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Preface | |
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Constants, conversion factors and symbols | |
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A (Very) Brief History of Cosmological Ideas | |
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Observational Overview | |
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In visible light | |
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In other wavebands | |
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Homogeneity and isotropy | |
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The expansion of the Universe | |
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Particles in the Universe | |
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What particles are there? | |
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Thermal distributions and the black-body spectrum | |
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Newtonian Gravity | |
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The Friedmann equation | |
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On the meaning of the expansion | |
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Things that go faster than light | |
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The fluid equation | |
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The acceleration equation | |
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On mass, energy and vanishing factors of c[superscript 2] | |
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The Geometry of the Universe | |
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Flat geometry | |
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Spherical geometry | |
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Hyperbolic geometry | |
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Infinite and observable Universes | |
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Where did the Big Bang happen? | |
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Three values of k | |
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Simple Cosmological Models | |
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Hubble's law | |
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Expansion and redshift | |
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Solving the equations | |
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Matter | |
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Radiation | |
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Mixtures | |
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Particle number densities | |
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Evolution including curvature | |
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Observational Parameters | |
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The expansion rate H[subscript 0] | |
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The desnity parameter [Omega subscript 0] | |
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The deceleration parameter q[subscript 0] | |
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The Cosmological Constant | |
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Introducing [Lambda] | |
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Fluid description of [Lambda] | |
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Cosmological models with [Lambda] | |
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The Age of the Universe | |
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The Density of the Universe and Dark Matter | |
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Weighing the Universe | |
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Counting stars | |
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Nucleosynthesis foreshadowed | |
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Galaxy rotation curves | |
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Galaxy cluster composition | |
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Bulk motions in the Universe | |
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The formation of structure | |
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The geometry of the Universe and the brightness of supernovae | |
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Overview | |
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What might the dark matter be? | |
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Dark matter searches | |
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The Cosmic Microwave Background | |
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Properties of the microwave background | |
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The photon to baryon ratio | |
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The origin of the microwave background | |
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The origin of the microwave background (advanced) | |
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The Early Universe | |
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Nucleosynthesis: The Origin of the Light Elements | |
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Hydrogen and Helium | |
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Comparing with observations | |
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Contrasting decoupling and nucleosynthesis | |
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The Inflationary Universe | |
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Problems with the Hot Big Bang | |
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The flatness problem | |
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The horizon problem | |
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Relic particle abundances | |
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Inflationary expansion | |
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Solving the Big Bang problems | |
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The flatness problem | |
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The horizon problem | |
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Relic particle abundances | |
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How much inflation? | |
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Inflation and particle physics | |
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The Initial Singularity | |
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Overview: The Standard Cosmological Model | |
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General Relativistic Cosmology | |
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The metric of space-time | |
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The Einstein equations | |
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Aside: Topology of the Universe | |
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Classic Cosmology: Distances and Luminosities | |
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Light propagation and redshift | |
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The observable Universe | |
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Luminosity distance | |
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Angular diameter distance | |
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Source counts | |
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Neutrino Cosmology | |
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The massless case | |
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Massive neutrinos | |
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Light neutrinos | |
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Heavy neutrinos | |
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Neutrinos and structure formation | |
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Baryogenesis | |
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Structures in the Universe | |
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The observed structures | |
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Gravitational instability | |
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The clustering of galaxies | |
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Cosmic microwave background anisotropies | |
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Statistical description of anisotropies | |
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Computing the C[subscript l] | |
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Microwave background observations | |
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Spatial geometry | |
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The origin of structure | |
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Bibliography | |
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Numerical answers and hints to problems | |
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Index | |