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Course: Modern Cosmology

Course Description

iterm Description
Level Bachelor / Undergrad
Time 30h (lecture) + 6h(tutorial)
Teaching location Department of Space and Applications,
University of Science and Technology of Hanoi
Subject description An introduction of the standard cosmological model in context of the Big Bang theory, observational overview, the geometry of the Universe, the Universe models (matter domination, radiation domination, cosmological constant, exploring the origin, fate and nature of our universe.

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, the origin of CMB and the observational CMB experiments (Planck, SPT, ACT, ...). The early Universe, the problems with the Hot Big bang model, inflationary epoch.

Advance topics: General relativistic cosmology, neutrinos cosmology, structure in the Universe, cosmological perturbation theory.
Objective & Outcome After this course, students will be able to understand:
  • The standard cosmological models
  • Observational cosmological parameters
  • Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation science and superconducting Transition Edge Sensor
  • The inflationary Universe
  • Solving Einstein field equations with FLRW metric
    		•
    Assessment / Evaluation Attendance: 10%
    Tutorial/Exercise/Practical: 30% Final exam: 60%
    Textbook
  • An introduction to modern cosmology - Andrew Liddle
  • Introduction to cosmology - Barbara Ryden
  • Modern Cosmology - Scott Dodelson
  • Observational cosmology - Stephen Serjeant
  • Waynehu's page
  • Optimization of future projects for the measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background polarization - Hoang Duc Thuong’s Ph.D [ pdf ]

    • Course contents

    The full lectures slides and scripts (online teaching).

    0. Math tripod

    1. Observational Overview [ slides ].

    1. Scales and Distances
    2. The Universe is homogeneity and isotropy at the large scales
    3. The Universe is made of particles
    4. The expanding Universe
    5. Cosmic Microwave Background

    2. Newtonian gravity [ slides ] [ scripts ] .

    1. The Friedmann equation
    2. The geometry of the Universe
    3. The fluid equation
    4. The acceleration equation

    3. Cosmological Parameters [ slides,scripts combined with lecture 2 ].

    1. Observational results

    4. Universe Models [ slides ] [ scripts ] [ Notebook tutorial: LAMBDA_CDM ]

    1. Empty Universe (Milne Universe)
    2. Vacuum dominated (de Sitter)
    3. Flat Universe (k=0)
      1. Matter dominate (Einstein - de Sitter)
      2. Radiation dominate
    4. Multiple component Universe
    5. Super Critical

    5. Cosmological distance [ slides ] [ scripts ] .

    1. Hubble distance
    2. Comoving distance
    3. Angular diameter distance
    4. Luminosity distance

    6. The CMB Science and Technology [ slides ] [ Notebook tutorial 1 : Spherical harmonics, Notebook tutorial 2: CMB tools; Noteboob tutorial 3: Planck power spectra ]

    1. Cosmic Microwave Background science
    2. Superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES)
    3. CMB experiments
      1. QUBIC
      2. Simons Observatory (SO)
      3. LiteBIRD satellite
      4. ...

    7. The Inflationary Universe [ slides ] [ scripts ] .

    1. Hot Big Bang theory problems
      1. The horizon problem
      2. The flatness problem
      3. The Monopole problem
    2. Inflation
      1. Solution of the flatness problem
      2. Solution of the horizon problem

    8. Advanced topic: General relativity cosmology [ slides ] [ scripts ] .

    1. Einstein field equations
    2. FLRW metric
    3. The Christoffel symbols calculation:
    4. Ricci tensor calculus:
    5. Stress-Energy tensor:
    6. Solving Einstein equations -> Friedmann equations

    Toolbox

  • python3 (can install anaconda): A programming language
  • Healpy: Data analysis, simulation, and visualization on the Sphere https://healpix.sourceforge.io/
  • CAMB: Cosmological model https://camb.info/
  • Pysm3: Sky model https://pysm3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#installation
  • There is a page in the NASA website that listed many availble tools for CMB and Astrophysics

    • Data for tutorials

  • The CMB map can download from Planck data
  • The SDSS data for the supernova can be obtained from Joint light-curve Analysis