| Preface | xi |
| Constants, conversion factors and symbols | xiv |
1 | A (Very) Brief History of Cosmological Ideas | 1 |
2 | Observational Overview | 3 |
2.1 | In visible light | 3 |
2.2 | In other wavebands | 7 |
2.3 | Homogeneity and isotropy | 8 |
2.4 | The expansion of the Universe | 9 |
2.5 | Particles in the Universe | 11 |
2.5.1 | What particles are there? | 11 |
2.5.2 | Thermal distributions and the black-body spectrum | 13 |
3 | Newtonian Gravity | 17 |
3.1 | The Friedmann equation | 18 |
3.2 | On the meaning of the expansion | 21 |
3.3 | Things that go faster than light | 21 |
3.4 | The fluid equation | 22 |
3.5 | The acceleration equation | 23 |
3.6 | On mass, energy and vanishing factors of c[superscript 2] | 24 |
4 | The Geometry of the Universe | 25 |
4.1 | Flat geometry | 25 |
4.2 | Spherical geometry | 26 |
4.3 | Hyperbolic geometry | 28 |
4.4 | Infinite and observable Universes | 29 |
4.5 | Where did the Big Bang happen? | 29 |
4.6 | Three values of k | 30 |
5 | Simple Cosmological Models | 33 |
5.1 | Hubble's law | 33 |
5.2 | Expansion and redshift | 34 |
5.3 | Solving the equations | 35 |
5.3.1 | Matter | 36 |
5.3.2 | Radiation | 37 |
5.3.3 | Mixtures | 38 |
5.4 | Particle number densities | 39 |
5.5 | Evolution including curvature | 40 |
6 | Observational Parameters | 45 |
6.1 | The expansion rate H[subscript 0] | 45 |
6.2 | The desnity parameter [Omega subscript 0] | 47 |
6.3 | The deceleration parameter q[subscript 0] | 48 |
7 | The Cosmological Constant | 51 |
7.1 | Introducing [Lambda] | 51 |
7.2 | Fluid description of [Lambda] | 52 |
7.3 | Cosmological models with [Lambda] | 53 |
8 | The Age of the Universe | 57 |
9 | The Density of the Universe and Dark Matter | 63 |
9.1 | Weighing the Universe | 63 |
9.1.1 | Counting stars | 63 |
9.1.2 | Nucleosynthesis foreshadowed | 64 |
9.1.3 | Galaxy rotation curves | 64 |
9.1.4 | Galaxy cluster composition | 66 |
9.1.5 | Bulk motions in the Universe | 67 |
9.1.6 | The formation of structure | 68 |
9.1.7 | The geometry of the Universe and the brightness of supernovae | 68 |
9.1.8 | Overview | 69 |
9.2 | What might the dark matter be? | 69 |
9.3 | Dark matter searches | 72 |
10 | The Cosmic Microwave Background | 75 |
10.1 | Properties of the microwave background | 75 |
10.2 | The photon to baryon ratio | 77 |
10.3 | The origin of the microwave background | 78 |
10.4 | The origin of the microwave background (advanced) | 81 |
11 | The Early Universe | 85 |
12 | Nucleosynthesis: The Origin of the Light Elements | 91 |
12.1 | Hydrogen and Helium | 91 |
12.2 | Comparing with observations | 94 |
12.3 | Contrasting decoupling and nucleosynthesis | 96 |
13 | The Inflationary Universe | 99 |
13.1 | Problems with the Hot Big Bang | 99 |
13.1.1 | The flatness problem | 99 |
13.1.2 | The horizon problem | 101 |
13.1.3 | Relic particle abundances | 102 |
13.2 | Inflationary expansion | 103 |
13.3 | Solving the Big Bang problems | 104 |
13.3.1 | The flatness problem | 104 |
13.3.2 | The horizon problem | 105 |
13.3.3 | Relic particle abundances | 106 |
13.4 | How much inflation? | 106 |
13.5 | Inflation and particle physics | 107 |
14 | The Initial Singularity | 111 |
15 | Overview: The Standard Cosmological Model | 115 |
Advanced Topic 1 | General Relativistic Cosmology | 119 |
1.1 | The metric of space-time | 119 |
1.2 | The Einstein equations | 120 |
1.3 | Aside: Topology of the Universe | 122 |
Advanced Topic 2 | Classic Cosmology: Distances and Luminosities | 125 |
2.1 | Light propagation and redshift | 125 |
2.2 | The observable Universe | 128 |
2.3 | Luminosity distance | 128 |
2.4 | Angular diameter distance | 132 |
2.5 | Source counts | 134 |
Advanced Topic 3 | Neutrino Cosmology | 137 |
3.1 | The massless case | 137 |
3.2 | Massive neutrinos | 139 |
3.2.1 | Light neutrinos | 139 |
3.2.2 | Heavy neutrinos | 140 |
3.3 | Neutrinos and structure formation | 140 |
Advanced Topic 4 | Baryogenesis | 143 |
Advanced Topic 5 | Structures in the Universe | 147 |
5.1 | The observed structures | 147 |
5.2 | Gravitational instability | 149 |
5.3 | The clustering of galaxies | 150 |
5.4 | Cosmic microwave background anisotropies | 152 |
5.4.1 | Statistical description of anisotropies | 152 |
5.4.2 | Computing the C[subscript l] | 154 |
5.4.3 | Microwave background observations | 155 |
5.4.4 | Spatial geometry | 156 |
5.5 | The origin of structure | 157 |
| Bibliography | 161 |
| Numerical answers and hints to problems | 163 |
| Index | 167 |