Ast/Phys 5022 - Cosmology (Fall 2008)

Syllabus & Grading

Presentations

Schedule and Topics

Homework

Tue Sep 09: Problem Set #1 (due Sep 16)
Tue Sep 16: Problem Set #2 (due Sep 23)
Tue Sep 23: No problem set
Tue Oct 07: Problem Set #3 (due Oct 14)
Thu Oct 16: Problem Set #4 (due Oct 23)
Tue Nov 18: Problem Set #5 (due Nov 25/Dec 1)

Grades

here

Lecture Notes

  • Relativity
  • Global Geometry
  • Inflation
  • Early Universe
  • Cosmic Microwave Background
  • CMB acoustic peaks - Nov 18 PPT lecture
  • CMB polarization - Nov 20 PPT lecture
  • Structure Formation
  • Structure Formation - Nov 20 PPT lecture
  • Structure Formation - Nov 25 lecture

    Resources

    astro-ph: preprint archive
    NASA ADS paper archive
    Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial
    Brief history of the Universe -1
    Brief history of the Universe - 2

    Global Cosmological Parameters

    Dynamical evolution of various models: Flat; Lambda=0; -ve Lambda; +ve Lambda; all
    Expansion age of the Universe models
    Particle and Event Horizons in 2 models
    Supernova Cosmology Project
    astro-ph/0603449, see p.28, p.54, p.57, p.58
    astro-ph/0409131, "The current status of observational cosmology" see p.6
    see the last picture: P(k) from CMB and galaxy clustering

    Methods of measuring the Hubble constant, H0

    Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect
    Galaxy Gravitational Lenses
    Water Masers (see 1st talk, p.9)
    Distance Ladder
    Distance Ladder - summary of methods
    Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
    Gravitational lensing time delays (see p.10,11,12)
    Summary of H0 estimates, arXiv:0802.3219 (p.24)

    Evolution of structure in the Universe

    2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
    Two micron all sky galaxy survey
    A compilation of things, by Martin White (UCB)
    A popular-level version of P(k); M.Tegmark)
    A few exampls of Real vs Fourier space - see p.5
    astro-ph/0409131, "The current status of observational cosmology" see p.3
    Formation of the Milky Way type galaxy in high resolution N-body simulation

    More matter power spectra P(k)

    astro-ph/0212552, see ...
    astro-ph/0608632, see p.31
    astro-ph/0603449, see p.24

    Baryogenesis and CPT theorem

    Parity Violation - an article from Los Alamos Science
    CERN site

    Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN)

    Time evolution of species density
    Abundance vs. baryon/photon ratio
    Helium mass fraction
    BBN predictions vs. observations + CMB (see p.51,53)
    He-4,D,He-3,Li-7
    Observed abundance of Li-7

    Dark Matter (DM)

    Limits on WIMP mass and cross-section
    "Bullet Cluster"

    Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)

    Evolution of density perturbations - Jeans analysis
    All things CMB
    WMAP sky maps and power spectra
    CMB spectral energy distribution and the Planck curve
    CMB quadrupole and octapole (p.13, Tegmark et al.)
    Visualizing spherical harmonics
    First few spherical harmonics
    Wayne Hu's CMB pages