8.942 - CosmologyFall 2015
Course Administrator: Prof. Max Tegmark
TR 9:30 - 11:00am in 66-154
General info:
Staff
Lecturer: | Prof. Max Tegmark, tegmark@mit.edu, (617) 452-4627 |
Course Manager: | Nancy Boyce, nboyce@mit.edu, 4-315, (617) 253-4461 |
Lectures
TR 9:30 - 11:00am in 26-168
Office Hours
Max Tegmark: TBA
Textbook
Weinberg, Steven Cosmology. Oxford University Press, Incorporated ISBN-13: 9780198526827 $99.00
Grading
8 Problem sets: 50% Class participation (incl. reading quizzes): 15% Final project (report & presentation): 35%
- Course overview, General Relativity summary
- 0th order cosmology:
- FRW metric, Friedmann equation & solutions
- Cosmic history: H(z), rho(z), T(z), g(z), baryogenesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, matter domination, recombination, reionization, acceleration
- Cosmological parameters 1: the cosmic matter budget
- Measurements of curvature, topology & expansion history: SN Ia & standard candles, baryon acoustic oscillations & standard rulers, BBN, stellar ages & standard clocks
- Inflation 1: motivation, from V(phi) to a(t)
- 1st order cosmology
- Linear perturbation theory
- The LCDM power spectrum
- Cosmological parameters 2: the seed fluctuations
- Measurements of the cosmic clustering history: galaxy clustering, gravitational lensing (weak & strong, galaxy clusters, Lyman alpha forest, cosmic microwave background, neutral hydrogen tomography
- Predicting cosmological parameters from inflation
- Nonlinear cosmology
- The Press-Schechter and halo occupation distribution formalisms
- Numerical simulations
- Future cosmology: outlook, open challenges, fun controversies
- Student presentations