An Introduction to Modern Cosmology / Edition 2

by Andrew Liddle

Overview

An Introduction to Modern Cosmology Second Edition is an accessible account of modern cosmological ideas. The Big Bang Cosmology is explored, looking at its observational successes in explaining the expansion and age of the universe, the existence and properties of the cosmic microwave background, and the origin of the light elements in the universe. Properties of the very early universe are also covered, including the motivation for the theory known as cosmological inflation. The Second Edition includes additional material on observational cosmology and structure formation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470848340
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/26/2003
Edition description:	Subsequent
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Liddle
Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, UK

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Table of Contents

	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