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Summary
Summary
This is the 2nd edition of a highly successful title on this fascinating and complex subject. Concentrating primarily on the theory behind the origin and the evolution of the universe, and where appropriate relating it to observation, the new features of the this addition include: An overall introduction to the book Two new chapters: Gravitational Lensing and Gravitational Waves Each part has a collection of exercises with solutions to numerical parts at the end of the book Contains a table of physical constants The addition of a consolidated bibilography
Author Notes
Peter Coles was born in 1963. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and his doctorate from the University of Sussex. He is a professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University. His primary subject of interest is Cosmology and he has written numerous books on the subject.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews 1
Choice Review
The publisher's blurb describes this book well: "[It provides] a unique bridge between introductory and advanced material. It is accessible to advanced undergraduates and beginning postgraduates, but also contains a wealth of material which will be of great interest to more established researchers in the field." Coles and Lucchin overview different models of the universe and discuss the big bang and the origin of structure in the universe in great detail. At the end, they compare these theories with observational data in an unusually thoughtful manner for a book devoted primarily to theory. The writing is clear, authoritative, and concise, and there is a good list of references. The book would have been even more valuable if it had included problems and more illustrations. Recommended for libraries supporting astronomy programs at the upper-division undergraduate level and higher. T. Barker Wheaton College (MA)
Table of Contents
Preface to First Edition | p. xi |
Preface to Second Edition | p. xix |
Part 1 Cosmological Models | p. 1 |
1 First Principles | p. 3 |
1.1 The Cosmological Principle | p. 3 |
1.2 Fundamentals of General Relativity | p. 6 |
1.3 The Robertson-Walker Metric | p. 9 |
1.4 The Hubble Law | p. 13 |
1.5 Redshift | p. 16 |
1.6 The Deceleration Parameter | p. 17 |
1.7 Cosmological Distances | p. 18 |
1.8 The m-z and N-z Relations | p. 20 |
1.9 Olbers' Paradox | p. 22 |
1.10 The Friedmann Equations | p. 23 |
1.11 A Newtonian Approach | p. 24 |
1.12 The Cosmological Constant | p. 26 |
1.13 Friedmann Models | p. 29 |
2 The Friedmann Models | p. 33 |
2.1 Perfect Fluid Models | p. 33 |
2.2 Flat Models | p. 36 |
2.3 Curved Models: General Properties | p. 38 |
2.3.1 Open models | p. 39 |
2.3.2 Closed models | p. 40 |
2.4 Dust Models | p. 40 |
2.4.1 Open models | p. 41 |
2.4.2 Closed models | p. 41 |
2.4.3 General properties | p. 42 |
2.5 Radiative Models | p. 43 |
2.5.1 Open models | p. 43 |
2.5.2 Closed models | p. 44 |
2.5.3 General properties | p. 44 |
2.6 Evolution of the Density Parameter | p. 44 |
2.7 Cosmological Horizons | p. 45 |
2.8 Models with a Cosmological Constant | p. 49 |
3 Alternative Cosmologies | p. 51 |
3.1 Anisotropic and Inhomogeneous Cosmologies | p. 52 |
3.1.1 The Bianchi models | p. 52 |
3.1.2 Inhomogeneous models | p. 55 |
3.2 The Steady-State Model | p. 57 |
3.3 The Dirac Theory | p. 59 |
3.4 Brans-Dicke Theory | p. 61 |
3.5 Variable Constants | p. 63 |
3.6 Hoyle-Narlikar (Conformal) Gravity | p. 64 |
4 Observational Properties of the Universe | p. 67 |
4.1 Introduction | p. 67 |
4.1.1 Units | p. 67 |
4.1.2 Galaxies | p. 69 |
4.1.3 Active galaxies and quasars | p. 70 |
4.1.4 Galaxy clustering | p. 72 |
4.2 The Hubble Constant | p. 75 |
4.3 The Distance Ladder | p. 79 |
4.4 The Age of the Universe | p. 83 |
4.4.1 Theory | p. 83 |
4.4.2 Stellar and galactic ages | p. 84 |
4.4.3 Nucleocosmochronology | p. 84 |
4.5 The Density of the Universe | p. 86 |
4.5.1 Contributions to the density parameter | p. 86 |
4.5.2 Galaxies | p. 88 |
4.5.3 Clusters of galaxies | p. 89 |
4.6 Deviations from the Hubble Expansion | p. 92 |
4.7 Classical Cosmology | p. 94 |
4.7.1 Standard candles | p. 95 |
4.7.2 Angular sizes | p. 97 |
4.7.3 Number-counts | p. 99 |
4.7.4 Summary | p. 100 |
4.8 The Cosmic Microwave Background | p. 100 |
Part 2 The Hot Big Bang Model | p. 107 |
5 Thermal History of the Hot Big Bang Model | p. 109 |
5.1 The Standard Hot Big Bang | p. 109 |
5.2 Recombination and Decoupling | p. 111 |
5.3 Matter-Radiation Equivalence | p. 112 |
5.4 Thermal History of the Universe | p. 113 |
5.5 Radiation Entropy per Baryon | p. 115 |
5.6 Timescales in the Standard Model | p. 116 |
6 The Very Early Universe | p. 119 |
6.1 The Big Bang Singularity | p. 119 |
6.2 The Planck Time | p. 122 |
6.3 The Planck Era | p. 123 |
6.4 Quantum Cosmology | p. 126 |
6.5 String Cosmology | p. 128 |
7 Phase Transitions and Inflation | p. 131 |
7.1 The Hot Big Bang | p. 131 |
7.2 Fundamental Interactions | p. 133 |
7.3 Physics of Phase Transitions | p. 136 |
7.4 Cosmological Phase Transitions | p. 138 |
7.5 Problems of the Standard Model | p. 141 |
7.6 The Monopole Problem | p. 143 |
7.7 The Cosmological Constant Problem | p. 145 |
7.8 The Cosmological Horizon Problem | p. 147 |
7.8.1 The problem | p. 147 |
7.8.2 The inflationary solution | p. 149 |
7.9 The Cosmological Flatness Problem | p. 152 |
7.9.1 The problem | p. 152 |
7.9.2 The inflationary solution | p. 154 |
7.10 The Inflationary Universe | p. 156 |
7.11 Types of Inflation | p. 160 |
7.11.1 Old inflation | p. 160 |
7.11.2 New inflation | p. 161 |
7.11.3 Chaotic inflation | p. 161 |
7.11.4 Stochastic inflation | p. 162 |
7.11.5 Open inflation | p. 162 |
7.11.6 Other models | p. 163 |
7.12 Successes and Problems of Inflation | p. 163 |
7.13 The Anthropic Cosmological Principle | p. 164 |
8 The Lepton Era | p. 167 |
8.1 The Quark-Hadron Transition | p. 167 |
8.2 Chemical Potentials | p. 168 |
8.3 The Lepton Era | p. 171 |
8.4 Neutrino Decoupling | p. 172 |
8.5 The Cosmic Neutrino Background | p. 173 |
8.6 Cosmological Nucleosynthesis | p. 176 |
8.6.1 General considerations | p. 176 |
8.6.2 The standard nucleosynthesis model | p. 177 |
8.6.3 The neutron-proton ratio | p. 178 |
8.6.4 Nucleosynthesis of Helium | p. 179 |
8.6.5 Other elements | p. 181 |
8.6.6 Observations: Helium 4 | p. 182 |
8.6.7 Observations: Deuterium | p. 183 |
8.6.8 Helium 3 | p. 184 |
8.6.9 Lithium 7 | p. 185 |
8.6.10 Observations versus theory | p. 185 |
8.7 Non-standard Nucleosynthesis | p. 186 |
9 The Plasma Era | p. 191 |
9.1 The Radiative Era | p. 191 |
9.2 The Plasma Epoch | p. 192 |
9.3 Hydrogen Recombination | p. 194 |
9.4 The Matter Era | p. 195 |
9.5 Evolution of the CMB Spectrum | p. 197 |
Part 3 Theory of Structure Formation | p. 203 |
10 Introduction to Jeans Theory | p. 205 |
10.1 Gravitational Instability | p. 205 |
10.2 Jeans Theory for Collisional Fluids | p. 206 |
10.3 Jeans Instability in Collisionless Fluids | p. 210 |
10.4 History of Jeans Theory in Cosmology | p. 212 |
10.5 The Effect of Expansion: an Approximate Analysis | p. 213 |
10.6 Newtonian Theory in a Dust Universe | p. 215 |
10.7 Solutions for the Flat Dust Case | p. 218 |
10.8 The Growth Factor | p. 219 |
10.9 Solution for Radiation-Dominated Universes | p. 221 |
10.10 The Method of Autosolution | p. 223 |
10.11 The Meszaros Effect | p. 225 |
10.12 Relativistic Solutions | p. 227 |
11 Gravitational Instability of Baryonic Matter | p. 229 |
11.1 Introduction | p. 229 |
11.2 Adiabatic and Isothermal Perturbations | p. 230 |
11.3 Evolution of the Sound Speed and Jeans Mass | p. 231 |
11.4 Evolution of the Horizon Mass | p. 233 |
11.5 Dissipation of Acoustic Waves | p. 234 |
11.6 Dissipation of Adiabatic Perturbations | p. 237 |
11.7 Radiation Drag | p. 240 |
11.8 A Two-Fluid Model | p. 241 |
11.9 The Kinetic Approach | p. 244 |
11.10 Summary | p. 248 |
12 Non-baryonic Matter | p. 251 |
12.1 Introduction | p. 251 |
12.2 The Boltzmann Equation for Cosmic Relics | p. 252 |
12.3 Hot Thermal Relics | p. 253 |
12.4 Cold Thermal Relics | p. 255 |
12.5 The Jeans Mass | p. 256 |
12.6 Implications | p. 259 |
12.6.1 Hot Dark Matter | p. 260 |
12.6.2 Cold Dark Matter | p. 261 |
12.6.3 Summary | p. 262 |
13 Cosmological Perturbations | p. 263 |
13.1 Introduction | p. 263 |
13.2 The Perturbation Spectrum | p. 264 |
13.3 The Mass Variance | p. 266 |
13.3.1 Mass scales and filtering | p. 266 |
13.3.2 Properties of the filtered field | p. 268 |
13.3.3 Problems with filters | p. 270 |
13.4 Types of Primordial Spectra | p. 271 |
13.5 Spectra at Horizon Crossing | p. 275 |
13.6 Fluctuations from Inflation | p. 276 |
13.7 Gaussian Density Perturbations | p. 279 |
13.8 Covariance Functions | p. 281 |
13.9 Non-Gaussian Fluctuations? | p. 284 |
14 Nonlinear Evolution | p. 287 |
14.1 The Spherical 'Top-Hat' Collapse | p. 287 |
14.2 The Zel'dovich Approximation | p. 290 |
14.3 The Adhesion Model | p. 294 |
14.4 Self-similar Evolution | p. 296 |
14.4.1 A simple model | p. 296 |
14.4.2 Stable clustering | p. 299 |
14.4.3 Scaling of the power spectrum | p. 300 |
14.4.4 Comments | p. 301 |
14.5 The Mass Function | p. 301 |
14.6 N-Body Simulations | p. 304 |
14.6.1 Direct summation | p. 305 |
14.6.2 Particle-mesh techniques | p. 306 |
14.6.3 Tree codes | p. 309 |
14.6.4 Initial conditions and boundary effects | p. 309 |
14.7 Gas Physics | p. 310 |
14.7.1 Cooling | p. 310 |
14.7.2 Numerical hydrodynamics | p. 312 |
14.8 Biased Galaxy Formation | p. 314 |
14.9 Galaxy Formation | p. 318 |
14.10 Comments | p. 321 |
15 Models of Structure Formation | p. 323 |
15.1 Introduction | p. 323 |
15.2 Historical Prelude | p. 324 |
15.3 Gravitational Instability in Brief | p. 326 |
15.4 Primordial Density Fluctuations | p. 327 |
15.5 The Transfer Function | p. 328 |
15.6 Beyond Linear Theory | p. 330 |
15.7 Recipes for Structure Formation | p. 331 |
15.8 Comments | p. 334 |
Part 4 Observational Tests | p. 335 |
16 Statistics of Galaxy Clustering | p. 337 |
16.1 Introduction | p. 337 |
16.2 Correlation Functions | p. 339 |
16.3 The Limber Equation | p. 342 |
16.4 Correlation Functions: Results | p. 344 |
16.4.1 Two-point correlations | p. 344 |
16.5 The Hierarchical Model | p. 346 |
16.5.1 Comments | p. 348 |
16.6 Cluster Correlations and Biasing | p. 350 |
16.7 Counts in Cells | p. 352 |
16.8 The Power Spectrum | p. 355 |
16.9 Polyspectra | p. 356 |
16.10 Percolation Analysis | p. 359 |
16.11 Topology | p. 361 |
16.12 Comments | p. 365 |
17 The Cosmic Microwave Background | p. 367 |
17.1 Introduction | p. 367 |
17.2 The Angular Power Spectrum | p. 368 |
17.3 The CMB Dipole | p. 371 |
17.4 Large Angular Scales | p. 374 |
17.4.1 The Sachs-Wolfe effect | p. 374 |
17.4.2 The COBE DMR experiment | p. 377 |
17.4.3 Interpretation of the COBE results | p. 379 |
17.5 Intermediate Scales | p. 380 |
17.6 Smaller Scales: Extrinsic Effects | p. 385 |
17.7 The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect | p. 389 |
17.8 Current Status | p. 391 |
18 Peculiar Motions of Galaxies | p. 393 |
18.1 Velocity Perturbations | p. 393 |
18.2 Velocity Correlations | p. 396 |
18.3 Bulk Flows | p. 398 |
18.4 Velocity-Density Reconstruction | p. 400 |
18.5 Redshift-Space Distortions | p. 402 |
18.6 Implications for [Omegan subscript 0] | p. 405 |
19 Gravitational Lensing | p. 409 |
19.1 Historical Prelude | p. 409 |
19.2 Basic Gravitational Optics | p. 412 |
19.3 More Complicated Systems | p. 415 |
19.4 Applications | p. 418 |
19.4.1 Microlensing | p. 418 |
19.4.2 Multiple images | p. 419 |
19.4.3 Arcs, arclets and cluster masses | p. 420 |
19.4.4 Weak lensing by large-scale structure | p. 421 |
19.4.5 The Hubble constant | p. 422 |
19.5 Comments | p. 423 |
20 The High-Redshift Universe | p. 425 |
20.1 Introduction | p. 425 |
20.2 Quasars | p. 426 |
20.3 The Intergalactic Medium (IGM) | p. 428 |
20.3.1 Quasar spectra | p. 428 |
20.3.2 The Gunn-Peterson test | p. 428 |
20.3.3 Absorption line systems | p. 430 |
20.3.4 X-ray gas in clusters | p. 432 |
20.3.5 Spectral distortions of the CMB | p. 432 |
20.3.6 The X-ray background | p. 433 |
20.4 The Infrared Background and Dust | p. 434 |
20.5 Number-counts Revisited | p. 437 |
20.6 Star and Galaxy Formation | p. 438 |
20.7 Concluding Remarks | p. 444 |
21 A Forward Look | p. 447 |
21.1 Introduction | p. 447 |
21.2 General Observations | p. 448 |
21.3 X-rays and the Hot Universe | p. 449 |
21.4 The Apotheosis of Astrometry: GAIA | p. 450 |
21.5 The Next Generation Space Telescope: NGST | p. 452 |
21.6 Extremely Large Telescopes | p. 453 |
21.7 Far-IR and Submillimetre Views of the Early Universe | p. 454 |
21.8 The Cosmic Microwave Background | p. 456 |
21.9 The Square Kilometre Array | p. 456 |
21.10 Gravitational Waves | p. 458 |
21.11 Sociology, Politics and Economics | p. 460 |
21.12 Conclusions | p. 461 |
Appendix A. Physical Constants | p. 463 |
Appendix B. Useful Astronomical Quantities | p. 465 |
Appendix C. Particle Properties | p. 467 |
References | p. 469 |
Index | p. 485 |