ASTR 5580 - Introduction to Cosmology (Honors)

A core course that explores modern cosmological ideas explaining the expansion and age of the Universe, the existence and properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the origin of the light elements in the Universe, and the formation of large scale structures in it, such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The course also reviews the properties of the very early universe and the motivation for the cosmological inflation theory. Although this course focuses on theoretical rather than observational aspects, it is based on a physical approach to cosmology instead of detailed mathematical one.