Lecture 9: Cosmology

Further reading

• The relationship between redshift, distance, and age of the universe is not simple. Ned Wright's Cosmology Calculator http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html allows you to work out the age and distance at a given redshift. The default values (H_0 = 71 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0.27, Omega_vac = 0.73) are the generally accepted values from WMAP.
• The Millennium Simulation animations are available at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/millennium/
• Via Lactea movies of the formation of the Galaxy: http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl/movies.html
• Brian Schmidt's page on the High-z Supernova Search is at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~brian/PUBLIC/public.html
• The Nobel lectures for the 2011 Nobel prize are available at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011
• HubbleSite has a nice page about dark energy at http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/dark_energy/. There's another good description at http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/
• There's a must-read article by Charlie Lineweaver and Tamara Davis, called "Misconceptions about the Big Bang", published in Scientific American Feb 21, 2005. It's available online at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/LineweaverDavisSciAm.pdf
• Sky and Telescope published an excellent article by Camille Carlisle explaining the Planck results and how they measure the cosmological parameters: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/planck-upholds-standard-cosmology-0210201523
• Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) has a beautiful set of tweets about look-back time, at https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1066526148149108736

Source for images

• Sheets and bubbles of galaxies: from the Illustris Project http://www.illustris-project.org/explorer/
• Big bang evolution: from GSFC media http://cosmictimes.gsfc.nasa.gov/universemashup/archive/pages/big_bang.html
• Zoom of Hubble Ultra Deep Field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le3ASDvZy_s
• Olber's paradox: from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Olbers‘_Paradox.svg
• Hubble ultra-deep field: from http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/
• Redshift: from James Schombert, Galaxies and the Expanding Universe, http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec14.html
• Hubble's diagram: from http://www.astro.rug.nl/~hidding/ao/hubble.png
• Size of the observable universe: from Lineweaver and Davis, "Misconceptions about the Big Bang", Scientific American Feb 21, 2005 http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/LineweaverDavisSciAm.pdf
• Redshifted photons: from >http://eppursimuov3.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/reflections-in-cosmology-15-where-have-all-the-energy-gone
• Expansion: from "Fare thee well, Allan Sandage" by Ethan Siegel http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/11/19/fare-thee-well-allan-sandage
• Big bang: from Ethan Siegel http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/10/04/discover-the-fate-of-the-unive/
• Baryon fraction: from "Test of big bang: The light elements" http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_ele.html
• Penzias and Wilson: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Woodrow_Wilson
• COBE blackbody curve: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Background_Explorer
• Matter-antimatter annihilation: from http://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/cosmicengine/bigbang.html
• Planck image of the CMB: from ESA press release http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck/Planck_reveals_an_almost_perfect_Universe
• Inflation: from Physics World http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/21330; radius of universe, from Swinburne's COSMOS http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/C/Cosmic+Microwave+Background
• Millennium simulation: from http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/millennium/
• Universe Simulator: from the video by Andrew Pontzen http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~app26/?page=experience
• 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: from http://www2.aao.gov.au/2dFGRS/2dFzcone_big.gif
• First stars: from WMAP Concept Animations: Universe evolution http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/030651/index.html
• Quasar: painting by Don Dixon http://cosmographica.com/gallery/portfolio/portfolio301/pages/326-QuasarB.htm. Artwork copyright 2003 by Don Dixon/cosmographica.com, used with permission.
• Highest redshift quasar spectrum: from ESO press release 1122, http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1122/
• Spiderweb galaxy: from HubbleSite news release STScI-2006-45, "Hubble captures galaxy in the making"
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/45/
• Formation of the Galaxy: from the Via Lactea project http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl/movies.html
• Timeline of the universe: from http://planck.caltech.edu/epo/epo-planckScience5.html
• Composition of the universe: from http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/cosmicengine/bigbang.html
• Close-up of galaxies from the HUDF: from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/
• Fate of the universe: from Space Answers, "Will the universe be crushed or expand forever?" 
http://www.spaceanswers.com/deep-space/will-the-universe-be-crushed-or-expand-forever/
• Dark matter in Abell 1689: from Hubblesite http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/26/
• Bullet cluster animation: from CAASTRO short animations https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL83nv8UNFC0o2S2vjVXd2TmSQAf_QQB9_
• Stawell Underground Physics Lab: from https://rsv.org.au/events/the-hunt-for-dark-matter/
• Fate of the universe: from Ethan Siegel http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/10/04/discover-the-fate-of-the-unive/
• Supernova 1994D: from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9919i/
• Supernova results: from http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/supernova/HighZ.html
• Dark energy models: from Chandra field guide: Dark energy http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_energy/
• Best value for cosmic parameters: from http://supernova.lbl.gov/Union/

Back to main page

Last updated 28 November 2018