ASTR508

COSMOLOGY

THE HOT BIG BANG MODEL

Professor: Julio Navarro

List of Topics

• Physical Properties of the Hot Big Bang
• The standard model
• Time scales in the Standard Model
• Thermal History of the Universe
• Matter-Radiation Equivalence
• Recombination/Decoupling/Re-ionization
• The Cosmic Microwave Background
• Introduction
• Recombination and Decoupling
• The Physics of Recombination
• Temperature Fluctuations
• Nucleosynthesis and the Early Universe
• Nuclear Physics and Cosmology
• Neutrons and Protons
• Deuterium Synthesis
• Beyond Deuterium
• Inflation and the Very Early Universe
• The Flatness Problem
• The Horizon Problem
• The Inflation Solution

Problem Set#2