: Observational Cosmology :: Unit 1 :: (2024)

Introduction

You should aim to complete this unit in two weeks. Below I give a syllabus for the unit, together with guidance on where you can find relevant material beyond Jaffe's textbook. You should work your way through this syllabus, making yourself a set of notes as you go. Remember that you will be able to take these notes into the final examination with you. A set of self-test problems with solutions, is also provided. You can use these to assess your understanding of the unit. Finally, we will have a discussion class on Cosmological Concepts.

You could spend an almost unlimited amount of time reading and constructing your notes for this unit. This would be a very bad idea, and you will have to be disciplined and well-organised. As a guide to the time you should spend, note that each lecture course is assumed to involve a total of 100 student "effort hours", of which approximately 25 hours might be used for exam revision on a typical course. In the case of Observational Cosmology, 30% of the credit is awarded for three assessed exercises, and it is assumed that you might spend 4 hours on each of these. The exam has been shortened to 90 minutes as a result. A reasonable allocation of study time for each unit is therefore about 12 hours (plus the lectures for the unit). Unit 1 is comparatively straightforward, so you might want to contain yourself to around 10 hours. This time should be used to

• Research the material using the guide in the section below,
• Compile a concise set of notes (perhaps 10-15 sides for this unit),
• Check your understanding with the self-test problems

Remember to bring the notes you have made from your reading to the lectures and discussion classes. You will need them.

Syllabus and source

In this unit we will introduce some concepts but mostly we will look at the basic observational evidence supporting the basic Hot Big Bang picture which is now accepted by almost all cosmologists. The three most important planks are the expansion of the universe, the cosmic microwave background, and the evidence from the abundance of the light elements which are believed to have been synthesised in the hot early Universe. I suggest that you research these in the order givenbelow:

Notes

1. Key: RR=Rowan-Robinson (4th edition), L1=Liddle(1st edition), L2=Liddle(2nd edition), L3 =Liddle(3rd Edition), NW=Ned Wright's pages , MW=Martin White's pages- relevant sections are given in brackets. In most cases, the 3rd edition of Rowan-Robinson is very similar to the 4th.
2. The topics listed are not of equal size (the last 3 are the largest).
3. References given are not by any means the only ones (e.g. check out some of the suggested reading material and other references) but they should provide a reasonable treatment.
4. For the more complex topics (such as the distance scale) it pays to consult several sources and to synthesise the results. This takes longer, but should result in a better understanding.