The observational and theoretical bases of Cosmology. The standard cosmological model. The thermal history of the universe. Nucleosynthesis. The growth of perturbations and the fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background. Measurement of cosmological parameters.
Course notes provided by the teacher which include all the material presented during classes.
M. Longair “Galaxy Formation”, Springer
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: the physical bases of cosmology and structure formation with special regard to galaxy formation.
Competence acquired: to be able to perform simple analyses of observations and built simple physical models related to structure and galaxy formation.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): to be able to follow seminars and read literature papers; to be able to perform simple analysis and physical modeling of observational data related to structure and galaxy formation.
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)
Courses required: none
Courses recommended:
Astrofisica, Introduzione all’astrofisica (triennale)
Teaching Methods
CFU: 6
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc.): 150
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Further information
Office hours:
On request
Prof. Alessandro Marconi
Prof. Stefania Salvadori
Physics & Astronomy Department
email:
alessandro.marconi@unifi.it
stefania.salvadori@unifi.it
http://www.arcetri.inaf.it/marconi
Type of Assessment
Oral exam. The student will be asked to present a few specific topics of the course program. The student will have to use an appropriate language, demonstrating his/her comprehension of the main physical processes and of the consequences of the starting assumptions. More specific questions might be asked to better assess the student’s comprehension level. The student will have to be able to perform simple order-of-magnitude calculations but also to fully develop the mathematical model, if this has been presented during classes.
Course program
Observational bases of cosmology: large scale structure, cosmic microwave background, Hubble Law. Theoretical bases: curvature of space and metrics, Friedman’s equation and their properties, cosmological parameters. The standar cosmological model. The thermal history of the universe. Coupling of matter and radiation, recombination. Nucleosynthesis. The build up and evolution of primordial fluctuations. The importance of dark matter. Recombination: the cosmic microwave backgrounds and its fluctuations. Analysis of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave radiation.