Phys730 Course “Particle Astrophysics and
Advanced Cosmology”
Instructor: Elena Pierpaoli, pierpaol@usc.edu , SHS 371, tel:
(213)740-1117
Office hours: by appointment
Times and location: Tue/Thur 9:30-10:50am, in SOSB38
Textbook: there is no required textbook. Possibly useful for
specific topics are:
0) "Modern Cosmology", by Scott Dodelson
1) J. Peacock “Cosmological Physics“
2) V. Mukhanov "Physical foundations of Cosmology"
3) Sean M. Carroll "an introduction to general relativity spacetime and geometry"
4) Peter Schneider “Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology“
5) Kolb and Turner “The early Universe”
6) Particle Dark Matter: Observations, Models and Searches" edited
by G. Bertone
Grading: 66% participation in class, 33% final presentation on a
specific project.
Homework policy: There will be homework assigned during the
course. We will discuss solutions in class and your effort in
solving exercises will be considered as part of the final grade.
Exam policy: There will be no formal written exams. Students are
expected to participate in the lectures, which will include
exercises at the blackboard carried out by students.
Collaboration policy: For the homework, you are encouraged to
discuss the problems with other students. Best if this is only
done in general terms, so that you derive your own solutions.
Phys730 Program
We effectively have 15 weeks. We will divide them as follows: 13.5
weeks of lectures and exercises in class and 1.5 for special
topics (your presentations and relative discussion).
Program
Week 1 – Particle dark matter - models
Week 2 – Particle dark matter – observations
Week 3 – Structure formation – linear and non-linear power
spectrum
Week 4 – Structure Formation - spherical collapse model, bias,
correlation functions
Week 5 – Galaxy clusters – theoretical aspects
Week 6 – Galaxy clusters – scaling relations
Week 7 – Galaxy clusters: observations
Week 8 – Velocity fields
Week 9 – Stong and weak lensing
Week 10 – The Cosmic Microwave Background: secondary anisotropies
Week 11 – Statistical treatment of large scale structure data
Week 12 – Models for recent accelerated expansion
Week 13 – Non-gaussianity: primordial and observed