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.eduFor more details on the course, see the syllabus .
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Revised September 4, 2008