• PHYS4080 (Frontiers in Astrophysics)

Lecture Slides:

• 01: Cosmological Parameters, ΛCDM, extensions, particle cosmology
• 02: Dark Matter 1: Overview, distributions, production
• 03: Dark Matter 2: Direct detection
• 04: Dark Matter 3: Indirect detection, colliders

Assignment:

• For the dark matter thermal production assignment, some hints and code snippets are given on the UQ astro github page:
• github.com/AstroUQ/ThermalRelics-PHYS4080

Texts:

• Schneider, Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology: An Introduction
  • Main book for the course, available from library
  • Sections 8.7-8.8 covers cosmological parameters section
• Kolb & Turner, The early universe
  • A detailed and high-level textbook. Goes well beyond what’s required for the course
  • Those who are interested are encouraged to read
    • Ch. 4 on big-bang nucleosynthesis
    • Ch. 5 on thermal production of dark matter

Optional reading:

• Peebles, Anomalies in Physical Cosmology, arXiv:2208.05018
• Spergel, The dark side of cosmology: Dark matter and dark energy, Science 347, 1100 (2015)
• Bertone & Hooper, A History of Dark Matter, Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 45002 (2018), arXiv:1605.04909