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\centerline{\bf Revised Syllabus after Hurricane Irma (Sept 20, 2017)}
\medskip
\centerline{\bf Special and General Relativity (PHZ 4601/5606 -- Fall 2017)}
\medskip
\centerline{\bf Prof. Bernd A. Berg}
\medskip
\centerline{ Phones: 850-273-0001, 850-644-6246, 
             ~~~e-mail: bberg at fsu dot edu }
\medskip
\centerline{ Office: 615 Keen }
\bigskip

Due to Hurricane Irma we lost 4 lectures (200 minutes), which we will 
make up by starting the remaining 30 classes 7 minutes earlier at 8:58~am
instead of 9:05~am.

To keep the original schedule mostly intact, I intend to eliminate
the second midterm, the review for it, and one of the final reviews.
This implies then minor, but important, adjustments of the grading 
scale, which require the agreement of all students in class and I 
will keep a paper record of the vote on this (if the second midterm 
cannot be canceled due to disagreement by one or more student(s), I 
will post another revision of the syllabus). 
\smallskip 

\begin{itemize}

\item{Class:} MWF 9:05--9:55 am at UPL 0110; 8:58--9:55 am after 
September 22. \smallskip

\item{Office hours:} Thursdays 10:30-11:45~am and 1:45-3:15~pm, 
and by appointment (send e-mail). 

\item{Grader:} David Clarke, e-mail clarke dot davida at gmail dot 
          com, Office hours Thursday 5--6 pm at 614 Keen, and
          by appointment (send e-mail). 

\item{Midterm (tentative):} Friday October 20.

\item{Test on Homework (tentative):} Monday November 20.

\item{\bf Final:} Thursday, December 14, 3 -- 5 pm at UPL 0110.

\end{itemize}
\medskip

\noindent {\bf Required Text:} Wolfgang Rindler, {\it Relativity, 
Special, General and Cosmological}, Second Edition, Oxford University
Press, New York, 2006. 
\medskip

\centerline{\bf Overview and Goal} \medskip

The course gives an introduction to the fundamentals of space, time and
matter. As a systematic, mathematically rigorous treatment is beyond 
the scope of an undergraduate course, we intend in essence to learn by 
explaining (often omitting proofs) sections from the textbook by Rindler. 
{\bf Bring the book to the lectures!} Under the title {\it Essential 
Relativity} the book started off as a one semester course for senior 
undergraduate students, but has since then been expanded to a two 
semester course. Therefore, we will have to omit about half of the 
material, though we will try to touch on most chapters. For an overview 
see the tentative schedule at the end of this syllabus as well as the 
preface and the table of contents of the textbook. Should we proceed 
slower than presently anticipated, the lectures on cosmology are at 
our disposal as they are beyond our core narrative.

After this course students should be able to explain the fundamental
ideas of special and general relativity and master to solve by 
themselves standard problems to which the methods apply.
\medskip

\noindent {\bf Homework and Classwork:} Weekly homework assignments 
will be posted on the web, which have to be turned in {\bf before} 
the beginning of the class indicated. After the class started problem 
can be still turned in at the end of the class, but 10\% is taken off. 
After that solutions will only be accepted if there is a valid excuse.
If you have to miss class communicate this by e-mail as early as possible.
Each problem counts ten points unless stated otherwise. 

Some problems will be solved in class. Therefore, you have to {\bf bring
paper, pencil(s) and a calculator to each class.} These (unannounced) 
Classwork assignments count towards the homework score. They are turned 
in at the end of the class and students missing such a class unexcused 
will get no credit. The decisive difference from the tests is that
you can talk to anyone during classwork, whereas during tests you
may only ask the instructor for clarifications. Classwork is to some 
extent teamwork, while tests reflect individual skills. At the price 
of 20\% off you can complete your classwork at home and turn it in at 
the beginning of the next class. In that case, leave a note saying that 
you intend to do so (otherwise it will not be counted).

On numerical work: When parameter values are given in a problem
assignment, use them even when more accurate numbers are available. 
Round the final answer to the accuracy asked for with no rounding
performed in-between. The reason for asking you to follow this 
procedure is, some problems are designed so that the difference 
between a wrong and a false solution path does show only up in 
the last digit asked for.

For full credit on home- and classwork you need only 90\% of the 
maximally possible score. At the end of the semester up to 10\% will 
be added to reach a maximum score of 100\%.
Additional homework problems will be assigned to the graduate students.

A standing assignment is to read the sections of the text as listed 
in the tentative schedule, which will be refined as we move along.
\medskip

\noindent {\bf Prerequisites:} General Physics PHY 2048 and 2049
or equivalent courses. Calculus up to partial differentiation 
and vector analysis.
\medskip

\noindent {\bf Grades} will be based on 40\% for homework and classwork, 
15\% for the midterm (there is now only one), 15\% for a test on homeworks 
and 30\% for the final. Anticipated dividing lines are: A $\ge$ 90\% $>$ 
A$^- \ge$ 85\% $>$ B$^+ \ge$ 80\% $>$ B $\ge$ 70\% $>$ B$^- \ge$ 65\% 
$>$ C$^+ \ge$ 60\% $>$ C $\ge$ 55\% $>$ C$^- \ge$ 50\% $>$ D $\ge$ 40\% 
$>$ F.
\medskip

\noindent {\bf ADA:} Students with disabilities should register with
the Student Disability Resource Center and bring a letter to the
instructor indicating their needs. Please do so during the first
week of class.
\medskip

\noindent {\bf Honor Code:} Students are expected to uphold the 
Academic Honor Code published in the FSU Bulletin and the Student
Handbook.
\medskip

\noindent For more informations see the ``Required 
Syllabus Statements'' linked on the course website.
\bigskip % \vfil\eject

{\bf Tentative Schedule follows on the next page.} 
\bigskip % \vfil\eject

\vskip -90pt
\begin{table}[th] \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
\hline
\multicolumn{3}{|c|}{{\bf Schedule} (Tentative)} \\ \hline
Date     & Topic              & Rindler    \\ \hline
M Aug 28 & Attendance, Syllabus, Introduction (Relativity) & Chapter 1.1 - 1.11 \\
W Aug 30 & Introduction (EP Einstein's Equivalence Principle)
         & Chapter 1.12 - 1.16 \\
F Sep  1 & Introduction (Gravitational frequency shift) & Chapter 1.16 \\
M Sep  4 & Labor Day - No Classes  &                \\
W Sep  6 & Gravitational frequency shift continued; & Chapter 1.16 \\
         & Bending of light                        & Chapter 1.16 \\
F Sep  8 & Canceled (Hurricane Irma) & \\
M Sep 11 & Canceled (Hurricane Irma) & \\
W Sep 13 & Canceled (Hurricane Irma) & \\
F Sep 15 & Canceled (Hurricane Irma) & \\
M Sep 18 & Special Relativity (SR) - Synchronization of Clocks & Chapter 2.6 \\
W Sep 20 & SR - Lorentz Transformations & Chapter 2.1 - 2.5, 2.7 \\
F Sep 22 & SR - Rapidity Parameter      & Eq. (2.17) \\
M Sep 25 & SR - Addition theorem for velocities & Chapter 2.10 - 2.11 \\
W Sep 27 & SR - Kinematics         & Chapter 3   \\
F Sep 29 & SR - Space time and four Vectors & Chapter 5   \\
M Oct  2 & SR - Optics and Particle Mechanics &  Chapters 4 and 6 \\
W Oct  4 & SR - Four Tensors       & Chapter 7   \\
F Oct  6 & SR - Four Tensors       & Chapter 7   \\
M Oct  9 & SR - Electrodynamics    & Chapter 7   \\
W Oct 11 & General Relativity (GR) - Curved Spaces & Chapter 8 \\
F Oct 13 & GR - Static and stationary spacetimes  & Chapter 9 \\
M Oct 16 & GR - Geodesics          & Chapter 9, 10 \\
W Oct 18 & Review for the Midterm  &             \\
F Oct 20 & Midterm                 &             \\ 
M Oct 23 & GR - Einstein's vacuum field equations & Chapter 10  \\ 
W Oct 25 & GR - Schwarzschild metric & Chapter 11 \\
F Oct 27 & GR - Schwarzschild metric & Chapter 11 \\
M Oct 30 & GR - Schwarzschild metric & Chapter 11 \\
W Nov  1 & GR - Schwarzschild metric & Chapter 11  \\
F Nov  3 & GR - Black holes        & Chapter 12  \\
M Nov  6 & GR - Plane gravitational wave & Chapter 13  \\
W Nov  8 & GR - Full field equations     & Chapter 14 \\
F Nov 10 & Veteran's Day - No Classes &          \\
M Nov 13 & GR - Full field equations     & Chapter 14 \\
W Nov 13 & GR - Linearization        & Chapter 15 \\
F Nov 17 & GR \& Cosmology (Co) - Spacetimes & Chapter 16 \\
M Nov 20 & Test on Homeworks         &            \\
W Nov 22 & Thanksgiving - No Classes &           \\
F Nov 24 & Thanksgiving - No Classes &           \\
M Nov 27 & GR \& Co             - Spacetimes & Chapter 16 \\
W Nov 29 & GR and Co - Light propagation in FRW & Chapter 17 \\
F Dec  1 & GR and Co - Light propagation in FRW & Chapter 17 \\
M Dec  4 & GR and Co - Dynamics of FRW universes & Chapter 18 \\
W Dec  6 & GR and Co - Dynamics of FRW universes & Chapter 18 \\
F Dec  8 & Review for the Final        &             \\
R Dec 14 & Final 3-5 pm                &             \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

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