Andrew R. Zentner

 
 

Cosmology


 

Astronomy 3785

  1. Bullet  Syllabus

 

Topics


  1. Bullet Basic Overview of Modern Cosmology

  2. Bullet General Relativity

  3. Bullet The Friedmann Equation and Cosmological Distance Scales

  4. Bullet The Thermal History of the Universe

  5. Bullet The Synthesis of the Light Nuclei

  6. Bullet Dark Matter and the Production of Thermal Relic Particles

  7. Bullet The Horizon & Flatness Problems and Cosmological Inflation

  8. Bullet Cosmological Inflation, Dark Energy

  9. Bullet Quantum Field Theory and Seeding Large-Scale Cosmic Structure

  10. Bullet The Growth and Properties of Large-scale Structure in the Universe

  11. Bullet Anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background

  12. Bullet Project Presentations on Selected Advanced Topics




Recommended Texts


I do not require a specific textbook for this course.  Cosmology has become a vast field and material that different practitioners may consider fundamental is scattered among many books.  My suggestions are below, and a serious cosmology student should own many of these books.


  1. Bullet The Early Universe by Kolb & Turner. This book remains one of the best discussions of important topics like nucleosynthesis.  The companion volume, The Early Universe: Reprints collects many of the classic papers in cosmology into a single volume and is likewise a must-own book. Both books are available used at a pittance.

  2. Bullet Cosmology by Steven Weinberg. This book is written at a very advanced level, so it may be challenging for students in a first graduate course on cosmology.  However, it contains one of the most self-contained and up-to-date treatments of modern cosmology. 

  3. Bullet Modern Cosmology by Scott Dodelson. This book contains the most modern perspective on the cosmic microwave background, including its polarization statistics, weak gravitational lensing, and data analysis of any of the recommended texts, so it is a valuable addition.

  4. Bullet Structure Formation in the Universe by T. Padmanabhan. This is a good introduction to the formation of structure in the Universe, but is out of date in its observational detail. There are several known typos in this book.

  5. Bullet Physical Principles of Cosmology by P. J. E. Peebles. This book arrives at many of the basic results of modern cosmology without direct recourse to General Relativity. Peebles has a unique perspective on many problems, but I enjoy it.

  6. Bullet The Large-scale Structure of the Universe by P. J. E. Peebles. This is still the standard book for large-scale structure and clustering statistics.

  7. Bullet Kinetic Theory in the Expanding Universe by Jeremy Bernstein. This is a favorite of

mine.

  1. Bullet Cosmological Physics by John Peacock. This book is often criticized for being too broad, but it can serve as a handy “quick-and-dirty” reference for many subjects.

  2. Bullet Cosmological Inflation and Large-scale Structure by Liddle and Lyth. This is a good book focusing on the phenomenological aspects of cosmological inflation and the

growth of structure. This book is clear and concise and gives a good account of

the statistical properties of cosmological density fluctuations. The book has many

known typos and corrections are maintained at the books web site.

  1. Bullet The Primordial Density Perturbation by Liddle and Lyth. An update of the previous

book.

  1. Bullet Theoretical Astrophysics Volume III by T. Padmanabhan.



Potential Term Projects


The term will culminate with a term paper and presentation worth 40% of the course grade.  A non-exhaustive list of possible term projects follows.


  1. Bullet The Generation of Primordial Density Fluctuations During Cosmological Inflation

  2. Bullet Light Element Nucleosynthesis Constraints on Particle Physics Beyond the Standard Model

  3. Bullet Viable Dark Matter Candidates

  4. Bullet Contemporary Constraints on Dark Matter Properties

  5. Bullet Cosmological Constraints from Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies

  6. Bullet Cosmological Constraints from the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background

  7. Bullet Constraints on Dark Energy or Decaying Dark Matter from Type Ia Supernovae

  8. Bullet Monopoles In Cosmology

  9. Bullet The Generation of the Cosmic Baryon Asymmetry

  10. Bullet Cosmological Re-ionization

  11. Bullet Galaxy Formation in the Standard Cold Dark Matter Cosmology

  12. Bullet Cosmological Constraints from the Clustering of Galaxies

  13. Bullet The Late-time Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect

  14. Bullet Weak Gravitational Lensing as a Probe of the Properties of the Dark Energy

  15. Bullet Baryon Acoustic Oscillations as a Probe of the Propeties of Dark Energy

  16. Bullet Galaxy Clusters as Probes of the Properties of Dark Energy