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Astronomy 425: Cosmology (Fall 2015)

Class will be held Mondays and Wednesday in the Physics and Astronomy Auditorium (PAB C341) from 11.30am to 12.50pm. http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/ajc/teaching/a425

Class and Office hours

  • The grade will be broken down as:Mid term 25%, Final 50%, Homework 25%
  • Midterm will be on Wednesday Ocober 28th 2015
  • Final will be Wednesday Dec 16th

Office hours are on a drop in basis and by appointment. My office is in the Physics and Astronomy building (B355). If the door is open feel free to drop in, or send me an email to arrange a time.

Goals and Objectives

This is a self-contained course designed to introduce students to the basics of cosmology. The course has a significant mathematical content, principally geometry, algebra and calculus. The topics we will cover include: the cosmological principle, expansion of the universe, the Robertson-Walker metric, dynamics of an expanding universe, observational constraints on the expansion of the universe, the role of dark matter and dark energy, the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing, inflation, new probes of cosmology.

By the end of this class you should expect to be able to:

  • Explain the physical principles that describe the expansion of the universe
  • Calculate distance, volume and age of the universe as a function of redshift for a range of different cosmological models
  • Measure the scales on which structures collapse due to gravity and how this depends on the nature of the dark matter.
  • Characterize the observational probes of cosmology and how they can be used to measure the properties of dark matter and dark energy

Text Book

There are a number of useful textbooks that you can draw information from. We will be using: “Introduction to Cosmology: Barbara Ryden (Pearson Addison-Wesley)