysics

Spring, 2nd year: Galaxies (space for elective)

//For students entering UCLA in even years://

Fall, 1st year: Radiation I Astrophysical Dynamics

Winter, 1st year: Cosmology Stellar Astrophysics

Spring, 1st year: Galaxies (space for elective)

Fall, 2nd year: Quantum Mechanics (space for elective)

Winter, 2nd year: Radiation II Instrumentation

Spring, 2nd year: The Interstellar Medium Numerical Methods

**Stellar Astronomy**

>>  **Radiation I**
 * λ Observables: CM diagram, luminosity-mass reln, stellar sizes & temperatures
 * λ Equations of Stellar Structure
 * o Timescales: KH, free-fall, nuclear
 * o Equations of state
 * o Radiative transfer, opacities
 * o Convection
 * o Degenerate matter and conduction
 * λ Nuclear energy sources, nucleosynthesis
 * o H burning: p-p, CNO processes
 * o Triple-alpha
 * o s & r processes
 * o Later burning stages in massive stars
 * λ Construction of stellar models: Polytropes, numerical methods, connection to observables
 * λ Star formation, protostars & pre-main sequence stars
 * λ Binary stars, star clusters, associations, moving groups
 * λ Low-mass main sequence stars; the Sun as archetype
 * o Giant branch, Helium flash, horizontal branch, SC limit
 * o AGB stars, helium shell flashes, thermal pulses, dredge-up events
 * o Winds and mass loss, superwinds
 * o Planetary and preplanetary nebulae
 * o Chandrasekhar limit
 * λ Massive star evolution
 * o Radiation pressure, stability and the stellar mass limit
 * o Winds, emission-line stars, P Cygni profiles, X-rays, LBVs, WR stars
 * o Photodestruction, pair production
 * o Core-collapse supernovae: role of neutrinos, formation of compact objects
 * λ Compact objects: white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes
 * λ Brown dwarfs and their evolution – L, T, & Y types, spectroscopic characteristics
 * λ Other topics selectable by the instructor as time permits
 * o Solar neutrinos
 * o Stellar multiplicity
 * o Binary evolution, tidal interactions, accretion disks, binary classes
 * o Variable stars & their physics: Cepheids, RR Lyrae, LPVs, etc.
 * o Type Ia supernovae
 * o Stellar rotation
 * o Magnetic fields in stars and stellar remnants; magnetic braking, coronae
 * o Abundance determinations
 * o Asteroseismology


 * 1) 1. Fundamentals of the radiation field: Maxwell’s Equations, vector and scalar potentials, Lorenz Gauge, the electromagnetic stress-energy tensor, covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism.
 * 2) 2. Units
 * 3) 3. fundamentals of radiative transfer
 * 4) 4. continuum processes – radiation from accelerated charges, retarded potentials, radiation reaction, bremsstrahlung emission
 * 5) 5. continuum processes – the Lorentz force, cyclotron and synchrotron radiation
 * 6) 6. continuum processes – Thomson scattering, Compton & inverse Compton scattering (SZ effect as an application)
 * 7) 7. line radiation -- atomic and molecular structure, matrix elements and Einstein coefficients, electric dipole radiation, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole radiation, selection rules, transition probabilities, thermal equilibrium (Boltzmann equation), statistical equilibrium (applications to HI, CO)
 * 8) 8. ionization equilibrium and the Saha equation

**Radiation II**

**The Interstellar Medium**
 * 1) 1. radiative scattering and diffusion, lines and continuum; the Eddington approximation, Rosseland approximation, two-stream approximation
 * 2) 2. radiative transfer in extended media - atmospheres & clouds: equivalent widths, curve of growth, abundance determinations, photon trapping, escape probability formalism, Sobolev approximation & large-velocity gradient models, non-local effects.
 * 3) 3. photodissociation cross-sections, radiative recombination & recombination lines, resonant photoexcitation, H2 photodissociation & fluorescence.
 * 4) 4. dust emission, scattering, absorption and emission efficiencies [Mie theory], Kramers-Kronig relations, extinction curves, solid-state bands, PAH bands, spectra of circumstellar envelopes and disks.
 * 5) 5. polarized light, Stokes parameters
 * 6) 6. focused topics, optional to instructor as time permits: radiation from disks: active and passive, pulsar emission processes,, X-ray fluorescence, masers, photon bubbles, Poynting-Robertson and Yarkovsky effects.


 * • Overview: what are the basic components, observational overview. the major ISM surveys. gas structures. HI distribution. GMCs, clumps, cores. HII regions of different kinds and Reynolds layer. ISM components


 * • HII regions basics: photoionization balance. Stromgren spheres w and w/o dust, mass of ionized gas vs. density. Ionization fronts. heating/cooling/temperature, recombination lines (Case B theory, fundamental recomb line ratios, how they are calculated and where to find them), fine structure lines and n,T diagnostic line ratios, calculation of emitted spectra. planetary nebulae. abundances. How to get Nlyc from H lines, bremsstrahlung. close association of mid-IR and radio continuum in HII regions.


 * • atomic H basics: 21 cm line, spin temperature and excitation, how to obtain column densities. Lilly’s law. the two components of HI (Radakrishnan result)


 * • molecular gas basics. H2, energy levels, lines, where seen and excitation. (this presumes a basic understanding of molecular vibration-rotation spectra). tracer lines, critical density. LVG models. basics of cosmic chemistry and fractionation. CO conversion factor and evidence behind it. how to get column densities from an optically thin line, partition functions.


 * • PDRs, XDRs basics (molecular counterpart to HII regions). structure and chemistry. PAHs. H2 lines.


 * • dust: dust is probably covered elsewhere, but links to gas, gas temperature.


 * • SNR. spectra. standard theory of SNR evolution (including shocks & blast waves).


 * • magnetic fields. the observed B field properties, basic B field strengths. how to measure B fields. rotation measure, dispersion measure, minimum energy field.


 * • two phase model.

**Astrophysical Dynamics**
 * • star formation: there are aspects of this probably covered elsewhere, but here cores, association with IR sources, efficiencies, starless cores, internal support of cores. chemical structures of PPDs, chemistry and star formation.


 * • Stellar orbits and galactic potentials
 * o Worked examples: the Milky Way, galaxies
 * • The three-body problem; tides, resonances
 * o Worked example: the solar system
 * • Basic equations of stellar dynamics and the Boltzmann equation; collisionless self-gravitating systems
 * o Worked examples: globular clusters, galaxies
 * • Application to relaxation processes, including virialization, core collapse, and spiral structure
 * o Worked examples: globular clusters, galaxies

**Cosmology**


 * • Contents of the universe: dark matter and dark energy
 * • Geometry of the universe; cosmological distances
 * • Thermal history of the universe
 * • Interaction of matter and the cosmic microwave background radiation
 * • Big Bang nucleosynthesis
 * • Observational cosmology: Type Ia supernovae, gravitational lensing
 * • Problems with classical cosmology; the inflation solution

**Galaxies**


 * • Cosmological structure formation; the matter power spectrum; redshift surveys
 * • The intergalactic medium; the Lyman-alpha forest
 * • Galaxy formation: virialization, spherical collapse
 * • Observations of galaxy evolution from the first galaxies to today
 * • Galaxy clusters, collisions, and mergers
 * • Quasars and active galactic nuclei

**Instrumentation and Observational Techniques**

**Quantum Mechanics for Astrophysics**
 *  • Introduction to modern astronomical techniques
 *  • atmospheric transmission and turbulence
 *  • principles of adaptive optics
 *  • introduction to telescopes-fundamentals; designing very large telescopes
 *  • review of modern observational techniques and discoveries across the spectrum
 *  • principles of photometers/radiometers, cameras and spectrometers
 *  • principles of polarimeters and interferometers
 *  • detectors and detector classification
 *  • introduction to instrumentation design
 *  o optics and aberrations, mechanical, cryogenic and vacuum methods, electronics and software
 *  • the charge-coupled device
 *  • characterization and calibration of array detectors
 *  • signal-to-noise ratios
 *  • image processing and image restoration
 *  o astronomical software (IRAF and IDL)
 *  o data bases
 * <span style="font: 12.0px Cambria; disc list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"> • infrared detectors and observational techniques
 * <span style="font: 12.0px Cambria; disc list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"> • UV, X-ray and gamma ray detection methods, telescopes and techniques
 * <span style="font: 12.0px Cambria; disc list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"> • sub-mm and radio techniques; TES, MKID and SIS devices
 * <span style="font: 12.0px Cambria; disc list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"> • future developments

1) Review of Lagrange and Hamilton formalism (Poisson brackets, Action, Hamilton-Jacobi Eq.) 2) Motivations and review of QM formalism (Commutators, Operators, Schrödinger Eq.) 3) 1D systems, WKB method, Barrier Penetration, Thermonuclear energy release in stars, Nuclear reactions networks, Role of neutrinos, Radioactive decays 4) 3D systems, Angular momentum, Spin and its coupling with EM field (brief explanation of Dirac Eqn), Zeeman effect, Magnetic fields in Astrophysics 5) Identical Particles, Degenerate Matter, WD, NS 6) Hydrogen Atom, Perturbation theory, Complex atoms and structure of their spectra, Classification of stars 7) Variational principle, Examples of He and H2. 8) Semi‐classical radiation theory, Molecular Structure, Rotation and Vibration Spectra, Line Broadening, Line profiles 9) Presentations on specific QM topics in astrophysics. Topics are selected and presented by the students with input from instructor. **Numerical and Statistical Methods**


 * • //Mathematical Methods//
 * o Fourier transforms and convolution
 * o Filtering
 * o Power spectra, correlation, cross-correlation
 * o Nyquist sampling theorem


 * • //Numerical Methods//
 * o Basic numerical algorithms, such as root-finding (Newton-Raphson), interpolation (polynomial and spline), integration (Runge-Kutta), ordinary differential equations (adaptive stepping), linear systems and matrix inversion, boundary value problems
 * o Fast Fourier Transform
 * o Monte Carlo techniques
 * o Eigensystems and principal component analysis
 * o N-body codes; particle v. grid-based


 * • //Statistical Methods//
 * o Probability distributions and the central limit theorem
 * o Significance testing (chi-squared, f/t-tests, Kolmogorov-Smirnov)
 * o Maximum likelihood
 * o Bayesian inference and maximum entropy
 * o Least-squares fitting
 * o Bootstrap and jackknife error estimation