Related papers: Basic cosmology
Over the past three years we have determined the basic features of the Universe -- spatially flat; accelerating; comprised of 1/3 a new form of matter, 2/3 a new form of energy, with some ordinary matter and a dash of massive neutrinos; and…
In these notes we present a selection of topics, each section approximately amounting to one lecture. We begin with a brief recapitulation of General Relativity, and the Standard Model of Cosmology. This is followed by lectures on important…
Our current understanding of the Universe is established through the pristine measurements of structure in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the distribution and shapes of galaxies tracing the large scale structure (LSS) of the…
Almost all models of the universe start by assuming that matter fields can be modelled as dust. In the real universe, however, matter is clumped into dense objects that are separated by regions of space that are almost empty. If we are to…
New exact solutions of brane-world cosmology are given. These solutions include an arbitrary constant C, which is determined by the geometry outside the brane and which affects the cosmological evolution in the brane-world. If C is zero,…
Cosmology, as a science, started at the beginning of the last century with the advent of the Einstein cosmological equations. Based on these equations, the present main stream cosmological model is the well known big-bang, this name…
Cosmology and particle physics are deeply interrelated. Among the common problems are dark energy, dark matter and baryon asymmetry of the Universe. We discuss these problems in general terms, and concentrate on several particular…
The standard cosmological model, now strongly constrained by direct observation at early epochs, is very successful in describing the structure of the evolved universe on large and intermediate scales. Unfortunately, serious contradictions…
Observational Cosmology has indeed made very rapid progress in recent years. The ability to quantify the universe has largely improved due to observational constraints coming from structure formation Measurements of CMB anisotropy and, more…
The $\Lambda$CDM framework offers a remarkably good description of our universe with a very small number of free parameters, which can be determined with high accuracy from currently available data. However, this does not mean that the…
A low matter density decaying vacuum cosmology is proposed on the assumption that the universe's radius is a complex quantity \hat{R} if it is regarded as having a zero energy-momentum tensor. But we find that when the radius is real, it…
The present standard model of cosmology, $\Lambda$CDM, contains some intriguing coincidences. Not only are the dominant contributions to the energy density approximately of the same order at the present epoch, but we note that contrary to…
Over the last decades, observations with increasing quality have revolutionized our understanding of the general properties of the Universe. Questions posed for millenia by mankind about the origin, evolution and structure of the cosmos…
We develop a new model for the Universe based on two key assumptions: first, the inertial energy of the Universe is a constant, and second, the total energy of a particle, the inertial plus the gravitational potential energy produced by the…
A cosmological model is formulated in the context of a scalar-tensor theory of gravity in which the entire cosmic background evolution is due to a complex scalar field evolving in Minkowski spacetime, such that its (dimensional) modulus is…
We define a universe as the contents of a spacetime box with comoving walls, large enough to contain essentially all phenomena that can be conceivably measured. The initial time is taken as the epoch when the lowest CMB modes undergo…
Recently funded satellites will map the cosmic microwave background radiation with unprecedented sensitivities and angular resolutions. Assuming only primordial adiabatic scalar and tensor perturbations, we evaluate how accurately…
The Cosmological Principle states that the universe is both homogeneous and isotropic. This, alone, is not enough to specify the global geometry of the spacetime. If we were able to measure both the Hubble constant and the energy density we…
Observational cosmology is in its "golden age" with a vast amount of recent data on the distribution of matter and light in the universe. This data can be used to probe theories of the very early universe. It is small amplitude cosmological…
A cosmological model with total density close to critical (and flat geometry), dominated by dark matter and dark energy of unknown nature, and consistent with the basic predictions of the inflationary scenario is a very good fit to a…