English

CosmoSlider: An educational tool for cosmology

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2026-01-26 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Physics Education

Abstract

Understanding how cosmological parameters influence the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectra is a central component of modern cosmology education, but interactive exploration is often limited by computational cost or technical complexity. We present CosmoSlider, a lightweight visualization tool that enables real-time exploration of CMB power spectra as multiple cosmological parameters are varied simultaneously. The tool employs a neural-network emulator implemented using TensorFlow Lite, allowing rapid evaluation of spectra without relying on large grids of precomputed models or on-demand execution of Einstein--Boltzmann solvers. CosmoSlider is available both as an iOS application and as a web-based tool, making it accessible across platforms and suitable for use in classrooms, lectures, and self-guided study. By providing immediate visual feedback, CosmoSlider supports the development of intuition for the physical processes underlying CMB anisotropies and serves as a complementary resource to traditional theoretical instruction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.16919,
  title  = {CosmoSlider: An educational tool for cosmology},
  author = {Andreas Nygaard and Steen Hannestad and Thomas Tram},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.16919},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

9 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:17:39.236Z