Astronomy 129
An Introduction to Cosmology
 

Main

Instructor: Chris Burns
cburns1@swarthmore.edu
(610) 328-8252

Science Building, room 123

There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
— Douglas Adams

Welcome to the course webpage for Astronomy-129, a one-time-only seminar being offered in the Spring 2005 term. Cosmology, I'd argue, is the oldest of the sciences. It's one of the first things we, as a sentient species, wanted to know: where did we (and by extension, everything else) come from? Once you start down that road, it's a slippery slope to other questions: where is it all going? Will it be here forever? Is there anything outside it? And of course: how can we, mere mortals who live for a tiny insignificant fraction of the history of the Universe, possibly know? Well, we do our best and this course will be an introduction to how modern-day cosmologists tackle these questions.

If you are thinking of taking the course, here are a few things you might want to know (of course, there's no substitution for stopping by my office and asking me in person). First, we will touch only superficially on general relativity. Turns out that you can get pretty far with Newtonian gravity and some hand-waving (we cosmologists are experts at that!). Second, the requirements for this (and any other Astro seminar) is astro-16. Having taken physics-50 will help with things like diff-eq's, but is not required. Promise. Third, I've chosen a textbook: Introduction to Cosmology by Barbara Ryden, Addison Wesley. Have a look at it on Amazon.com to get an idea of price (currently $60). Here's a list of topics we'll cover:

  • Current observations
  • Intro to concepts of general relativity
  • The dynamics of the Universe: Friedmann equations
  • Properties of different possible universes
  • Observations and constraints on cosmological parameters
  • Dark Matter and Dark Energy
  • The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
  • Early universe and nucleosynthesis
  • Inflation
  • Formation of structure
  • Exotics: cosmic strings, topological defeccts, multiverses, or any other wierdness you guys dig up in ApJ.
I'll flesh this page out more as the semester progresses, so come back if you're interested.