Deduce the world lines of particles and photons in a curved space-time. Describe the Cosmological Principle and the Robertson-Walker metric. Deduce the Friedmann equations describing the evolution of the Universe. Understand the observational evidence for the Standard Model of the evolution of the Universe, the red-shift distance relation, Cosmic Microwave Background and the cosmic abundance of helium. Transferable Skills Information retrieval from the WWW and problem-solving.
Communication skills via discussion of concepts lectures.
Students are required to meet deadlines for completion of work to be discussed in class and must therefore develop appropriate time-management strategies. An expertise in tensor analysis and knowledge of the basis of one of the corner stones of 20th century Physics. Methods Lectures and problems classes. Use of on-line teaching resources . Formative Mechanisms Progress in the set problems will be reviewed weekly.