COSMOLOGY
Docenten:
Rien van de Weygaert,
ZG 186, tel. 3634086, weygaert@astro.rug.nl
Jakob van Betlehem,
ZG 153, tel. 3634063, jakobb@astro.rug.nl
Announcements: Required Knowledge: Lectures: Exam: General Information: Literature: Lecture Notes:
The first lecture will be on tuesday morning February 9, 13.7 minutes after 9 !!!!
The tutorial lectures of friday Feb. 26 will be the student presentations on topics of Early Cosmology.
Note that the friday lecture and friday tutorial will also be in room ZG161 (with the exception of friday March 5: ZG257)
There are no real requirements (except the usual basic knowledge of first and second year
mathematics, physics and astrophysics. Although some familiarity with General Relativity
will facilitate insight into the Universe, the lectures in the first week will provide
the necessary background.
The lecture schedule will be:
Tuesday 09:15-11:00 hoorcollege ZG 161
Friday 09:15-11:00 hoorcollege ZG 161 (except Mar 5: ZG257)
Friday 11:15-13:00 werkcollege ZG 161 (except Mar 5: ZG257)
The exam will consist of three/four elements:
written exam -- tuesday April 13, 14:00-17:15, ZG257
presentation
2 computer tasks
Practical information on the course -- literature, provisional schedule, topics presentation -- you
may find in:
General Lecture Information
The course will be based upon
Lecture notes,
to be distributed during the course
Introduction to Cosmology
Barbara Ryden
Addison Wesley, 2002
ISBN 0805389121 (hardcover)
This book entails a really fabulous introduction to the basic concepts of cosmology,
nearly entirely up to date. It is one of the few textbooks really fun reading, a marvel of didactic writing.
In particular for the later stages of the lecture series -- Cosmic Microwave Background, Cosmic Nucleosynthesis,
Inflation -- I will assume you have the book.
In addition, there are three general cosmology books that from time to time you may wish to consult (but which
are not obligatory fare for this course !!!). They are somewhat more demanding than the Ryden book, yet
contain a lot of useful information,
Cosmological Physics
John Peacock
Cambridge University Press, 1998
ISBN 0521422701 (paper)
Cosmology, The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Structure
P. Coles, F. Lucchin
Wiley, 2n edition, 2002
ISBN 0471489093
Principles of Physical Cosmology
P.J.E. Peebles
Princeton Univ. Press
ISBN 0691074283
Below you find a listing which will gradually be updated. You may download the pdf and ppt files.
Introduction & Overview ppt
Introduction & Overview pdf
General Relativity pdf
The Cosmological Principle: Evidence ppt
(still some modifications needed, on cosmic dipole)
Robertson-Walker metric pdf
Cosmological Principle & handout
Robertson-Walker metric
Observational Cosmology
Cosmic Dynamics: & handout
FRW Cosmology
Cosmic Constituents ppt
(still needs
substantial extension on dark energy)
FRW Universe: Solutions handout
Evolution Hubble Parameter H(t) handout
and: Cosmic Time
Evolution Omega & Flatness Problem handout
and: Horizons & Horizon Problem
and: Inflationary Universe
The Hot Big Bang handout
& Thermal History of the Universe
and: Cosmic Microwave Background
The Hot Big Bang and the Early Universe ppt
Thermal History of the Universe
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
Cosmic Microwave Background ppt
For the exam you should also study Ryden chapter 9, 10 and 11 !!!!!!!!!!
Tentamen/Written Exam
The written exam is on:
Wednesday April 7, 14:00-17:15; room ZG161
Presentation: Early Cosmology
Attached you find the files with topics for your presentation on "Early Cosmology".
Choose the topic of your choice, subsequently inform me about your choice. Alternatively you may choose a topic not mentioned in the list. In that case consult lecturer. After approval you can set to work on the subject.
Early Cosmology
You are expected to prepare a 10-15 minute presentation (with ppt or pdf notes) !
Werkcollege (tutorials)
Attached you find the files with the werkcollege assignments.
Important: the assignments that were not completed during the werkcollege/tutorial class, you are expected to solve yourself at home. Completed tasks should be turned in to the tutorial assistent J. van Betlehem. Completed and approved tasks are required for completion of the course.
Thus: please turn them in to your tutor (ie. me) !
For questions and advice on the tasks you are of course welcome to contact your "werkcollegedocent", drs. J. van Betlehem ! Room 153 !
For searching the astronomical literature the two most important website to consult are those of
ADS: NASA Astrophysics Data System
astro-ph: astrophysics
e-print serverNotice that ADS allows you to expand your literature search via the references of the paper under consideration, as well as the links to the papers that refer to it. While using this possibility wisely you may quickly find most relevant studies. Also notice that the links of ADS to the journals in which the papers are published may need you to use your student number + password for the University library, or you have registered with the University Library, when working from outside the university (e.g. from home). Otherwise you will not be able to use the university subscription to these journals.
Interesting Literature
During the course several papers relating to the lecture content will be handed out.
Here you may download them (will be updated during the course).
Discovery Hubble ExpansionHubble E., 1929, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 15 (5 pp.)
Observational Tests World ModelsSandage A., 1988, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 26, 561
Discovery Cosmic Microwave BackgroundPenzias A.A. & Wilson R.W., 1965, Astrophys. J. 142, 419
Discovery & Explanation Cosmic Microwave BackgroundDick R.H., Peebles P.J.E., Roll P.G., Wilkinson D.T., 1965, Astrophys. J. 142, 414
SNIa discovery Lambda: High-z Supernova Search TeamRiess et al., 1998, Astron. J., 116, 1009
SNIa discovery Lambda: Supernova Cosmology Project Perlmutter et al., 1999, Astrophys. J., 517, 565
Scale Factors & critical values Lambda in Friedmann universesFelten J.E., 1986, Rev. Mod. Phys. 58, 689
Rindler: visual horizons in world models Rindler W., 1956, MNRAS, 116, 662
Harrison: Hubble spheres and Particle horizonsHarrison, E., 1991, Astrophys. J., 383, 60
Guth: Inflationary UniverseGuth, A.H., 1981, Phys.Rev.D., 23, 347
Lecture Schedule:
(provisional, changes possible)
| Week | Dates Hoorcollege | Subject Hoorcollege | Dates Werkcollege | Subject Werkcollege |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb. 9 (c) Feb. 12 (c) | Cosmology: a Review and Introduction The metric Universe: General Relativity, basics and essentials | Feb. 12 (w) | Werkcollege set 1 |
| 2 | Feb. 16 (c) Feb. 19 (c) |
The Cosmological Principle Cosmic Time and Weyl's Postulate Observational Evidence Cosmological Principle Observational Evidence Isotropic Universe Observational Evidence Homogeneous Universe | Feb. 19 (w) | |
| 3 | Feb. 23 (c) Feb. 26 (c) | Robertson-Walker metric Cosmological Redshift Hubble Expansion Cosmological Observables in a Geometric Universe Observational Cosmology | Feb. 26 (w) | Presentations: |
| 4 | Mar. 2 (c) Mar. 5 (c) | Friedman Equations Cosmological Parameters: Hubble parameter, Omega, q and curvature | Mar. 5 (w) | Werkcollege set 2 |
| 5 | Mar. 9 (c) Mar. 12 (c) |
Cosmic Components: Radiation, (Dark) Matter and Dark Energy | Mar. 12 (w) | Werkcollege set 3 |
| 6 | Mar. 16 (c) Mar. 19 (c) | Cosmological FRW Solutions: Radiation- and Matter-dominated Universes, Radiation-Matter Equivalence Dark Energy and Cosmic Acceleration General FRW solutions, Matter-Dominated Universes, Flat Universes, ... | Mar. 19 (w) | Werkcollege set 3 |
| 7 | Mar. 23 (c) Mar. 26 (c) |
Cosmic Horizons The problems of standard cosmology: Flatness Problem, Horizon Problem, Structure Problem, Monopole Problem Inflation & the Inflationary Universe | Mar. 26 (w) | Werkcollege set 4 |
| 8 | Mar. 30 (c) Apr. 2 (c) |
The Early Universe:
Thermal History of the Universe Primordial Nucleosynthesis The Cosmic Microwave Background: Recombination, Decoupling and Freeze-out Thermalization and Blackbody Spectrum of the CMB Anisotropries of the CMB | Apr. 2 (w) | Werkcollege set 5 |