2018 Spring: Joint Class of UZH/ETH
AST 513: Theoretical Cosmology (UZH)
402-0394-00L: Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology (ETH)
Lecture: ETH HCI G3 at 13:00~15:00 (12:45~14:45) Wednesday
Lecture: ETH HPV G4 at 12:00~14:00 (11:45~13:45) Thursday
Exercise: ETH HCI F2 and F8 at 15:00~17:00 (14:45~16:45) Friday
EXAM DATES: The exams will take place on Friday 24/08 and from Monday 27/08 to Friday 31/08, from 09:30 to 12:30 and from 13:30 to 16:30, in 11 F 86 - Institute for Computational Science - Irchel campus UZH.
Class description:
This is the course webpage for the Spring 18 lectures of "Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology" offered jointly by ETH and Uni Zurich. This course is intended for Master students and qualifies as a Theoretical Core Course. It is the second of a two course series which starts with "General Relativity" and continues in the spring with "Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology". The course and exercise classes will be presented in English.
Lectures by:
Prof. Dr. Lucio Mayer and Prof. Dr. Jaiyul Yoo
Teaching Assistants:
Fulvio Scaccabarozzi and Nastassia Grimm
Prerequisites:
General Relativity
About the Course
The course will focus on applying General Relativity to Cosmology as well as developing the modern theory of structure formation in a cold dark matter Universe. The syllabus consists of the following topics:
Part I - The Unperturbed State of the Universe
1. Introduction: dynamics of expanding Universe and its matter/energy content
2. The FRW metric and Friedmann equations
3. The Thermal History of the Universe (Hot Big Bang model)
4. Decoupling and Thermodynamics of relic particles
5. Nucleosynthesis and Recombination
6. Introduction to Inflationary Theory
Part II - The Perturbed State of the Universe
1. Newtonian Perturbation Theory
2. Probes of Inhomogeneities
3. Relativistic Perturbation Theory
4. Standard Inflationary Models
5. Perturbed Boltzmann equation
6. CMB Anisotropies
7. Weak Lensing and CMB Polarization
Text books:
- Mo, H., van den Bosch, F. & White, S., Galaxy Formation and Evolution, 2010, Cambridge Univ. Press (available online [only in ETH-domain] and in library) [1]
- Carroll, S. M., Lecture Notes on General Relativity, 1997 (available online) [2]
- Dodelson, S., Modern Cosmology, 2003, Academic Press (available online [only in ETH-domain] and in library) [3]
Additional Texts:
- Carroll, S. M., Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity, 2004, Addison Wesley [4]
- Weinberg, S., Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity, 1972, John Wiley & Sons
- Weinberg, S., Cosmology, 2008, Oxford University Press [5]
- Mukhanov, V., Physical Foundations of Cosmology, 2005, Cambridge Univ. Press (available online [only in ETH-domain] and in library)
- Kolb, E. W. & Turner M. S., The Early Universe, 1994, Westview Press
- Straumann, N., General Relativity with Applications to Astrophysics, 2013, Springer (available online [only in ETH-domain] and in library)
- Liddle, A. & Lyth, D, Cosmological Inflation and Large Scale Structure, 2000, Cambridge Univ. Press (available online [only in ETH-domain] and in library)
Lecture notes:
Part I: Homogeneous Universe
Lecture 1: (pdf). Textbook Sections: 8 (p.217-222) in [2].
Lecture 2: Textbook Sections: 8 (p.223-231) in [2], 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 (p.121-122) in [1].
Lectures 3 - 4: Textbook Sections: p.337-345 (or p.224-229 in [2]) and section 4.5 (p.171-174) in [4].
Lectures 5 - 8: (pdf, pdf) Textbook Sections: we have finished sec. 8 in [2]; p.338-349 in [4]; p.125-133 in [1].
Lectures 9 - 10: Textbook Sections: p.134-138 and p.139-142 in [1].
Lectures 11 - 12: Textbook Sections: p.143-149 in [1].
Part II: Perturbed Universe (Lecture notes:pdf)
Lecture 1-2: Chapter 1 in the notes and slides (pdf)
Lecture 2-5: Chapter 2 in the notes and slides (pdf) and Chapter 9 in [3] (except lensing and polarization)
Lecture 5-8: Chapter 3 in the notes and Chapter 5 in [3]
Lecture 8-10: Chapter 4 in the notes and Chapter 6 in [3]
Lecture 10-12: Chapter 5 in the notes and Chapter 4 in [3]
Lecture 12-12: Chapter 7 in [3] (7.11, 7.21, 7.31, 7.6)
Lecture 12: Chapter 8 in [3]
Lecture 13: Chapter 6 in the notes and Chapter 10 in [3]
Exercises
Exercises will be posted online on Friday and will have to be handed in on Friday a week later during the lecture.
Exercise Sets:
Problem Sheet 0:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 1:
(pdf)
Distances in Astronomy: slides, video
Problem Sheet 2:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 3:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 4:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 5:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 6:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 7:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 8:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 9:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 10:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 11:
(pdf)
Exercise Solutions:
Problem Sheet 0:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 1:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 2:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 3:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 4:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 5:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 6:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 7:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 8:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 9:
(pdf)
Problem Sheet 10:
(pdf)
Additional exercises with solutions:
Boltzmann equation:
(ex), (sol)
CMB:
(ex), (sol)
Gauge transformations:
(ex), (sol)
Matter Power Spectrum:
(ex), (sol)
Sterile neutrinos and Scalar-Vector-Tensor decomposition:
(ex), (sol)
Advanced Topics of Theoretical Cosmology
The course "Advanced Topis of Theoretical Cosmology" is an extension of "Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology" and is given by Prof. Dr. Jaiyul Yoo.
The lectures take two hours (10am-noon), every day for two weeks, from 3 September to 14 September 2018.
It is listed in the ETH course catalogue of the Fall Semester 2018, and ETH students must book this block course directly at UZH.
See the following link for an outline of the 2017 course:
(pdf)
Room: Y 36 J 33 Irchel campus UZH
Course catalogue ETH:
link
Course catalogue UZH:
link
Please contact me, if you have questions