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Lern- und Qualifikationsziele
Students will at the end of the course be familiar with how the Universe can be used as a laboratory to probe fundamental physics, and why such observations have led to our current worldview based on the Big Bang, dark matter and dark energy.
Exercises will develop data analysis methods applicable to most research areas.
Voraussetzungen
This course assumes some familiarity with statistical tests, and a background knowledge in astronomy is advantageous. A previous course in General Relativity is *not* required.
Exercises will carried out through python notebooks.
Gliederung / Themen / Inhalte
Cosmology is one of the most active research areas within modern physics and astronomy. The Humboldt University of Berlin offers two courses in Cosmology during WS2021 that together provide an in-depth overview:
- Theoretical cosmology (ID 4020215154) uses tools from General Relativity to derive mathematical methods to describe a Universe evolving from an initial Big Bang.
- Observational cosmology (this course, ID 4020215137) demonstrates how we can constrain these models through observations of our Universe (stars, galaxies and supernovae) and prove the existence of e.g. Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Students can choose to take part in both, or only one of these courses. Course segments in both courses will be interleaved to demonstrate the continuous interplay between theory and experimental developments, and have the same lecture hours. Students only taking part of the observational course will be provided with a summary of the required theory.
Topics of the course in Observational Cosmology include:
- How supernovae can be used as cosmological lighthouses to measure the accelerated expansion of the Universe caused by dark energy.
- How elemental abundances observed today can be used to constrain physics right after the Big Bang, at energy scales inaccessible in labs at earth.
- What dynamics of moving astronomical objects tell us about the presence of dark matter.
- How the structure we observe around us developed from primordial quantum fields.
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