---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Astroparticle physics, Master course, 5p, spring 2004, Lp IV
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Course codes: CTH: FKA 175 and GU: AS 3700
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Literature: "Cosmology and particle astrophysics",
by Lars Bergström and Ariel Goobar (BG)
(Springer 2004 or Wiley 1999);
lecture notes and review articles from the net.
Another pedagogical account of cosmology without general relativity is
"An introduction to modern cosmology", by A. Liddle (Wiley 2003)
(this book is less advanced than Bergström and Goobar and covers only about half the
of the topics included in the course).
Additional (more advanced) literature:
Andrei Linde(AL): "Particle physics and inflationary cosmology"
Kolb and Turner(KT): "The early universe"
Collins, Martin and Squires(CMS): "Particle physics and cosmology"
M.S. Longair(MSL): "Galaxy formation"
Content:
the Universe we observe, cosmology, the Hot Big Bang model and inflation,
cosmic microwave
background radiation, cosmic rays,
elements of the standard model, baryon asymmetry, neutrino oscillations,
the electro-weak phase transition and monopoles. Aspects of de Sitter
and quintessence.
Examination: Home problems and an oral exam.
Lecturer:
Bengt EW Nilsson :bengt.nilsson@fy.chalmers.se
---------------------------------------------------------
Schedule
---------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION MEETING: Monday, March 15, 10.00,
in Origo 6115
Schedule for lectures:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10.00-12.00
Course schedule:
Weeks 12-14 (March 15-April 4):
Introductory material from Bergström and Goobar (BG):
Chapters 1-6, and Appendices A, B, C and D (the important points in the
appendices will be specified in the lectures) .
Weeks 15-16: Easter holiday
Weeks 17-20 (April 19-May 16):
Advanced material from BG: chapters 7-15.
Week 21 (May 17-19):
Oral exam
Detailed work plan
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
1ST WEEK (Week 12): Intro meeting: Monday March 15, 10.00-12.00
Introduction to cosmology, and review of special and general relativity,
lagrangians and hamiltonians.
Lecture 1: Introduction to cosmology
Read Chapter 1 in BG and lecture notes.
Lecture 2: Lagrangians and hamiltoinians in classical mechanics and scalar field theory.
Read Appendix B in BG and lecture notes.
Lecture 3: Special and general relativity
Read Chapters 2 and 3, and Appendix A in BG, and lecture notes on Einstein-Hilbert action.
Home problems: BG 1.1-1.4, 2.1, 2.3, 2.12, 3.1, 3.4 and A.3.
Important points: The electromagnetic field strength F,
and different forms of stress tensors, the Robertson-Walker metric.
N.B. Home problems are to be handed in no later than March 26.
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
2ND WEEK (Week 13): Cosmological models and gravitational lensing
Lecture 4: Cosmological models
Read Chapter 4, sections 4.1-4.3 in BG.
Lecture 5: Determination of cosmological parameters and Gravitational lensing
Read BG sections 4.4-4.7 and in Sahni's review article
"Dark matter and dark energy"
sections 2.1, 2.2 and chap 3. Section 2.3 on "Quintessence" will be discussed later after having covered BG chapter 6.
Read also chapter 5 in BG briefly and note the relevance in the search for dark matter.
Read also briefly Chapter 1 in "Dark matter and dark energy" (link above)
to get a better feeling for the dark matter problem.
If you are interested: For additional reading on the Cosmological constant problem see the review by Peebles
"The cosmological constant and dark energy"
and the research paper
"Testing the cosmological constant as a candidate for dark energy".
You may also check out the very recent article by Tom Banks in Physics Today
May 2004, p. 46.
Home problems: 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.8, 4.13, 4.14, and 5.4
Important points:
page 72, fig 4.2, sect 4.3.2, figures 4.3, 4.5 and 4.6 and the
theory needed to understand them, sect 4.7 (all in the new edition of BG).
N.B. Home problems are to be handed in no later than April 23.
----------------------------------------------------------------
3RD WEEK (Week 14): Cont. from last week: chap 5, and introduction to Particles and fields, BG chap 6.
Lecture 6: Chap 4 last part, and cosm lensing, chap 5.
For details see Lecture 5.
Lecture 7: Bosonic and fermionic fields, and some quantum field theory
Study BG Chap 6, App B, App C (here the important points will be specified
and explained in the lecture):
important sections in Chap 6: 6.3, 6.4, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10 and 6.13, but read
all other sections except 6.11 where only expressions for and physics of
Thomson and Compton scattering are important,
App B: all Sects important, App C: see lecture notes
Home problems: None!
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
Week 15: Pre-Easter holiday
Week 16: Easter holiday
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
4TH WEEK (Week 17): The electroweak sector of the Standard Model of
elementary particle physics:
The matter-antimatter asymmetry and neutrino oscillations.
Lecture 8: More on QFT and spin 1/2 quantum fields: Mass matrices.
Read: BG Sections 6.1-6.10, and 9.1, and from
CMS sections 4.1 to 4.7 of which the important ones are only 4.6 and 4.7
(copies will be handed out).
Lecture 9: Neutrino oscillations and cosmic strings etc
Read: BG Chap 14, in particular sections 14.6 and 14.7, and Chapter 7.
See also Chap 1 and 2 in the review article by Buchmuller
"Neutrinos, grand unification and leptogenesis"
and for the latest on neutrino masses the article
"Neutrino cosmology - an update" by Steen Hannestad
Home problems: BG problems 14.3, 14.6 and 14.8
N.B. Home problems are to be handed in no later than May 7.
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
5TH WEEK (Week 18):
Thermodynamics and thermal relics from the Big Bang
Lecture 10: Thermodynamics in the universe
Read: BG Chapter 8 and the lecture notes
Lecture 11: Thermal relics, freeze out,
recombination and decoupling.
Read BG Chapter 9, and the lecture notes.
Home problems:
BG problems 9.4 and 9.5
N.B. Home problems are to be handed in no later than May 14.
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
6th WEEK (Week 19): Inflation and CMB
NOTE: lectures this week on Tuesday 9.00-12.00 and Friday 10.00-12.00
Lecture 12: The problems with the accelerating universe inflation and quintessence
Read BG Chap10 and lecture notes,
plus section 2.3 and the conclusions in Chapter 3 in Sahni's review
"Dark matter and dark energy".
If you want more details on inflation you may consult the review by Riotta, chapter 1-4
"Inflation and the theory of cosmological perturbations".
Riotta's article will be used also in week 7.
For a discussion of possible connections between inflation and quintessence,
see the paper by Sami and Dadhich
"Unifying brane world inflation with quintessence".
Lecture 13: CMB, cosmic rays
Read BG chapter 11
Home problems:
BG problems 10.3 and 11.2
N.B. Home problems are to be handed in no later than May 14.
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
7TH WEEK (Week 20): Advanced topic: Inflation and cosmological perturbations in anti-de Sitter general relativity
Read: Appendix E in BG, and have a look at Riotta's review which we will
use a lot
"Inflation and the theory of cosmological perturbations".
Lecture 14: Relativistic cosmological perturbations
Lecture 15: cont., and discussion of de Sitter space and the question of the vacuum.
Home problems: None
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
8TH WEEK (Week 21): Examination week
Obligatory oral exam: schedule a time with me as soon as possible.
Possible times are:
May 17-19, from 09.00 to 18.00 and May 24 from 13.00 to 20.00
Requirements:
Home problems: passing the course requires 50% of the problems solved,
and for top grades a good result on the oral is needed.
Master thesis work in Astroparticle physics:
Send me an email as soon as possible if you are interested
(even if you have already discussed it with me or some other supervisor
in theoretical physics).
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
BELOW : From the 2003 COURSE: Project topics
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
PROJECT TOPICS
Work done in groups of two to four students
I. Inflationary models and quintessence (Daniel Lindroth, Daniel Sunhede)
Main project literature: J. Maldacena, astro-ph/0210603 (2002)
See also: Kamionkowski and Kosowsky, astro-ph/9904108 (1999)
Dvali et al, astro-ph/0303591 (2003)
Brandenberger, astro-ph/0208103 (2002)
II. de Sitter and quantum field theory (Ulrik Svensson)
Main project literature: Spradlin, Strominger and Volovich, hep-th/0110007
and Kim et al, 0212326.
See also: Witten, hep-th/0106109
Strominger, hep-th/0106113
III. Neutrino oscillations (Oscar Agertz and Rikard Sandström)
Main project literature: Gonzalez-Garcia, hep-ph/0202058
See also: Buchmuller et al, hep-ph/0205349
Elwood, Irges and Ramond, hep-ph/9807228
Lindner et al, hep-ph/0103170
Frampton et al, hep-ph/0208157
IV. UHECR (ultra high energy cosmic rays)
V. Gravitational lensing and dark matter (Eddie Berntsson)
Main project literature: Gunnarsson, Lic thesis 2003
V. Gravitational lensing and dark matter (Eddie Berntsson)
Main project literature: Gunnarsson, Lic thesis 2003