FYSS4440 Kosmologia (9 op)

• A brief review of General Relativity

• Robertson Walker metric

• FRW universe

• Thermal history of the early universe

• Dark Matter

• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

• Recombination and photon decoupling

• Classical inflationary physics

• Inflation and primordial perturbations

• Structure formation  

After the course the student should be able to:

• Solve for the dynamics of a homogeneous and isotropic universe from Friedmann equations in different cases (e.g. matter, radiation, vacuum energy).

• Compute the relations between the redshift, age, distance, angular diameter and luminosity in the FRW universe.

• Compute the evolution of thermodynamical equilibrium quantities in the early universe and explain the history of the universe.

• Determine when a particle species decouples from thermal equilibrium (Boltzmann equation). Compute the relic abundance of WIMP dark matter. Describe properties of the dark matter component in the universe.

• Compute He formation in a simplified model of the primordial nucleosynthesis, describe nucleosynthesis constraints on cosmological parameters.

• Model basics of the recombination physics, describe characteristics of the Cosmic Microwave Background, explain its role in determining the cosmological parameters.

• Compute the classical evolution in slow-roll inflation, determine the required amount of inflation, solve for quantum fluctuations of a test scalar in de Sitter, compute the spectrum of scalar and tensor perturbations produced during inflation.

• Derive cosmological perturbation theory equations and gauge transformation rules in first order perturbation theory, compute the superhorizon evolution of adiabatic perturbations and connect it to inflation, solve for the perturbation equations in simple cases and describe their connection to structure formation.  

• FYSS7320 General Relativity (useful, but not necessary)

• FYSA2040/FYSA2042 Statistical Physics (thermodynamics of ideal gases, useful)

• FYSA2004 Modern Physics, part B (basic concepts, might be useful) 

Lecture notes (no course book, possibly useful books listed below)