2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Science Department of Physics Graduate major in Physics
Cosmology
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Physics
- Instructor(s)
- Teruaki Suyama
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Fri
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- PHY.F431
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 1Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
I will explain the basics of modern cosmology based on physics.
Students will realize the greatness of the progress and achievements the humans have made to know about the Universe which is seemingly far beyond our experience.
Course description and aims
[Objectives] To understand the basics of cosmology.
[Topics] This course will cover homogeneous and isotropic Universe, cosmological parameters, thermal history, inflation, and generation of the primordial perturbations.
Keywords
Bigbang cosmology, inflation, primordial fluctuations
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Lectures will be given in English.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Overview of the Universe | to understand the hierarchical structure of the Universe |
| Class 2 | Expansion of the Universe-I | to derive the Friedmann equation |
| Class 3 | Expansion of the Universe-II | to understand the relation between the equation of state of matter and the expansion law of the Universe |
| Class 4 | Cosmological parameters | to learn the constituents of the Universe |
| Class 5 | Thermal history | to understand the creation of the light elements in the early Universe |
| Class 6 | Problems in bigbang cosmology | to convince yourself that the present Universe looks very unnatural |
| Class 7 | Inflation and generation of primordial perturbations | to derive the slow-roll conditions |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterward for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
none
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Lyth, Liddle, 「The Primordial Density Perturbation」、Cambridge University Press
Evaluation methods and criteria
evaluated by final exam.
Related courses
- PHY.F432 ： Astrophysics
- PHY.F353 ： General Relativity
Prerequisites
general relativity