PHY574 – Cosmology
Cosmology is a field of application of physics whose object of study is the Universe as a physical object, its material or energetic content, its past history and its dynamical evolution. It is a field of research that has made extraordinary progress over the last decades thanks to the use of ever more powerful observational tools (ground-based observatories or space missions) and the emergence of new theoretical concepts inherited from the theoretical developments of the 20th century. These constructions have taken shape in the "hot big-bang" model whose predictions have now been verified with great accuracy.
Thus, we can now trace the history of the Universe from its earliest moments to the present. This history leads us to explore the successive phases under which matter exists. The study of the dynamics of the Universe also allows us to understand how the large structure of the Universe, galaxies, clusters of galaxies or superclusters of galaxies, results from the gravitational instability operating in a medium initially composed of density perturbations of very low magnitude. Furthermore, a theoretical paradigm has been put forward to explain the origin of these density perturbations, the so-called "inflation". A detailed modeling of this phase remains however to be built. Finally, we should mention that observations show that most of the energy content of the Universe is composed of "dark matter" (invisible) and "dark energy", whose nature and origin are still not understood. The coming years will perhaps bring elements of answers to these questions, as well as precious information on the fundamental physics governing the laws of gravitation and other interactions.
This course therefore offers an introduction to modern cosmology through a series of seven lectures of about two hours each, supplemented by presentations by outside speakers, tutorials, and personal research on a topic of the student's choice.
Course outline:
1- Introduction to modern cosmology
2- The great structures of the universe (2 parts)
3- The origin of structures, inflation (2 parts)
4- From primordial metric fluctuations to observations (2 parts)
Bibliographic reference:
« Cosmologie : des fondements théoriques aux observations » de F. Bernardeau, in French
• Editeur : EDP Sciences (11 octobre 2007)
• Collection : Savoirs actuels
« Primordial cosmology », by Jean-Philippe Uzan and Patrick Peter
- Editor: OUP Oxford, 2013
Level required : PHY430 - Advanced quantum physics and PHY433 - Statistical physics
Course language : French and English
ECTS credits : 5