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Cosmology (Spring 2017)
General: ( This webpage is updated gradually) - Last Update 7 July 2017
This is a B.Sc. course, which will be held in Physics Department of Sharif University of Technology.
Class Time: Saturdays and Mondays 9:00 - 10:30
Place: Physics Department - Class Phys. 3
Office Hours: Sundays and Tuesdays 9:00 - 10:00 (Or by appointment - Email: baghram@sharif.edu)
Registered students: 27
About the Course:
This is an introductory course on Cosmology. The aim is to understand how physicists try to address the whole Universe as a physical system. The question of the beginning, the evolution and the end of the Universe will be touched in this course. The interplay of the Physical laws and Cosmic evolution will be studied and we will discuss the question of the what the Universe is made of?
The topics that will be covered or touched are as below:
1) Historical Perspective to Cosmology
2) Cosmological Principle - Multiwavelength Astronomy
3) The Expanding Universe and Newtonian Cosmology
4) The Evolution of Universe
5) Baryons, Radiation, Dark Universe
6) Thermal History
7) CMB
8) Large Scale Structure
Teacher Assitants:
Mr. Mohammad Ansari (Head of TA group) Email address: m.ansari1373@gmail.com
and in alphabetical order:
Mr. Yazdan Babazadeh
Miss Sara Safari
Mr. Sina Taamoli
Miss Niloofar Vardian
TA Class Group 1: Tuesdays 15:00 - 16:30 in Physics 2
TA Class Group 2: Tuesdays 16:30 - 18:00 in Physics 2
Grading:
Mid-term 1 : 4 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE. / Monday 6 March / 16 Esfand 1395 @ 8:30 - 10:30 / Place: Physics 3
Mid-term 2: 5 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE. / Saturday 6 March / 16 Ordibehesht 1396 @ 8:30 - 10:30 / Place: TBA
Assignments: 4 points
Projects: 1.0 point Presentation date: (Must be a very high quality project) Monday 3 June 2017 / 12 Tir 1396 @ 9:00 in Physics 3
Final Exam: 7 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE.
Total grade: from 21 YOU CAN SEE THE TOTAL GRADING HERE
Suggested Reading:
Main guidline:
* An Introduction to Modern Cosmology by Andrew Liddle, Wiley; 3 edition (2015) and Class Lecture Notes / Presnetations
1) Introduction to Cosmology by Matts Roos Wiley; 4 edition ( 2015)
2) Lecture Notes on Cosmology by Daniel Baumann - Part III Mathematical Tripos
3) Introduction to Cosmology by Barbara Ryden Addison-Wesley; 1 edition (2002)
4) Observational Cosmology by Stephen Serjeant Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (2010)
5) Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology: An Introduction by Peter Schneider Springer; 2nd ed. 2015
6) An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology by Mark H. Jones (Editor), Robert J. A. Lambourne (Editor), Stephen Serjeant (Editor) Cambridge - Open University; 2nd Revised ed. edition ( 2015)
For more advanced references you can refer to Cosmology Page
Complimentary reading Material:
1- Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe by Jeremiah P. Ostriker & Simon Mitton - Princeton Univversity Press (2013)
Lectrure Notes and Presentations:
1) Cosmology - Spring 2017 - Presentation # 1
2) Cosmology - Spring 2017 - Presentation # 2
3) Cosmology - Spring 2017 - Presentation # 3
*) Presentation for Contemporary Physics Class - 11 Feb 2017
Lecture Notes on Cosmology : Version 2 - 5 June 2017 THIS LINK IS DEACTIVATED FOR UPDATES
(This is just a scratch
note which must be used with great care and just beside the main sources! )
Time Line of Lectures:
Lecture 1: ( Saturday - 4 Feb 2017)
This is the first lecture in Cosmology. We will discuss the status of the Modern cosmology with a historical perspective and it's relation with the history of Physics and history of thought. We will discuss the concept of Cosmological Principle and Multi-wavelength Astronomy Cosmology.
Lecture 2: ( Monday - 6 Feb 2017)
In this section we review the structures in universe from Milky way to large scale structures. The we will continue with the Multi-wavelength Astronomy Cosmology
Lecture 3: ( Saturday - 11 Feb 2017)
In this section we start the discussion on observational evidence of Expanding Universe and then the concept of redshift will be introduced.
Lecture 4: ( Monday - 13 Feb 2017)
In this session we introduce the Hubble law, we discuss about the physics of expanding universe. The idea of geometry of space -time is discussed.
Lecture 5: ( Saturday - 18 Feb 2017)
In this session we will start with Newtonian Cosmology and we will try to derive the Friedmann equations. Then we will discuss about the conservation law.
Lecture 6: ( Monday - 20 Feb 2017)
We will continue with Newtonian Cosmology. We will discuss the solutions of Friedmann equation with matter and radiation.
Lecture 7: ( Saturday - 25 Feb 2017)
We study the Friedmann equations using the concept of density parameters, critical density.
Lecture 8: ( Monday - 27 Feb 2017)
The emergence of the cosmological constant due to accelerated universe observations is discussed.
Lecture 9: ( Saturday - 4 March 2017)
Cosmology in the light of Special Relativity is studied. The concept of cosmological redshift and comoving distance is discussed in this framework.
Lecture 10: ( Monday - 6 March 2017) 16 Esfand 1395
Lecture 11: ( Saturday - 11 March 2017)
In this session, we start to study the observational fact of dark matter. Virial theorem and Cluster mass, Rotation Curve of spiral galaxies and gravitational lensing is discussed.
Lecture 12: ( Monday - 13 March 2017)
In this session we continue with the concept of the dark matter. The X-ray emission of clusters, the dark matte and structure formation is discussed. Finally we list the dark matter candidates.
Lecture 13: ( Monday - 3 April 2017)
In this session, we will study the story of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.
Lecture 14: ( Saturday - 8 April 2017)
In this lecture we continue with the physics of Cosmic microwave back ground radiation. We emphasis the on the observation of black body radiation and then we start studying the anisotropies in cosmic microwave background radiation.
Lecture 15: ( Monday - 10 April 2017)
In this lecture, we study the CMB anisotropies. The concept of correlation function and power spectrum in discussed. Then we study the physics and mathematics of spherical harmonics and angular correlation function.
Lecture 16: ( Saturday - 15 April 2017)
In this lecture we will review the physics of CMB and we will discuss about, CMB dipole, CMB anisotropies, CMB secondary anisotropies. The Cosmology book of Roos - Chapter 8 and 10 will help to study the chapters on CMB and statistical invvestigation of stochastic fields in Cosmology.
Lecture 17: ( Monday - 17 April 2017)
Thermal History I of the Universe is discussed.
Lecture 18: ( Saturday - 22 April 2017)
Thermal History of Universe II is discussed. This is done by emphasis on threshold energy, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions and the concept of temperature as a time.
Lecture 19: ( Monday - 24 April 2017)
In this lecture, the Hot Big-Bang model problems is discussed. As a first step the problem of flatness is discussed.
Lecture 20: ( Saturday - 29 April 2017)
In this lecture we continue with the problems of Hot Big Bang theory. The flatness problem and Horizon problem will be discussed. The inflationary paradigm with the idea of accelerated expansion of the Universe will be introduced.
Lecture 21: ( Monday - 1 May 2017)
In this lecture, we study the inflationary paradigm as an early accelerated expansion era of universe. We show how inflation can solve the horizon and the flatness problem. The Quasi-De Sitter space will be discussed and the slow roll parameter will be studied.
Lecture 22: ( Saturday - 6 May 2017) 16 Ordibehesht 1396
Lecture 23: ( Monday - 8 May 2017)
In this lecture we study the concept of slow roll inflation, and the dynamics that govern the accelerated expansion of the Universe.
Lecture 24: ( Saturday - 13 May 2017)
In this lecture we review the physics of eraly universe and we numerate the properties of the initial conditions. We discuss that how the initial conditions become
Gaussian, isotropic and mearly scale invariant.
Lecture 25: ( Monday - 15 May 2017)
In this lecture, we review the standard 6-parameter cosmological model known as LCDM. We discuss the possible extensions and observational facts.
Lecture 26: ( Saturday - 20 May 2017)
In the first part of the lecture, we study the FRW - metric again, where we introduce the concepts of comoving distance, luminosity distance and angular diameter distance.
Lecture 27: ( Monday - 22 May 2017)
In this lecture, we will study the concept of angular diameter distance and then in the second part of the lecture we begin with the idea of perturbation theory in cosmology and structure formation.
Lecture 28: ( Saturday - 27 May 2017)
In this lecture, we continue with the study of structure formation. The equation governing the evolution of the density contrast is obtained in static universe and the expanding one.
Lecture 29: ( Monday - 29 May 2017)
In the last session, we watch two documentaries of through the wormwhole ""What Happened Before the Beginning?" and "Beyond the Darkness" and we conclude on teh course.
Assignments:
Essays - Projects:
The projects and essays for this course must be prepared in high quality in science and presentation. It must be match with standards of presentations. The grading for this part as it is optional is very strict. So do not put your time for this unless you are determined to do a high quality job.
1) Baryonic Tully - Fisher relation: based on https://arxiv.org/abs/1107.2934
2) Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant based on https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.01424
Classic Papers:
1- Title: A Relation between Distance and Radial Velocity among Extra-Galactic Nebulae Authors: Hubble, Edwin Affiliation: AA(Mount Wilson Observatory, Carnegie Institution of Washington) Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp. 168-173
Useful Links: