Related papers: TASI Lectures on Primordial Cosmology
The properties of the first galaxies are shaped in large part by the first generations of stars, which emit high energy radiation and unleash both large amounts of mechanical energy and the first heavy elements when they explode as…
These notes provide an introduction to the theory of the formation and early evolution of planetary systems. Topics covered include the structure, evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks; the formation of planetesimals, terrestrial…
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 present paradigm in cosmology is the usual Big-Bang Cosmology in which two stages of accelerated expansion are incorporated: the inflationary phase in the very early universe which produces the classical inhomogeneities observed in the…
Understanding the formation of the first stars is one of the frontier topics in modern astrophysics and cosmology. Their emergence signaled the end of the cosmic dark ages, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, leading to a…
In this work an update of the cosmological role and place of the chiral tensor particles in the Universe history is provided. We discuss an extended model with chiral tensor particles. The influence of these particles on the early Universe…
The basic processes of the formation of the first stars in the primordial Universe are outlined and the implications for cosmological structure formation discussed. By employing theoretical and numerical models of cosmic structure evolution…
We study the imprint of new particles on the primordial cosmological fluctuations. New particles with masses comparable to the Hubble scale produce a distinctive signature on the non-gaussianities. This feature arises in the squeezed limit…
One of the primary targets of current and future cosmological observations are light thermal relics of the hot big bang. Within the Standard Model of particle physics, an important thermal relic are cosmic neutrinos, while interesting…
Reheating is an important part of inflationary cosmology. It describes the production of Standard Matter particles after the phase of accelerated expansion. We give a review of the reheating process, focusing on an in-depth discussion of…
This text aims to give a pedagogical introduction into the main concepts of the theory of structure formation in the universe. The text is suited for graduate students of astronomy with a moderate background in general relativity. A special…
We will discuss the main relevant aspects of the physics of ultra high energy cosmic rays. After a short recap of the experimental evidences, we will review theoretical models aiming at describing the sources of these extremely energetic…
Whether we live in a spatially finite universe, and what its shape and size may be, are among the fundamental long-standing questions in cosmology. These questions of topological nature have become particularly topical, given the wealth of…
Cosmological perturbation theory is a key tool to study the universe. The linear or first order theory is well understood, however, developing and applying the theory beyond linear order is at the cutting edge of current research in…
This is a very comprehensible review of some key issues in Modern Cosmology. Simple mathematical examples and analogies are always used, whenever available. The starting point is the well know Big Bang Cosmology (BBC). We deal with the…
These lecture notes present the computation of the full system of Boltzmann equations describing the evolution of the photon, baryon and cold dark matter fluids up to second order in perturbation theory, as recently studied in (Bartolo,…
We consider the Standard Models of particle physics and hot big bang cosmology, and review the theoretical and experimental motivations for extending these models to include supersymmetry and inflation. An obvious extension would be to…
Observational cosmology is on the verge of new discoveries that will change the essence of our world-view. The matter concerns origin of initial conditions and physics of dark matter.
This is a set of four lectures presented at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI-09) in June 2009. The goal of the lectures is to introduce students to some of the basic ideas and tools required for theoretical analysis of…
These lecture notes comprise an informal but pedagogical introduction to the well established physics and phenomenology of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) between big bang nucleosynthesis and recombination. The dominant properties of…