• Home
• Registration
• Deadlines
• Contact

Programme

• The Inflationary Universe.
  Sabino Matarrese, Universita' di Padova, ITALY
• Theory of primordial CMB anisotropies: temperature and polarization.
  Wayne Hu, University of Chicago, USA
• CMB observations and cosmological constraints.
  Bruce Partridge, Haverford College, USA
• CMB fluctuations in the post-recombination Universe.
  Matthias Bartelmann, ITA, Heidelberg, GERMANY
• Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds.
  Rod D. Davies, University of Manchester, UK
• Statistical techniques for data analysis in Cosmology.
  Licia Verde, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Gaussianity.
  Enrique Martí­nez González, IFCA, SPAIN
• Other probes in Fundamental Cosmology.
  Malcolm Longair, University of Cambridge, UK
• Tutorials.
  Raúl Jiménez, Institute for Space Sciences, SPAIN

 

Detailed programme

The detailed programme for each series of lectures will cover the following topics.

The Inflationary Universe

Sabino Matarrese, Universita' di Padova, ITALY

• Lecture 1.
  • Kinematical properties of Inflation.
  • Scalar field dynamics and Inflationary models.
• Lecture 2.
  • Perturbation theory in a quasi-de Sitter stage.
  • Classical evolution of scalar and tensor modes.
• Lecture 3.
  • Generation of scalar and tensor modes from quantum vacuum oscillations.
  • Power-spectrum of scalar and tensor modes and slow-roll parameters.
• Lecture 4.
  • Beyond linear perturbations.
  • Beyond the power-spectrum: higher-order statistics and primordial non-Gaussianity.

Theory of primordial CMB anisotropies: temperature and polarization.

Wayne Hu, University of Chicago, USA

• Lecture 1. A Brief Thermal History & Acoustic Kinematics.
  • Thermalization and recombination
  • Acoustic waves in the pre-recombination plasma
  • Acoustic peaks in the temperature anisotropy
  • Peak position and angular diameter distance
• Lecture 2. Acoustic Dynamics.
  • Sachs-Wolfe effect
  • Baryon loading and the second peak
  • Matter-radiation ratio and the third peak
  • Damping tail
• Lecture 3. Polarization.
  • Polarization from thomson scattering
  • Reionization and Polarization peaks
  • Gravitational waves
  • Gravitational lensing
• Lecture 4. Formalism and Codes.
  • Linear perturbation theory
  • Boltzmann equation
  • Integral solution
  • Compton collision term

CMB observations and cosmological constraints.

Bruce Partridge. Haverford College, USA

• Lecture 1. A Bit of History, then Spectral Measurements of the CMB
  • The blackbody spectrum
  • Overall temperature T₀
  • Limits on distortions of the spectrum
• Lecture 2. Large Scale Anisotropies of the CMB
  • Problems of doing large scale anisotropy observations from the ground.
  • Observations of values of l from 2 to ~300.
• Lecture 3. Smaller Scale Isotropy Measurements.
  • Observations at small scales.
• Lecture 4. Polarization and the Future.
  • Measurements and upper limits on polarization
  • Importance of B modes.
  • Plans for future space experiments and ground-based experiments

CMB fluctuations in the post-recombination Universe.

Matthias Bartelmann, ITA, Heidelberg, GERMANY

• Lecture 1. Clusters of galaxies and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.
  • Origin and consequences of the thermal and kinetic SZ effects
  • Simple estimates and expectations
  • Filtering techniques for cluster detection
• Lecture 2. Gravitational lensing and the CMB (I).
  • Principles of gravitational lensing
  • Light propagation in an inhomogeneous universe
  • Statistics of the deflection angle
• Lecture 3. Gravitational lensing and the CMB (II).
  • Expected effects on the CMB
  • Temperature and polarisation power spectra
  • Recovery of the deflection field
• Lecture 4. Reionisation and other effects.
  • Reionisation, damping and polarisation
  • Integrated Sachs-Wolfe and Rees-Sciama effects
  • Higher-order effects

Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds.

Rod D. Davies, University of Manchester, UK

Topics to be covered: Synchrotron and free emission, dust emission (thermal and spinning dust), radiosources and IR galaxies, impact of foregrounds on future CMB space and ground-based experiments.

Statistical techniques for data analysis in Cosmology.

Licia Verde, University of Pennsylvania, USA

• Lecture 1. Background.
  • Probability, Bayesian approach, likelihoods, chisquare, priors.
  • Introduction to evidence.
• Lecture 2. Statistical description of random fields.
  • Applications for both CMB and large scale structure.
  • Real world examples.
• Lecture 3. Monte Carlo Markov Chains.
  • Set up, implementation, post processing, adding priors.
  • The CMB example (including likelihood calculation).
• Lecture 4. Forecasts.
  • The Fisher matrix approach its applications and limitations.
  • Non-parametric or minimally parametric methods.

Gaussianity.

Enrique Martí­nez González, IFCA, SPAIN

• Lecture 1. The isotropic Gaussian random field.
  1. Definition
  2. Properties
• Lecture 2. Physical effects producing deviations from Gaussianity.
  1. Secondary anisotropies.
  2. Non-standard models of the early universe
  3. Non-standard geometry and topology.
• Lecture 3. Methods to test Gaussianity.
  1. Real space
  2. Harmonic space
  3. Wavelets and filters
• Lecture 4. Review of observations.
  1. Constraints on non-Gaussianity
  2. WMAP anomalies
  3. Future perspectives

Other probes in Fundamental Cosmology.

Malcolm Longair, University of Cambridge, UK

• Lecture 1. The fundamentals of cosmological models.
  • Isotropy and homogeneity tests, variation of the constants of nature, how good is general relativity? the underlying structure of cosmological models. Inhomogeneous models.
• Lecture 2. Observations in cosmology (I).
  • All the other cosmological tests. The search for inconsistencies. Time-scales, abundances of the light elements, estimates of mass densities, gravitational lensing, etc.
• Lecture 3. Observations in cosmology (II).
  • Superluminal expansions in the standard models. Review of the fundamental problems in their modern context.
• Lecture 4. Future possibilities.
  • The forward projection of all the other approaches to observational cosmology.

Tutorials.

Raúl Jiménez, Institute for Space Sciences, Spain

• Tutorial I. From a cosmological model to a CMB map.
• Tutorial II. From observational CMB data to the cosmological constraints.
• Tutorial III. TBD.