ABSTRACT

Written by an award-winning cosmologist, this brand new textbook provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students with coverage of the very latest developments in the observational science of cosmology. The book is separated into three parts; part I covers particle physics and general relativity, part II explores an account of the known history of the universe, and part III studies inflation. Full treatment of the origin of structure, scalar fields, the cosmic microwave background and the early universe are provided.

Problems are included in the book with solutions provided in a separate solutions manual. More advanced extension material is offered in the Appendix, ensuring the book is fully accessible to students with a wide variety of background experience.

Features:

  • Incorporates the latest experimental results, at a time of rapid change in the field
  • Explores the origin of structure and the Cosmic Microwave Background
  • Includes an extensive number of problems and a corresponding solutions manual

part |2 pages

SECTION I: Physics

chapter 1|8 pages

Particle physics

chapter 2|10 pages

Curved spacetime

chapter 3|10 pages

General Relativity

part |2 pages

SECTION II: The Big Bang

chapter 4|8 pages

The present Universe

chapter 5|8 pages

A first look at the history

chapter 6|6 pages

Energy density of the Universe

chapter 7|10 pages

Thermal equilibrium

chapter 8|6 pages

Friedmann equation

chapter 9|6 pages

The geometry of the Universe

chapter 10|8 pages

Newtonian perturbations

chapter 11|10 pages

Relativistic perturbations

chapter 12|6 pages

Scalar perturbations

chapter 13|6 pages

Baryon acoustic oscillation

chapter 14|10 pages

CMB anisotropy

chapter 15|6 pages

Galaxy formation

part |2 pages

SECTION III: Inflation

chapter 16|8 pages

Scalar fields: Classical theory

chapter 17|6 pages

Quantum theory of a free field

chapter 18|6 pages

Inflation

chapter 19|6 pages

Perturbations from inflation

chapter 20|6 pages

Prehistory of the Big Bang