402-0394-00L  Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology

SemesterSpring Semester 2019
LecturersL. M. Mayer, J. Yoo
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentUZH students are not allowed to register this course unit at ETH. They must book the corresponding module directly at UZH.


AbstractThis is the second of a two course series which starts with "General Relativity" and continues in the spring with "Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology", where the focus will be on applying general relativity to cosmology as well as developing the modern theory of structure formation in a cold dark matter Universe.
ObjectiveLearning the fundamentals of modern physical cosmology. This
entails understanding the physical principles behind the description
of the homogeneous Universe on large scales in the first part of the
course, and moving on to the inhomogeneous Universe model where
perturbation theory is used to study the development of structure
through gravitational instability in the second part of the course.
Modern notions of dark matter and dark energy will also be introduced and discussed.
ContentThe course will cover the following topics:
- Homogeneous cosmology
- Thermal history of the universe, recombination, baryogenesis and nucleosynthesis
- Dark matter and Dark Energy
- Inflation
- Perturbation theory: Relativistic and Newtonian
- Model of structure formation and initial conditions from Inflation
- Cosmic microwave background anisotropies
- Spherical collapse and galaxy formation
- Large scale structure and cosmological probes
LiteratureSuggested textbooks:
H.Mo, F. Van den Bosch, S. White: Galaxy Formation and Evolution
S. Carroll: Space-Time and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity
S. Dodelson: Modern Cosmology
Secondary textbooks:
S. Weinberg: Gravitation and Cosmology
V. Mukhanov: Physical Foundations of Cosmology
E. W. Kolb and M. S. Turner: The Early Universe
N. Straumann: General relativity with applications to astrophysics
A. Liddle and D. Lyth: Cosmological Inflation and Large Scale Structure
Prerequisites / NoticeKnowledge of General Relativity is recommended.