ASTRO/PHYS 545: Cosmology
Physical foundations, and how to work with AI
Instructor Prof. Donghui Jeong · 518 Davey · djeong@psu.edu
Class hours Tue/Thu 10:35 – 11:50 am · Rm 541 Davey
Office hours Tue 3:00 – 4:00 pm · 518 Davey · or by appointment
Teaching assistant Tristan Weaver · tsw5383@psu.edu
TA office hours Thu 3:00 – 4:00 pm · Fri 10:00 – 11:00 am · TA office, 441 Davey
Three office hours cover the week. My Tuesday hour and Tristan’s Thursday hour sit a few hours after each class, while whatever broke at the board is still fresh, and his Friday morning falls before the final version is due. Tristan takes drop-ins during both of his.
What a class looks like
Class time is not spent on lectures. You read, you solve eight problems a week, and in each meeting four of you work four of them at the blackboard while the rest of the room enhances what goes up there. Names are drawn on the spot, so you prepare all four every time. Use AI freely while you prepare; the blackboard establishes whether the work is yours.
The parameters of cosmology are measured to a percent; the nature of most of what they describe is unknown. This course is about the latter, and about what it takes to work there alongside a machine that is fast, tireless, and sometimes confidently wrong.
The reasoning behind all of that, and how the term is graded, is in the syllabus. The slides from the first class cover the same ground faster.
The slides from week 1: the premise, and what a class looks like from the inside.
What the course is, how it runs, how it is graded, and what to read.
The fifteen weeks, and what you should be able to do with each.
Deadlines, submission format, and how solutions should be presented.
University policies, accommodations, and support resources.
Four names, one to each problem. Names live in the browser, not on this site.