Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy
Introduction to Cosmology
Ph 444 --- Fall 2008
This is an advanced undergraduate-level course on the origin and
evolution of the Universe. This is a big topic, employing a wide range
of physics, both theoretical and experimental. Cosmology has deep ties
both to astrophysics, as many cosmologically important observations of
celestial objects must be interpreted through the prism of
astrophysics, and to fundamental physics, since the form our Universe
displays is determined by gravitation, particle physics, nuclear
physics, and thermodynamics. These various physical processes have
come together into a simple ``concordance (or standard) model'' of
cosmology which predicts a wide and rich array of observable
phenomena.
This is an exciting time in cosmology. Technological advances over
the past decade have made possible an array of observations which
strongly constrains the properties of the Universe. The current job of
cosmologists is to determine if the deluge of observational data are
consistent with the standard cosmological model. The two main goals of
this class will be to develop an understanding of the standard model
and to show how most of the observational data are nicely
consistent with that model. As time permits, we will also examine a
few possible trouble spots and also how cosmology can be used as a tool
for probing fundamental physics and astrophysics.
Professor: Tad Pryor,
Serin 302W, 732-445-5500 x5462,
pryor@physics.rutgers.edu
Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, period 4 (1:40 - 3:00 PM for
Busch Campus)
Location: ARC 205, Busch Campus
Office Hours: Wednesday: 3:30 - 4:30 Also feel free to contact
me by email or phone to set up a time to drop by my office.
Text: Introduction to Cosmology, B.~Ryden, 2003, Addison
Wesley (ISBN 0-8053-8912-1)
For more details on the course, see the syllabus
.
Figures -- Above Left: Intensity fluctuations on the sky as
measured by the Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Red is higher intensity and blue is
lower. Emission due to galactic foregrounds and a dipole variation due
to the Earth's peculiar velocity have been subtracted. Above Right:
The results of a simulation of the formation of our Milky Way Galaxy.
White denotes the highest density of dark matter. Note the much
larger amount of substructure than we actually observe in the form of
satellite galaxies. From the
Astrophysics Group at the University of Zurich.
Homework
- Problem Set 1. The figure for problem 4 is
Figure 17 in
Liske et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 307.
- Problem Set 2. Due September 18.
- Problem Set 3. Due THURSDAY, September 25.
Note that the original version of problem 1 had an error. The correct
value of H_0 is 71.9 +- 2.7 km/s/Mpc.
- Problem Set 4a (only two problems).
Due Thursday, October 2.
- Problem Set 4b (only two problems).
Due Thursday, October 9.
- Numerical Assignment 1.
Due Thursday, October 30.
- Problem Set 5.
Due Thursday, November 6.
- Problem Set 6.
Due Thursday, November 13.
-
CMBFAST web form Some reading of the documentation
has confirmed that that the quantity in the second column
of the CMBFAST output is l(l+1)C_l/2pi. To compare these
quantities with those plotted in the figure given on the
website, you need to multiply by the square of the
average temperature of the CMB measured in
micro-Kelvins.
-
WMAP 5-year power spectrum
- Problem Set 7a.
Due Thursday, November 20.
Assorted Links
- 2MASS Two Micron All-Sky
Survey
- 2dFGRS The 2dF Galaxy
Redshift Survey
- SDSS The Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- WMAP
Information on and results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
Please send any comments on this page to
pryor@physics.rutgers.edu.
Revised November 11, 2008
