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Cosmology and the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

Unit Code: HET625

Duration

Contact Hours

Campus

Prerequisite

Corequisite

1 Semester

Equivalent to 60 hours

Off-Campus

HET624 Galaxies and their Place in the Universe or equivalent and introductory tertiary-level mathematics & physics.

Preclusion: Students who have completed HET605 Cosmology and the Large-scale Structure of the Universe cannot take this unit.

Nil

Credit Points: 12.5 Credit Points

Related Course/s:

A unit of study in the Graduate Certificate of Science (Astronomy), Graduate Diploma of Science (Astronomy) and Master of Science (Astronomy)

Aims & Objectives:

Aims
This Unit aims to provide an introduction to cosmology, including the physics of the early Universe, dark matter and dark energy, and the evolution of the observed large-scale structure.
Objectives
After successfully completing this Unit, students should be able to:
• have a conceptual knowledge of space-time and how it has evolved, its observational and theoretical basis and major unresolved questions;
• understand basic cosmology concepts such as the big bang model and cosmic inflation, dark matter and dark energy, with the ability to discuss them in a non-technical way;
• understand the tools with which we probe the large-scale structure of the universe, including large galaxy surveys and supercomputer simulations; and
• research a cosmology topic in depth, using dependable sources of astronomical information on the internet and refereed journal articles.

Teaching Methods:

Online Delivery Mode, Contact via Newsgroup & Email

Assessment:

Assessable newsgroup contributions, essay, online tests and project

Content:

• Cosmology: special and general relativity; the hot "big bang" cosmology and alternative cosmologies; the different ‘flavours’ of dark matter and dark energy
• The Early Universe: inflation; early universe particle physics; the cosmic microwave background radiation; nucleosynthesis
• Large-scale Structure: structure formation and evolution; observational cosmology; using supercomputers to build synthetic Universes; the ultimate fate of the Universe

Textbooks:

Introduction to Cosmology, Barbara Ryden, 2002 (Benjamin Cummings), ISBN: 9780805389128