SPA6311 Physical Cosmology

Lecture 1: Introduction and a map of the universe

K. A. Malik
Astronomy Unit
School of Physics and Astronomy
Queen Mary, University of London

QMUL

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Overview of today’s lecture

1 General

2 Syllabus

3 A logarithmic map of the universe

4 The cosmological standard model

5 Definitions

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General

Lecturer: Dr K. Malik
Email: k.malik@qmul.ac.uk

Lectures: Monday 1500-1600 EB1, Tuesday 1200-1400 EB1

Exercise class: Thursday: Group A 1400-1500 E303, Group B 1500-1600 FB1

Office hours: Tuesday 1430-1530 (GO Jones Building Room 510) or by

arrangement (preferred . . . )

Course web page:

http://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3105

Weekly exercise routine: Starting in week 3.

Please hand in your work by Thursday afternoon 1600 (TBC). Please staple your
hand-in and include your name and student number on each sheet handed in.

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General

Attendance: The School will terminate college registration of students who fail
to submit coursework and do not attend tutorials and lectures.

Assessment:
80% final examination
20% for coursework

Coursework sheets will be made available on the module website.

Calculators: Only non-programmable calculators may be used in the final

examination.

Past exam papers as usual on line, exam roughly 75 % based on course work.

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Syllabus

Provisional . . .

The universe as we see it today, its size and structure. The constituents of
the universe (galaxies and galaxy clusters, dark matter etc). Cosmic length
and mass scales.
Methods of measuring astronomical and cosmological distances: the cosmic
distance ladder. Apparent and absolute magnitude and luminosity. Standard
candles in cosmology, galactic velocities and redshifts.
The expansion of the universe: the scale factor and Hubble’s law. Age and
size of the Universe. Olbers’ Paradox. Newtonian derivation of the
Friedmann equation and standard derivation of the governing equations.
Main cosmological parameters: the Hubble parameter, the critical density,
the mass-energy density, the deceleration parameter and the cosmological
constant. Geometry of the universe, its evolution and fate.

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Syllabus

The very early universe and the hot big bang. The cosmic microwave
background. Physical phenomena in the very early universe. Inflation. Late
time acceleration and dark energy.
The formation of large scale structure in the universe. The gravitational
instability, Jeans length, evolution of the density contrast in an expanding
universe (Newtonian treatment).
Outlook and recent developments.

Books
A. R. Liddle, An Introduction to Modern Cosmology, 2nd edition, Wiley

Comments: The book covers the whole course and quite a lot of other material.
There is also lots of material available on the web.

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Lecture “style”

The rest of the lecture, after today, will make minimal use of slides:
lecture written on white board,
lecture notes will be made available on the module website the following
week, probably handwritten.

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe

What does the universe look like? We need a map.

Starting on earth’s surface and ending at the edge of the visible universe

The map is enlarged on the following slides . . .

note:
I astronomical unit 1 AU= 1.5 1011 m
I parsec 1pc= 3.1 1016 m
See also website: http://www.astro.princeton.edu/universe/ (published in
the Astrophysical Journal, Gott et al., 2005, ApJ, 624, 463)
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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: near earth

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: the solar system

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: the oort cloud

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: the galaxy

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: the local group

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

A logarithmic map of the universe: large scale structure

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

The evolution of the Universe

The cosmological standard model: the evolution of the universe

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

The constituents of the universe

The cosmological standard model:

the constituents of the universe at
different times.

Image WMAP
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 A logarithmic map of the universe

The evolution of the Universe

What underlying theory or theories govern the evolution of the universe?

on small scales Quantum Field Theory (sets the initial conditions)

on large scales Einstein’s General Relativity

However, “details” – what is the dark stuff, what are the initial conditions, etc. –
still unclear: cosmology is a very active area of research!

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 A logarithmic map of the universe

Finally, definitions of cosmology

What does physical cosmology actually mean?

According to Merriam-Webster (online):
I Either a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of the

universe or a theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the

universe;
or a branch of astronomy that deals with the origin, structure, and
space-time relationships of the universe; also : a theory dealing with
these matters.
I The origin of the word cosmology stems from New Latin cosmologia,

from Greek kosmos + New Latin -logia -logy (kosmos is the ordered
universe, as opposed to chaos).
According to Wikipedia [05/01/2013]:
“Cosmology is the study of the origins and eventual fate of the universe.
Physical cosmology is the scholarly and scientific study of the origin,
evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe, as well as the natural
laws that keep it in order.”
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