Cosmology

Abstract

The main features of the universe and its history, and the application of GR to the universe as a whole are presented. The observed near-isotropy and homogeneity of the universe are described, along with a survey of its history. The Saha equation is applied to the recombination process. Cosmic proper time and comoving coordinates are defined, and the form of the metric (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) applicable to such a universe is obtained. The main features of the resulting geometry are discussed at length, with a view to both accurate calculation and sound intuition. Redshift and the cosmic expansion are described from several perspectives. Distance measures (luminosity, angular diameter) are defined and the main elements of the observational cosmic distance ladder are outlined.