This course will have its focus on structure formation in cosmology. I also expect that you are comfortable with programming in your language of choice.
The main textbook for this course is Peacock: Cosmological Physics, Cambridge 1999 and is generally available in any good book store.
Peacock is a very, sometimes frustratingly, broad book and so for more detail on the various subjects the following references may be helpful
There will be
weekly problem sets
and a
final project.
For a final project you may work in groups of <5 people on any of the following
(a) Core of a
Particle Mesh N-Body code.
(b) Core of a
Einstein-Boltzmann (linear theory) code.
(c) Core of a
Halo Model (dark matter power spectrum, galaxy
occupation) code.
The preferred method of submission of the final project is to present
it as a web page. Previous year's examples
The following problems sets takes you through the minimum requirements for the final project for the various groups. They also contain suggestions for extensions for extra credit.
Inflation groups:
Problem Set 1
Problem Set 2
Problem Set 3 (final goals described)
Boltzmannn groups:
Problem Set 1
Problem Set 2
Problem Set 3
Problem Set 4 (final goals described)
N-body groups:
Andrey Kravtsov's Notes
Halo model groups:
Problem Set 1 (some typos corrected 6/1)
Problem Set 2
Problem Set 3
Problem Set 4 (final goals described; typos
corrected 5/31)
Lecture notes may be updated as we go through the course - so you may want to only download those for the current week.
Week 1:
Friedmann Robertson Walker (FRW) Cosmology: P-Ch-3 & 5
Lecture Notes 1
Week 2:
Matter in the Universe: P-Ch-12
Kinetic theory in an expanding universe: P-Ch-9
Lecture Notes 2
Week 3:
Inhomogeneous fields and linear perturbation theory:
P-Ch-15.1-15.6;
P-Ch-16.1-16.3
Lecture Notes 3
Week 4:
Inflationary Cosmology: P-Ch-11
Lecture Notes 4
Week 5:
Cosmic Microwave Background: P-Ch-18
Lecture Notes 5
Week 6:
Large Scale Structure P-Ch-15.X
Lecture Notes 6
Week 7:
Spherical collapse and mass functions: P-Ch-15.7-8; 16.4; 17.2
Lecture Notes 7
Week 8:
Bias and the halo model: P-Ch-15.7-8; 16.4; 17.2
Lecture Notes 8