Physics of the Universe: Origin & Evolution

The course is the first of a two-semester survey (along with PHY 564) of fundamental concepts which underly contemporary cosmology. The first semester focuses on the nearly homogeneous evolution of the universe including the standard big bang picture, inflationary cosmology, dark matter, and the possibility of present-day accelerated expansion. The second semester focuses on the late stages in the evolution of the universe, when gravity results in the growth of large-scale structure, perturbations in the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing and other non-linear phenomena.