Introduction to Cosmology-E2
| Numbering Code | U-LAS12 20017 LE57 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester | |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture | |
| Target Year | Mainly 1st & 2nd year students | Target Student | For all majors | |
| Language | English | Day/Period | Wed.2 | |
| Instructor name | Antonio De Felice (Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics Associate Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course | The aim of this lecture is to introduce the basic concepts of modern cosmology. Our current understanding about the history of the universe is explained so that one can capture how observational data are interpreted with the aid of the law of physics in an elementary way. For this purpose, the development of the basic theories of physics necessary to describe modern cosmology will be reviewed in a less rigorous way. The lecture is supposed to be interactive. | |||
| Course Goals |
Students will be able to understand how to approach the study of cosmology in a mathematical and physical way. They will be introduced to the problems of modern cosmology, and to the methods cosmologist use to try to solve them. The discussion will tend to link cosmology to other fields in physics, e.g. thermodynamics, (some notions of) particle physics. |
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| Schedule and Contents |
I. Introduction and Historical backgrounds II. The Role of the Speed of Light in Special Relativity III. Newtonian Gravity and General Relativity IV. Homogeneous Universe Model based on General Relativity and Discovery of the Expanding Universe V. Tips of Thermodynamics VI. Nucleosynthesis in the Early Universe VII. Prediction and Discovery of Cosmic Microwave background VIII Shortcoming of the Big-Bang Cosmology IX. Inflationary universe X. Inevitable Quantum fluctuation XI. Structure Formation of the Universe XII. Inflation Again in the Present Universe? In total, at most 14 classes will be offered (one for each week of the semester) plus one feedback meeting with the students. |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy | Evaluation method: 25%: mid term exam; 75%: final exam. | |||
| Course Requirements | None | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
The students will be given the oppurtunity to have copies of the notes. They will know a week before the subject to be discussed in the next lecture. |
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| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | Lecture notes, Antonio De Felice, given in the class as a pdf file | ||
| References, etc. | An Introduction to Modern Cosmology, A. Liddle, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) | |||
