Global Learning Initiatives Program Course Syllabus
Please complete the following form in English. The information will be updated to the Global Learning
Initiatives Program website for students’ reference. If you will be offering more than one course,
please fill out one form per course offered. Examples in grey.
Course Information
Course Name Particle Cosmology
*provide the English
course name of the
course.
Lecturer(s) Prof. Yifu CAI
*provide the lecturers’
English name. If there are
more than one lecturer,
please indicate all
lecturers in the column.
Course Description This is a fundamental course in preparation for the study of astronomy
*briefly describe the and particle physics and their crossing field. Particle cosmology has
contents covered in the been one of the most crucial subject that has made numerous
courses. breakthrough since the discover of the cosmic microwave background
in 1960s. At present, we already have a standard paradigm of modern
cosmology, which is dubbed as the hot big bang theory. However, our
knowledge about the universe is still dramatically developing along
with the high level developments of observational technologies in
precision cosmology. Therefore, how to study cosmology lies in the
core of hot topics. Particle cosmology is the disciplinary subject
between cosmology and particle physics. In particular, it focuses on
the very early moments of the universe where the energy scale is much
higher than that any particle experiments could reach. Thus, it can
help us to better understand the fundamental knowledge of particle
physics as well as the origin of the universe.
Course Objectives The setup of this course is to advocate the graduate students majored
*list out knowledge or in astrophysics and theoretical physics to manage the basic knowledge
skills students should about the cosmology study and to learn the research frontiers. Through
acquire upon completion this course, the graduate students are expected to access the baseline
of course. of professional research in their forthcoming study.
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Suggested Proficiencies Extensive and intensive reading ability
(if any) Analytical skills
*list preferred knowledge Master of Mandarin is a plus
or skills students should
have before taking the
course.
Reading List Mukhanov’s textbook - Physical Foundation of Cosmology
(if any)
*list out the textbooks,
references, or other
reading materials.
Grading Criteria Tentative Method:
*how would the students Usual grades (50%) = learning progress (15 points) + learning
be assessed during the performance (35 points)
course. Test scores for each chapter (10%): 12 chapters in total
Final grade (40%) = actual final exam (online) score / final exam total
score * weight
Course Schedule
Please complete the following table with the dates and expected course topics. If there are more than
one lecturers instructing the course, please also indicate the lecturer for each class.
Class Date Course Topic Lecturer
(YYYY/MM/DD)
1 2023/03/06 1. Introduction Prof. Yifu CAI
1.1 class information and goals
1.2 books and references
2 2023/03/13 2. Review of General Relativity Prof. Yifu CAI
2.1 brief history
2.2 basics of GR
2.3 introduction to cosmology
2.4 cosmological principle and FRW
metric
2.5 cosmological kinematics
2.6 cosmological dynamics
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2.7 Friedmann equation and
background evolution
3 2023/03/20 3. The Hot Big Bang Prof. Yifu CAI
3.1 the very early universe
3.2 hot big bang fireball
3.3 radiation dominated universe and
the key point of thermal history
3.4 thermodynamics(1) - distribution
function
3.5 thermodynamics(2) - thermal
equilibrium and effffective number of
relativistic species
3.6 thermodynamics(3) - entropy
3.7 electroweak phase transition,
neutrinos decouple and electron-
positron annihilation
3.8 Big Bang nucleosynthesis
4 2023/03/27 4. Cosmological Perturbation Theory Prof. Yifu CAI
4.1 the origin of perturbation theory
4.2 the scenario and picture of
cosmological perturbation theory
4.3 perturbed metric and helicity
decomposition
4.4 gauge transformation and guage
fixing
4.5 matter perturbation
4.6 equations of perturbations - at
linear order
4.7 statistical property in cosmology
4.8 perturbed energy momentum
conservation equation
4.9 perturbed Einstein equation
4.10 statistics in cosmology
5 2023/04/03 5. Boltzmann Equation Prof. Yifu CAI
5.1 introduction to Boltzmann equation
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5.2 Boltzmann equation in cosmology
5.3 the collisionless Boltzmann
equation for the massless particle(1)
5.4 the collisionless Boltzmann
equation for the massless particle(2)
5.5 the collisionless Boltzmann
equation for the massless particle(3)
5.6 the Boltzmann equation for photon
5.7 the Boltzmann equation for cold
dark matter
5.8 the Boltzmann equation for baryons
and summary for Boltzmann equation
6 2023/04/10 6. Inflation Prof. Yifu CAI
6.1 the problems of the standard
cosmological model
6.2 the general picture of inflation
6.3 the problems of Big Bang theory
revisited(1)
6.4 the problems of Big Bang theory
revisited(2)
6.5 slow-roll inflation
6.6 the general picture of quantum
fluctuation
6.7 conservation at super Hubble
scale(super-horizon)
6.8 curvature perturbations
6.9 equation of motion of curvature
perturbation
6.10 quantum fluctuations
6.11 power spectrum of scalar
perturbation
6.12 power spectrum of gravitational
waves from inflation
7 2023/04/17 7. Inhomogeneities Prof. Yifu CAI
7.1 the general picture
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7.2 introduction to the evolution of
perturbations
7.3 Einstein-Boltzmann equations at
early times
7.4 evolution on large scale(1)
7.5 evolution on large scale(2)
7.6 evolution on small scale(1)
7.7 evolution on small scale(2)
7.8 transfer function and growth
function
7.9 matter power spectrum
8 2023/04/24 8. Anisotropies Prof. Yifu CAI
8.1 what are Cosmic Microwave
Background Radiations(1)8.2 what are
Cosmic Microwave Background
Radiations(2)
8.3 CMB observations
8.4 photon free streaming(1)
8.5 photon free streaming(2)
8.6 tightly coupled limit of the
Boltzmann equations
8.7 large scale and small scale
evolution
8.8 the definition of observable and the
anisotropy spectrum today
9 2023/05/01 9. Non-Gaussian Prof. Yifu CAI
9.1 the meaning of non-Gaussianity
9.2 the expressions of non-Gaussianity
9.3 in-in formalism
9.4 ADM formatism
10 2023/05/08 10. Bounce Cosmology Prof. Yifu CAI
10.1 lesson from inflationary
cosmology
10.2 the basic picture of a bounce
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10.3 an overview of bounce models
10.4 towards a healthy nonsingular
bounce(1)
10.5 towards a healthy nonsingular
bounce(2)
11 2023/05/15 11. Reheating Prof. Yifu CAI
11.1 why is there a necessity for
reheating
11.2 a basic picture
11.3 mathematical modeling of the
reheating era
12 2023/05/22 12. Topological Defects Prof. Yifu CAI
12.1 the physical meaning of
topological defects
12.2 phase transitions
12.3 cosmic strings
12.4 observational constraints of
cosmic strings
13 2023/06/05 Examination Prof. Yifu CAI
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