Introduction to Cosmology (Paperback, 4, Revised)

Preface to First Edition xi

Preface to Second Edition xiii

Preface to Third Edition xv

Preface to Fourth Edition xvii

1 From Newton to Hubble 1

1.1 Historical Cosmology 2

1.2 Inertial Frames and the Cosmological Principle 6

1.3 Olbers’ Paradox 8

1.4 Hubble’s Law 11

1.5 The Age of the Universe 14

1.6 Matter in the Universe 16

1.7 Expansion in a Newtonian World 19

2 Special Relativity 25

2.1 Lorentz Transformations 25

2.2 Metrics of Curved Space-time 30

2.3 Relativistic Distance Measures 37

2.4 Tests of Special Relativity 45

3 General Relativity 49

3.1 The Principle of Equivalence 50

3.2 The Principle of Covariance 54

3.3 The Einstein Equation 58

3.4 Weak Field Limit 61

4 Tests of General Relativity 65

4.1 The Classical Tests 65

4.2 Binary Pulsars 67

4.3 Gravitational Lensing 69

4.4 Gravitational Waves 74

5 Cosmological Models 81

5.1 Friedmann–Lemaitre Cosmologies 81

5.2 de Sitter Cosmology 93

5.3 The Schwarzschild Model 95

5.4 Black Holes 96

5.5 Extended Gravity Models 106

6 Thermal History of the Universe 111

6.1 Planck Time 112

6.2 The Primordial Hot Plasma 112

6.3 Electroweak Interactions 121

6.4 Photon and Lepton Decoupling 128

6.5 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis 134

6.6 Baryosynthesis and Antimatter Generation 142

7 Cosmic Inflation 151

7.1 Paradoxes of the Expansion 152

7.2 Consensus Inflation 158

7.3 The Chaotic Model 165

7.4 Predictions 168

7.5 A Cyclic Universe 169

8 Cosmic Microwave Background 175

8.1 The CMB Temperature 176

8.2 Temperature Anisotropies 180

8.3 Polarization 185

8.4 Model Testing and Parameter Estimation 189

9 Dark Matter 199

9.1 Virially Bound Systems 200

9.2 Galaxies 203

9.3 Clusters 208

9.4 Merging Galaxy Clusters 211

9.5 Dark Matter Candidates 213

9.6 The Cold Dark Matter Paradigm 218

10 Cosmic Structures 223

10.1 Density Fluctuations 223

10.2 Structure Formation 228

11 Dark Energy 235

11.1 The Cosmological Constant 235

11.2 Single Field Models 238

11.3 f (R) Models 246

11.4 Extra Dimensions 248

12 Epilogue 255

Tables 257

Index 261