7 - Cosmology and the Big Bang

Summary

Having developed the necessary mathematics in chapters 4 to 6, chapter 7 returns to physics Evidence for homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe at the largest cosmological scales is presented and Robertson-Walker metrics are introduced. Einstein’s equations are then used to derive the Friedmann equations, relating the cosmic scale factor to the pressure and density of matter in the Universe. The Hubble constant is discussed and an analytic form of the red-shift distance relation is derived, in terms of the matter density, the cosmological constant and the spatial curvature, and observational values of these three parameters are given. Some analytic solutions of the Friedmann equation are presented. The cosmic microwave background dominates the energy density in the early Universe and this leads to a description of the thermal history of the early Universe: the transition from matter dominated to radiation dominated dynamics and nucleosynthesis in the first 3 minutes. Finally the horizon problem and the inflationary Universe are described and the limits of applicability of Einstein's equations, when they might be expected to break down due to quantum effects, are discussed.