ASTR 425/525: Cosmology

Instructor:
Prof. Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine
Email: fycr@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 3214

Teaching assistant:
Fernando Garcia-Cortez
Email: fgarcia02@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 3414


Description of the class


This course will cover the entire evolution of the Universe, from the early epoch of inflation to the formation of all the complex structure we observe around us today. We will start by exploring the fundamental assumptions underpinning our current cosmological model, and derive the key equations governing its evolution. We will also discuss the global geometry of the Universe and how to measure distances in an expanding Universe. We will then turn our attention to the thermal evolution, describing how the Universe went from a primordial hot plasma to a world dominated by dark matter and cold baryonic gas in the first million years of the Universe. Finally, we will study how structure forms in our Universe, from the quantum origins of primordial fluctuations in the inflationary epoch to the gravitational growth of perturbations in a matter-dominated Universe.

Syllabus

The detailed syllabus can be found here.

Prerequisites

This is a course aimed a senior undergraduate and junior graduate students. Good knowledge of geometry, calculus, linear algebra, classical mechanics, statistical mechanics, special relativity, and quantum mechanics will make your life much better in this course. Some knowledge of astronomy is an asset. You are expected to have some basic familiarity with coding so you can make plots, do some basic data analysis, perform numerical computation, etc.

Lectures

Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00-3:15pm in PAIS 1140.

Textbook

Textbook for the class
Cosmology by Daniel Baumann.

Additional resource
Modern Cosmology (2nd Edition) by Scott Dodelson and Fabian Schmidt. The older edition is fine too.

Office hours

Instructor
Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30-4:30pm at my office PAIS 3214 These are my preferred "office" hours. If you can't make my regular office hours, or if your questions cannot wait, please send me an email to set up an appointment.

Teaching assistant
The teaching assistant is Fernando Garcia-Cortez (fgarcia02@unm.edu). He will be available Thursdays 12-1pm for you to come by in PAIS 3414 and discuss any homework grading issues you may have. If you need to schedule an appointment outside of the TA's office hours please send him an email.

Grading

The grading in the course will be based on your performance on the in-class worksheet, homework assignments, two midterm quizzes, and a final exam. The contribution to the final grade is as follows:

  1. In-class worksheets will count for 25% of the final grade.
  2. Homework: there will be 6 assignments, which will represent the 40% of the final grade.
  3. Two Midterm quizzes (10% each).
  4. Final exam will count for 15% of the final grade.

If you missed a class in which a worksheet was worked on, please do the worksheet on your own and hand in to me within one week to make sure you don't lose the points. You can find all worksheets in the table below.

Homework assignments

There will be 6 assignments during the semester. The assignments will be posted in the tentative schedule about 15 days before they are due. The homework must be submitted in class on the day they are due. Late Homework assignments will be accepted but with a 25% penalty for each day past the deadline. So a homework handed-in within 24 hrs of the deadline will carry a 25% penalty, one handed-in within 48 hrs will carry a 50% penalty, as so on. Let me know if you are planning on submitting your homework late such that I can delay the posting of the solutions. The corresponding solutions will be posted here, and homework assignments submitted after solutions post will not be graded.

While I strongly encourage you to discuss the homework assignments with your classmates, the work you hand in must be entirely yours.

Tentative schedule


Date Lecture Notes   Baumann Read Homework HW Due Solutions
Week 1
08/18-08/22
 The Cosmological Principle
Woksheet 1
Distances and the metric
Worksheet 2
 Ch. 1, 2.1


Week 2
08/25-08/29
Ch. 2.1,2.2.2


Week 3
09/01-09/05
 Labor Day 09/01: No Lecture

 Ch. 2.3.1-2.3.3


Week 4
09/08-09/12
Ch. 2.3.4-2.3.6


Week 5
09/15-09/19
Ch. 2.2.3



Week 6
09/22-09/26
Ch. 2.4


Week 7
09/29-10/03




Week 8
10/06-10/10




Week 9
10/13-10/17




Week 10
10/20-10/24




Week 11
10/27-10/31




Week 12
11/03-11/07




Week 13
11/10-11/14




Week 14
11/17-11/21




Week 15
11/24-11/28




Week 16
12/01-12/05