Cosmology

This book is unique in the detailed, self-contained, and comprehensive treatment that it gives to the ideas and formulas that are used and tested in modern cosmological research. It divides into two parts, each of which provides enough material for a one-semester graduate course. The first part deals chiefly with the isotropic and homogeneous average universe; the second part concentrates on the departures from the average universe. Throughout the book the author presents detailed analytic calculations of cosmological phenomena, rather than just report results obtained elsewhere by numerical computation. The book is up to date, and gives detailed accounts of topics such as recombination, microwave background polarization, leptogenesis, gravitational lensing, structure formation, and multifield inflation, that are usually treated superficially if at all in treatises on cosmology. Copious references to current research literature are supplied. Appendices include a brief introduction to general relativity, and a detailed derivation of the Boltzmann equation for photons and neutrinos used in calculations of cosmological evolution. Also provided is an assortment of problems.

ISBN 0198526822   Pages 616 ISBN13 9780198526827 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Oxford University Press   Weight (grammes) 1380 Imprint Oxford University Press   Published in Oxford Format Hardback   Height (mm) 255 Publication date 21 Feb 2008   Width (mm) 180 Library of Congress 2007049371   Spine width (mm) 33 DEWEY 523.1   Academic level Undergraduate DEWEY edition DC22

1		The Expansion of the Universe		1
2		The Cosmic Microwave Radiation Background		101
3		The Early Universe		149
4		Inflation		201
5		General Theory of Small Fluctuations		219
6		Evolution of Cosmological Fluctuations		257
7		Anisotropies in the Microwave Sky		329
8		The Growth of Structure		403
9		Gravitational Lenses		433
10		Inflation as the Origin of Cosmological Fluctuations		469
		Appendices
A		Some Useful Numbers		509
B		Review of General Relativity		511
C		Energy Transfer between Radiation and Electrons		531
D		The Ergodic Theorem		537
E		Gaussian Distributions		541
F		Newtonian Cosmology		543
G		Photon Polarization		547
H		The Relativistic Boltzmann Equation		551
		Glossary of Symbols		565
		Assorted Problems		569
		Author Index		575
		Subject Index		587

A stimulating source of intellectual excitement. [...] While the relevant technical aspects of the presentation can only be fully appreciated after a careful reading, a clear message emerges with vigour after the first reading: atomic physics, nuclear physics, field theory, high-energy physics and general relativity all come together in the description of our universe. In other words, Cosmology provides a vivid example of the basic unity of physics, which is something to bear in mind during the decades to come. CERN Courier A technical tour de force for the intrepid graduate student, Weinberg's new book will greatly appeal to particle physicists tooling up in cosmology and be an indispensable source for the practitioner. Physics Today With his unsurpassed ability to explain even the most difficult mathematical and conceptual steps with a few strokes of his pen, Weinberg takes the reader from the basics of cosmological kinematics and dynamics (space-time geometry, cosmological expansion, the Friedmann equation, thermal history) to advanced topics, such as the growth of structures, inflation and gravitational lenses. Mathematical Reviews A tour de force that even established cosmologists will learn from. Any scientist interested in cosmology should read it. Steven Weinberg's "Cosmology" is a thorough, graduate-level introduction to the field, which incorporates the frenzied developments since his 1972 classic, "Gravitation and Cosmology". This is sure to be another hit. New Scientist

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