What is the course about?
Study a Phenomenon, that does not (yet) have an explanation. Challenge the universe and use recent observations and smart techniques to get through the veil of this phenomenon. Becomhttps://iversity.org/my/courses/dark-matter-in-galaxies-the-last-mystery/edit#e part of the generation of scientists that will unveil this 80 years old mystery or be among those who will witness that occurring.
Course Structure
- Chapter 1: The evidence of the phenomenon
- Chapter 2: Galaxies
- Chapter 3 : Introduction to Dark Matter
- Chapter 4: Measuring the Universe
- Chapter 5: Entering the issue
- Chapter 6: The gravitational potential of galaxies
- Chapter 7: Dark matter halos
- Chapter 8: The essence of the DM phenomenon
- Chapter 9: Mass modelling galaxies
- Chapter 10: A deeper analysis on Dark Matter
- Chapter 11: The Stellar properties of galaxies
- Chapter 12: Conclusions
Course Format
The course has three teaching modes. The knowledge is transferred through 1) documentary style videos 2) records of front lectures delivered by the teacher(s) and enhanced by useful extra information installed in them in a post-production phase 3) animations of formulae, plots and simulations. The videos will be in Italian with English subtitles.
Quizzes allow the students to receive feedback on their understanding and in the forums the students can interact, ask questions and discuss the learnings.
Learning Outcomes
Levels of the course are Advanced, Regular, Basic.
- Students, in general, will learn an important and strategic subject of Astrophysics and Physics, at university level and will be able to successfully teach it at high school level.
- Advanced students will be able to get deep inside into the complex field of Dark Matter in Galaxies from one of the leading scientist in the field.
- Enthusiastic outsiders with only simple knowledge of Physics and Mathematics can enter one the biggest mysteries of nature and get an understanding of the topic which allows them to follow its revelation.
Workload
The time needed to complete the requirements:
- Watching videos ~10 hours
- Practical work 5-15 hours
- Self-study work 5-15 hours
- Projects 0-15 hours
- Assessments 5-10 hours
Assessments
The assessments of the course employs: multiple choices tests and peer review of projects.
FAQ
Please have a look at the FAQ if you have any general questions regarding the platform.
Course instructors
Paolo Salucci
Born in Firenze (Italy), April 12, 1958. In 1986 he was appointed Doctor Philosophiae in Astrophysics at SISSA di Trieste. Today he is Associate Professor in Physics of Galaxies at SISSA and Coordinator of the INFN NA12-TS initiative. His fields of research concern Cosmology, ExtraGalactic Astrophysics and Physics of Gravitation. In the field of Dark Matter he is one of the leading scientist in the world and his talk “Dark Matter in Galaxies”, given in the context of the “Dark Matter Awareness Week” in 2010, was broadcasted to 143 institutions around the world.
