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Physics 002 Final Examination 20 December, 2003.

Time allowed: 90 minutes Total: 70 marks

Name: Student ID: A

Data table:
1 parsec (pc) 3.26 light years
1 parsec (pc) 206,265 AU
Speed of light 3 × 108 m/s
Universal gravitational constant 6.67 × 10-11 N⋅m2/kg2
1 Astronomical Unit 1.50 × 1011 m
Mass of Sun 1.99 × 1030 kg
1 radian 206,265 arc sec

Section Marks
A
B
C1
C2
Total

Section A: Multiple choice (20 marks):

(1) What is the end state of a medium size main sequence star like our sun?
A. Brown dwarf.
B. Red dwarf.
C. Neutron star.
D. Black dwarf.
E. Black hole. Answer:________

(2) Pulsars are believed to slow down because

A. they are converting energy of rotation into radiation.
B. there are internal disturbances similar to earthquakes.
C. there is friction with the interstellar medium.
D. angular momentum must be conserved.
E. their mass is decreasing. Answer:_____ __

(3) Where would a supernova explosion most likely occur?

I. in an elliptical galaxy
II. in the disk of a spiral galaxy
III. in the halo of a spiral galaxy
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. II & III
E. ! & III Answer:________
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(4) In Special Relativity,

A. the speed of light is the same in all media.
B. length is contracted in any frame.
C. time is dilated in any frame.
D. mass of an object remains the same independent of its speed.
E. the time of an event depends on the inertial reference frame in which it is
measured. Answer:________

(5) Which of the following is NOT evidence that quasars are active nuclei of
distant galaxies?
$1: Supernova explosions can be observed near both quasars and active
nuclei of distant galaxies.
$2: Light from quasars may contain absorption spectral lines whose redshifts
may be due to the absorption by galaxies distant from Earth. The same is
possible for active nuclei of distant galaxies.
$4: Jets can be observed to emanate from both quasars and active nuclei of
distant galaxies.
$8: Both quasars and active nuclei of distant galaxies are more frequently
observed in colliding galaxies.

What is the dollar value after adding up those for the correct answers?
Answer:___ ___

Section B: True and False (14 marks):

(1-8) Read carefully the following italicized paragraphs abridged from Scientific
American. The theme is about the age of the universe.

Hubble and other pioneers estimated distances to various galaxies by assuming

that the ones that appeared bright were comparatively close, and the ones that
appeared dim were far away. But this methodology works only crudely, because
galaxies differ in their properties. And it fails entirely for distant sources – whose
light takes so long to reach the Earth that it reveals the faraway galaxies as they
were billions of years ago (that is, in their youth) – because their intrinsic
luminosity could have been quite different from that of more mature galaxies
seen close to home.

Around the 1970s, astronomers began exploring the idea of using supernovae as
standard candles for cosmological studies. That approach was controversial
because supernovae show wide variation in their properties. But in the past
decade research has enabled scientists to determine the intrinsic luminosity of
one kind of supernova – type Ia – quite precisely.
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These supernovae vary slightly in their brilliance, but there is a pattern: bigger,
brighter explosions last somewhat longer than fainter ones. So by monitoring
how long they last, astronomers can correct for the differences and deduce their
inherent luminosity to within 12 percent.

Two teams of astronomers have now studied a total of a few score high-redshift
supernovae, ones that erupted between four billion and seven billion years ago,
when the universe was between one half and two thirds of its present age. Both
groups were hit with a major surprise: the supernovae are fainter than expected.
This result is enough to call long-time cosmological theories into question.

Following the reasoning in these paragraphs, determine the truth of the following
statements:
True False
(1) According to the information in the first paragraph, the
brightness of galaxies could not be used to estimate distances
precisely, because two galaxies may have different brightness
even if they are at the same distance from Earth.
(2) From what we learned in PHYS 002, distant galaxies may
differ from closer ones in that they may contain more heavy
elements.
(3) From what we learned in PHYS 002, Cepheid variables and
type Ia supernovae are equally suitable as standard candles for
cosmological studies, because both are very bright at a distance
of several billion light years.
(4) A and B are two supernovae of type Ia. They appear equally
bright as seen on Earth. Supernova A lasts longer than B.
According to the author’s inference, it is likely that supernova A is
closer to Earth.
(5) According to the information in the last paragraph, supernovae
at several billion light-years away exhibit high gravitational
redshifts.
(6) The universe is recently expanding faster than expected is
consistent with the discovery of the two research teams
mentioned in the last paragraph.
(7) Assume that the age of the universe generally accepted by
astronomers is 13.7 billion years before the discovery of the two
research teams. After the discovery, the estimate of an age of the
universe longer than 13.7 billion years is consistent with the
discovery.
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Section C: Problems

Use the figure below to answer both problems. Show all steps. Give your final
answers to 2 significant figures.

(1) (18 marks)

In the figure below a spaceship B on the surface of a planet S, of 0.5 solar
masses, radius of 1000 Km and very far from Earth, is ready to be launched to
space. Two other similar spaceships, A and C with spaceship A right above the
spaceship B, are orbiting around the planet at a height of 350 Km (assume do
not collide even they have the same orbit) from the surface of the star and
synchronized with the rotation of the planet.
a) What is the orbital velocity of the spaceship A? (4 marks)
b) What is the Schwarzschild radius of the planet S? (4 marks)
c) A light pulse of wavelength 600nm is sent from A to tell spaceship B to
start counting for launching. Is the wavelength of the light pulse received
by spaceship B no change, shorter or longer? Why? (2 marks)
d) Is the wavelength of the light pulse observed by spaceship C unchanged,
shorter or longer? Why ?(2 marks)
e) What are the effects that can change the wavelength of the light pulse as
seen from Earth? (2 marks)
f) What are the shifts of wavelength of the light pulse sent by spaceship A
due to effects in part e) as seen from Earth? (Assume that the mass of the
planet S is much greater than the mass of Earth, and its center is
stationary respect to Earth. Neglect also the rotation of Earth.) (4 marks)

C Planet S
Earth

Answers:

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(PHYS002)finalaaa_f03.pdf downloaded by asmmelsayed from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=PHYS002&id=9 at 2021-12-08 16:28:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

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(PHYS002)finalaaa_f03.pdf downloaded by asmmelsayed from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=PHYS002&id=9 at 2021-12-08 16:28:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

(2) (18 marks)

Suppose an open cluster is observed edge on at a location 10 kpc from the
center of the galaxy from Earth.
Furthermore, suppose that the center of the galaxy is 3Mpc from Earth.
(a) From the rotation curve below, calculate the Hubble constant, using the
distance and velocity of the center of the galaxy. (4 marks)
(b) From the rotation curve below, what is the orbital velocity of the open cluster
with respect to the center of the galaxy? (2 marks)
(c) How long does it take for the open cluster to orbit around the galaxy once?
Give your answer in million years.(4 marks)
(d) What is the mass of the galaxy enclosed within the orbit of the open cluster?
Give your answer in solar masses. (4 marks)
(e) Suppose the stars within a distance of 10 kpc around the galactic nucleus
have a mass of 2 × 108 solar masses. What is the fraction of dark matter in
this region? (4 marks)

240

220
y km/s
(km/s)

200
velocit
Redshift

180
Radial

160

140
40 20 0 20 40
Location along galaxy (kpc)
Answers:

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(PHYS002)finalaaa_f03.pdf downloaded by asmmelsayed from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=PHYS002&id=9 at 2021-12-08 16:28:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

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(PHYS002)finalaaa_f03.pdf downloaded by asmmelsayed from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=PHYS002&id=9 at 2021-12-08 16:28:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

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THE END