An Introduction to the New Cosmology

Mike Guidry, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This course will give an overview of cosmology with an emphasis on its newest developments, including the Cosmological Principle, the Hubble law, the big bang and inflation, dark matter and dark energy, the cosmic microwave background radiation, Type Ia supernovae and the cosmic distance scale, the history and fate of the Universe, and the Planck scale and quantum gravity. The presentation will be conceptual, with very few equations, and computer graphics will be used extensively to illustrate ideas. Although there will be a few brief allusions to more advanced aspects for the benefit of those with technical backgrounds, such allusions will be parenthetical and the main thread of the lectures should be accessible to a general audience.

Lectures

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  1. The Cosmological Principle and the Hubble Law
  2. The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
  3. Type Ia Supernovae and the Cosmic Distance Scale
  4. Cosmological Models and the Fate of the Universe
  5. The Inflationary Universe
  6. The Planck Scale and Quantum Gravity

Optional reading (popular and semi-popular level presentations)

  1. The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene.
  2. The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene.
  3. The Inflationary Universe, Alan Guth.
  4. “Misconceptions about the Big Bang”, C. H. Lineweaver and T. M. Davis, Scientific American , p. 36, March (2005).
  5. “A Cosmic Conundrum”, L. M. Krauss and M. S. Turner, Scientific American , p. 70, September (2004).
  6. “Reading the Blueprints of Creation”, M. A. Strauss, Scientific American , p. 54, February (2004).
  7. “Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerated Universe”, S. Perlmutter, Physics Today, p. 53, April (2003).
  8. “WMAP Spacecraft Maps the Entire Cosmic Microwave Sky with Unprecedented Precision”, Physics Today, p. 21, April (2003).
  9. “Dark Energy: Just What Theorists Ordered”, M. S. Turner, Physics Today, p. 10, April (2003).

Optional more technical background (advanced undergrad/beginning grad level)

  1. An Introduction to Cosmology, Barbara Ryden.
  2. Gravity, an Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity, James B. Hartle.
  3. An Introduction to Modern Cosmology (2nd ed.), Andrew Liddle.

Optional very technical background (advanced graduate level)

  1. Spacetime and Geometry, Sean Carroll.
  2. Cosmological Physics, John A. Peacock
  3. Gravitation and Cosmology, Steven Weinberg.
  4. Gravitation, C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne, and J. A. Wheeler.

Class website

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/guidry/cosmonew/