Cosmology

(Spring Semester -  2012)

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First Meeting : 16 February, 2012.
Room:   DTP Seminar room (A-304)
Every Tuesday's and Thursday's at 9:45 AM

Contact -   Subha Majumdar   Email:  subha AT tifr.res.in
                   Room - A 309          Extension - 2203

                Please contact me if you are interested in attending the course.


Aim of the course - To give an overview of Cosmology as currently 'practised'.  Broad emphasis on theory, and its applications, needed to understand and interpret current and upcoming observations.
                                 
Pre-requisites -  This is a first course on Cosmology. No background knowledge of General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Field Theory is needed.

Books - There are many excellent books.
              Classic Treatises are by :  Peebles;  Weinberg (1972);  Zel'dovich & Novikov;  Longair.
              More modern books are by:  Padmanabhan, Peacock;  Dodelson;  Liddle & Lyth;  Weinberg (2008). Each has its own strengths. Weinberg's 2008 book on Cosmology is recommended for detailed self-study.
              Early Universe and Inflationary Physics (more from the particle physics/ high energy physics standpoint) and Relativistic Perturbation theory are found in details in books by: Linde;  Mukhanov; Kolb & Turner;


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Proposed Contents

Approx 21 lectures of 1.5 hrs duration. We'll try to cover the following topics, some in greater detail than the others.
There'll two HW assignments, a student seminar and one final exam.


1.  Cosmology @ 2012  
          Our present knowledge of our Universe: 
          - how big? how old? it's past. it's future.
          - what is it made of? the cosmic pie chart etc

2. Homogeneous Universe and  its Dynamics
         -  Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker model     
         -  Dynamics and Expansion - Friedman equations
         -  Kinematics;  Classical observational tests

3. A concordant model of our Universe
          - LCDM model
          - Intitial conditions: Inflation

4.  Timeline of our Universe
         -  ThermoD in an expanding Universe
         -  BBN, neutrinos, DM, Phase Transitions
         -  Recombination
         -  Reionization
                - Brush with observations: Gunn Peterson troughs, Lya systems
         
5.    Inhomogeneous Universe : Linear Regime
          -  Basics of cosmological perturbation theory
          -  Generation of perturbations
          -  Growth of perturbations
                   - Single fluid, Multi fluids, Matter Power Spectrum
         
6.    Inhomogeneous Universe: Non-Linear Regime
          -  Gravitational instability, Jeans theory
          -  Top hat collapse
          -  Zel'dovich approximations
          -  Velocities ;   Mass function

7.    Three Topics
         -  The Cosmic Microwave Background
         -  Galaxy Clustering and BAO
         -  Dark Energy

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Last modified :  13-Jan-2012