Precision Cosmology

The First Half Million Years

Bernard J. T. Jones (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

774 Seiten

2017
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-55433-6 (ISBN)

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Describing the development of modern cosmology in a thorough and didactic way, this book is enlivened by engaging historical notes and extensive online supplementary material. It explores cosmology's physical and mathematical basis, and how we interpret data from supernovae, galaxy distributions and the cosmic microwave background using modern statistical methods.

Cosmology seeks to characterise our Universe in terms of models based on well-understood and tested physics. Today we know our Universe with a precision that once would have been unthinkable. This book develops the entire mathematical, physical and statistical framework within which this has been achieved. It tells the story of how we arrive at our profound conclusions, starting from the early twentieth century and following developments up to the latest data analysis of big astronomical datasets. It provides an enlightening description of the mathematical, physical and statistical basis for understanding and interpreting the results of key space- and ground-based data. Subjects covered include general relativity, cosmological models, the inhomogeneous Universe, physics of the cosmic background radiation, and methods and results of data analysis. Extensive online supplementary notes, exercises, teaching materials, and exercises in Python make this the perfect companion for researchers, teachers and students in physics, mathematics, and astrophysics.

Bernard J. T. Jones is Emeritus Professor in Astronomy at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Preface; Notation and conventions; Part I. 100 Years of Cosmology: 1. Emerging cosmology; 2. The cosmic expansion; 3. The cosmic microwave background; 4. Recent cosmology; Part II. Newtonian Cosmology: 5. Newtonian cosmology; 6. Dark energy cosmological models; 7. The early universe; 8. The inhomogeneous universe; 9. The inflationary universe; Part III. Relativistic Cosmology: 10. Minkowski space; 11. The energy momentum tensor; 12. General relativity; 13. Space-time geometry and calculus; 14. The Einstein field equations; 15. Solutions of the Einstein equations; 16. The Robertson–Walker solution; 17. Congruences, curvature and Raychaudhuri; 18. Observing and measuring the universe; Part IV. The Physics of Matter and Radiation: 19. Physics of the CMB radiation; 20. Recombination of the primeval plasma; 21. CMB polarisation; 22. CMB anisotropy; Part V. Precision Tools for Precision Cosmology: 23. Likelihood; 24. Frequentist hypothesis testing; 25. Statistical inference: Bayesian; 26. CMB data processing; 27. Parametrising the universe; 28. Precision cosmology; 29. Epilogue; Appendix A. SI, CGS and Planck units; Appendix B. Magnitudes and distances; Appendix C. Representing vectors and tensors; Appendix D. The electromagnetic field; Appendix E. Statistical distributions; Appendix F. Functions on a sphere; Appendix G. Acknowledgements; References; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	20.4.2017
Zusatzinfo	12 Tables, black and white; 52 Halftones, black and white; 69 Line drawings, black and white
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	193 x 253 mm
Gewicht	1820 g
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
ISBN-10	0-521-55433-0 / 0521554330
ISBN-13	978-0-521-55433-6 / 9780521554336
Zustand	Neuware