Precision Cosmology: The First Half Million Years
Cambridge University Press, 4/20/2017
EAN 9780521554336, ISBN10: 0521554330
Hardcover, 774 pages, 24.8 x 19.7 x 4.4 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Cosmology seeks to characterise our Universe in terms of models based on well-understood and tested physics. Today we know our Universe with a precision that once would have been unthinkable. This book develops the entire mathematical, physical and statistical framework within which this has been achieved. It tells the story of how we arrive at our profound conclusions, starting from the early twentieth century and following developments up to the latest data analysis of big astronomical datasets. It provides an enlightening description of the mathematical, physical and statistical basis for understanding and interpreting the results of key space- and ground-based data. Subjects covered include general relativity, cosmological models, the inhomogeneous Universe, physics of the cosmic background radiation, and methods and results of data analysis. Extensive online supplementary notes, exercises, teaching materials, and exercises in Python make this the perfect companion for researchers, teachers and students in physics, mathematics, and astrophysics.
Preface
Notation and conventions
Part I. 100 Years of Cosmology
1. Emerging cosmology
2. The cosmic expansion
3. The cosmic microwave background
4. Recent cosmology
Part II. Newtonian Cosmology
5. Newtonian cosmology
6. Dark energy cosmological models
7. The early universe
8. The inhomogeneous universe
9. The inflationary universe
Part III. Relativistic Cosmology
10. Minkowski space
11. The energy momentum tensor
12. General relativity
13. Space-time geometry and calculus
14. The Einstein field equations
15. Solutions of the Einstein equations
16. The Robertson–Walker solution
17. Congruences, curvature and Raychaudhuri
18. Observing and measuring the universe
Part IV. The Physics of Matter and Radiation
19. Physics of the CMB radiation
20. Recombination of the primeval plasma
21. CMB polarisation
22. CMB anisotropy
Part V. Precision Tools for Precision Cosmology
23. Likelihood
24. Frequentist hypothesis testing
25. Statistical inference
Bayesian
26. CMB data processing
27. Parametrising the universe
28. Precision cosmology
29. Epilogue
Appendix A. SI, CGS and Planck units
Appendix B. Magnitudes and distances
Appendix C. Representing vectors and tensors
Appendix D. The electromagnetic field
Appendix E. Statistical distributions
Appendix F. Functions on a sphere
Appendix G. Acknowledgements
References
Index.