course dates credits
Early Universe Cosmology Nov 11 - Dec 13 4
teachers schedule term
Piero Ullio 10:00-11:30 1

Program:

  • Thermodynamics of the early Universe:

    Local equilibrium as maximal entropy state: Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions; number density, energy density, pressure and entropy density; time-temperature relation.

  • Departure from equilibrium:

    Boltzmann equations for chemical decoupling; hot and cold thermal relics; kinetic decoupling and free streaming scale.

  • Big Bang Nucleosynthesis:

    Freeze out of the neutron to proton ratio; the deuterium bottleneck and the synthesis of light elements; particle physics tests within Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.

  • Recombination:

    Equilibrium approximation; photon decoupling; recombination in kinetic approach; particle physics tests at recombination epoch.

  • The dark matter problem:

    Overview of evidences for dark matter in the Universe, from galactic to cosmological scales, and implications for particle dark matter candidates; classification of mechanisms for particle dark matter generation in the early Universe; the WIMP miracle, general features and bounds, and an example of minimal model: the Higgs portal for a scalar singlet; the role of feebly interacting massive particles, sterile neutrinos as dark matter and generalisation to EWIMPs.

Prerequisites:

None

Books:

  • V. Muchanov, Physical Foundations of Cosmology
  • S. Weinberg, Cosmology
  • E.W. Kolb and M.S. Turner, The Early Universe
  • S. Dodelson, Modern Cosmology

Online Resources:

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