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%

Syllabus

  • 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