Time and place: lectures are Thursdays from 3 to 5 pm in T125; discussion sessions on Mondays at 1 pm in T125.

Course aims: The main aim of PH3930 is to provide an overview of very early cosmology and to examine the connections -- experimental and theoretical -- between the physics of the early universe and particle physics. In addition the course will provide an overview of astrophysical particle sources, including their experimental investigation and what they can teach us about particle physics and cosmology.

Syllabus: A tentative outline of the course in ps or pdf format.

Lecture notes: notes covering most of the material in the course will be distributed as we go along.

Books: Most of the course material is covered in

Lars Bergstroem and Ariel Goobar, Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, Wiley, 1999.

A. Guth, The Inflationary Universe, Vintage, 1998;

S. Weinberg, The First Three Minutes, BasicBooks, 1993;

M.S. Longair, High Energy Astrophysics, CUP, 1994;

J.V. Narlikar and F. Hoyle Introduction to Cosmology, CUP, 1993.

H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus and K. Zuber, Particle Astrophysics, IOP, 1997;

G.Boerner, The Early Universe: Facts and Fiction, Springer, 1988.

Some web resources:

• David Schramm's Universe, Physics Reports vol. 333-334, No 1-6, 2000.
  
• Cosmology at the millennium by Michael S. Turner and J. Anthony Tyson, Rev. Mod. Phys. 71 (1999) S145. An html version of the paper is available.
• Big-bang nucleosynthesis enters the precision era by David N. Schramm and Michael S. Turner, Rev. Mod. Phys. 70 (1998) 303.
• Home page of the Supernova Cosmology Project.
• The home page of the Super-Kamiokande experiment.
  
• The baryon asymmetry of the universe: A good overview can be found in a web site by A. Flournoy (University of Colorado).
  
• The Cambridge Relativity public home page (tutorials on the hot big bang, galaxies and clusters, relic radiation, cosmic strings, inflation, etc.).
• The home pages of the CMBR experiments MAP and PLANCK.
• Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Fundamental Physics, by M. Turner, astro-ph/9912211. (Click on "other formats" to get pdf.)
• Dark Matter: Motivation, Candidates and Searches, by G.G.Raffelt, in CERN 98-03, Proceedings of the 1997 European School of High Energy Physics.
• Article The Search for Dark Matter by Nigel Smith and Neil Spooner, Physics World, January 2000.
• A description of cosmic ray acceleration by supernova remnants, from NASA's "Imagine the Universe!" site. For more information, go to their search page and search for "cosmic rays", or look at their cosmic ray resource page.
  
• Cosmic Rays at the Energy Frontier, a Scientific American article by J. Cronin, T. Gaisser and S. Swordy.
  
• The HiRes Fly's Eye cosmic ray experiment in Utah.
• The Pierre Auger Observatory for ultra-high energy cosmic ray air showers.
• Neutrino Physics at the Cross Roads, by G.Raffelt, hep-ph/9902271. (Click on "other formats" to get pdf.)
  
• Neutrino Astronomy: First Light -- Using the South Pole Ice Cap, by R. Morse ( gzipped ps, pdf).
• The Solar Neutrino Problem by Bruce Scott and John Bahcall.
• Information on solar neutrinos from John Bahcall's home page.

Problem sheets:

Problem sheets are a vital part of this course and will form 10% of the course mark. They should be handed in by 5:00 p.m. on the announced due date and can be turned in either in my pigeon hole or in my office, W262. Late submissions will be corrected, but no marks will normally be credited unless the delay is agreed with GDC before the deadline. If you are away ill, you should see me on your return.