Related papers: Introduction to Cosmology
Cosmology has come a long way from being based on a small number of observations to being a data-driven precision science. We discuss the questions "What is observable?", "What in the Universe is knowable?" and "What are the fundamental…
Cosmology education has become an integral part of modern physics courses. Directed by National Curricula, major UK examination boards have developed syllabi that contain explicit statements about the model of the Big Bang and the strong…
The comparison of the Standard Cosmological Model (SCM) with astronomical observations, i.e. theory versus experiment, and with the Minimal Standard Model (MSM) in particle physics, i.e. theory versus theory, is discussed. The main issue of…
Two introductory lectures on inflation and dark matter presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Techniques and Concepts of High-Energy Physics.
In this brief essay we consider the concept of beginning in cosmology. It can be applied to the Universe as a whole, as well as to various epochs in the cosmic history and major structures as we can see them today.
During the last three decades, there has been a growing realization among physicists and cosmologists that the relation between particle physics and cosmology may constitute yet another successful example of the unity of science. However,…
I examine some recent findings in cosmology and their potential implications for the emergence of life in the universe. In particular, I discuss the requirements for carbon-based life, anthropic considerations with respect to the nature of…
This is a brief review of the standard model of cosmology. We first introduce the FRW models and their flat solutions for energy fluids playing an important role in the dynamics at different epochs. We then introduce different cosmological…
These lectures give an introduction to Gravitational Lensing. We discuss lensing by point masses, lensing by galaxies, and lensing by clusters and larger-scale structures in the Universe. The relevant theory is developed and applications to…
This write--up gives a rather elementary introduction into particle physics aspects of the cosmological Dark Matter puzzle. A fairly comprehensive list of possible candidates is given; in each case the production mechanism and possible ways…
This paper is intended to offer a pedagogical treatment of cosmological modeling and inflationary cosmology. In recent years, inflation has become accepted as a standard scenario making predictions that are testable by observations of the…
These lectures review certain topological defects and aspects of their cosmology. Unconventional material includes brief descriptions of electroweak defects, the structure of domain walls in non-Abelian theories, and the spectrum of…
In these lectures we present a few topics in Quantum Field Theory in detail. Some of them are conceptual and some more practical. They have been selected because they appear frequently in current applications to Particle Physics and String…
A simple, non-technical introduction to the pre-big bang scenario is given, emphasizing physical motivations, considerations, and consequences over formalism.
These lectures have been given to particle physicists, mostly experimentalists and very briefly and at a pedestrian level review the problems of dark matter. The content of the lectures is the following: 1. Introduction. 2. Cosmological…
We review some aspects of quantum gravity in the context of cosmology. In particular, we focus on models with a phenomenology accessible to current and near-future observations, as the early Universe might be our only chance to peep through…
In these lectures I focus on early universe models which can explain the currently observed structure on large scales. I begin with a survey of inflationary cosmology, the current paradigm for understanding the origin of the universe as we…
The European School of High-Energy Physics is intended to give young physicists an introduction to the the- oretical aspects of recent advances in elementary particle physics. These proceedings contain lecture notes on the theory of quantum…
This is the summary of 4 Lectures given at the XIX Canary islands winter school of Astrophysics ''The Cosmic Microwave Background, from Quantum Fluctuations to the present Universe''. Lectures were intended for master/beginning PhD students…
Both the basic educational contents for students and study programs for science teachers include several topics in physics and astronomy, from the simplest ones to others as advanced as nuclear fusion to explain stellar evolution and…