2019 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 HCI G7 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 23/08 and from Monday 26/08 to Friday 30/08, 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 2019 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 (lmayer physik.uzh.ch) and Prof. Dr. Jaiyul Yoo (jyoo physik.uzh.ch)
Teaching assistants:
Nastassia Grimm (ngrimm physik.uzh.ch) and Rafael Lima (rafael physik.uzh.ch)
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
- Introduction: dynamics of expanding Universe and its matter/energy content
- The FRW metric and Friedmann equations
- The Thermal History of the Universe (Hot Big Bang model)
- Decoupling and Thermodynamics of relic particles
- Nucleosynthesis and Recombination
- Introduction to Inflationary Theory
Part II - Inhomogeneous Universe
- Newtonian Perturbation Theory
- Probes of Inhomogeneities
- Relativistic Perturbation Theory
- Standard Inflationary Models
- Perturbed Boltzmann Equation
- Time Evolution of Inhomogeneities
- CMB Anisotropies
- 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, 2004, 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)
Lectures:
Part I:
- Lectures 1 - 2: (pdf). Textbook section 8 (pp. 217-224) in [2], sections 8.1 to 8.3 (pp. 323-337) in [4].
- Lecture 3: (pdf). Textbook section 8 (pp. 224-231) in [2], section 8.4 (pp. 337-344) in [4].
- Lecture 4: (pdf). Textbook sections: 4.5 (pp. 171-174) and 8.5 (pp. 344-345) in [4].
- Lectures 5 - 6: (pdf). Textbook sections: 8 in [2] (review), 8.5 (pp.346-349) in [4], 3.2.5 (pp. 119-121, figures 3.2 and 3.3) in [1].
- Lectures 7 - 8: (pdf). Textbook section 3.3 until 3.3.3 (pp. 124-132) in [1].
- Lectures 8 - 9: (pdf). Textbook sections 3.3.4, 3.3.5 (pp. 132-136), and 3.4.1 in [1].
- Lectures 10 - 11: Textbook section 3.4 in [1].
- Lectures 12 - 13: Textbook sections 3.5.2 to 3.6.1 (pp. 148-153), and 3.2.4 (p. 119) in [1].
Part II:
- Lecture notes: pdf
- Lectures 1 - 2: (pdf) Newtonian Perturbation Equations
- Lectures 3 - 4: (pdf) Power spectrum shape. Textbook sections: 9.2 Peculiar velocity, 9.4 Redshift-space distortions in [3].
Slides 1 (pdf), slides 2 (jpg).
- Lectures 5 - 6: (pdf) Relativistic Perturbation Theory. Textbook section 5 in [3].
- Lectures 7 - 9: (pdf) Standard Inflationary Model. Textbook section 6 in [3].
- Lectures 9 - 11: (pdf) Weak Gravitational Lensing. Textbook section 10 in [3].
Slides (pdf).
Exercises:
Exercises will be posted online on Friday and will have to be handed in within one week, either by email to the assistants or in the exercise class, at latest. The solutions will be posted online on Friday after the class.
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
Gravitational Lensing: slides
Exercise solutions:
- Solution sheet 0: pdf
- Solution sheet 1: pdf
- Solution sheet 2: pdf
Mathematica notebook for Q1: nb
- Solution sheet 3: pdf
- Solution sheet 4: pdf
- Solution sheet 5: pdf
- Solution sheet 6: pdf
- Solution sheet 7: pdf
- Solution sheet 8: pdf
- Solution sheet 9: pdf
- Solution sheet 10: pdf
Advanced Topics of Theoretical Cosmology:
(syllabus.pdf)
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 2 September to 13 September 2019, at Irchel Campus Y36J33.
It is listed in the ETH course catalogue of the Fall Semester 2019, and ETH students must book this block course directly at UZH.
Room: Y 36 J 33 Irchel campus UZH
Course catalogue ETH: link.
Course catalogue UZH: link.
