PHYS6005 Cosmology and the Early Universe

Module Overview

Modern cosmology is a fascinating and fast-developing field, with intense research activity fuelled by major discoveries made in the last decade. These have overturned our understanding of the Universe’s properties and established a new standard cosmological model that, however, poses challenging puzzles for fundamental physics, such as the nature of Dark Matter, the current acceleration of the Universe’s expansion and the occurrence of an inflationary stage in the first moments of the Universe. The course will draw upon a diverse range of core physics material as well as introducing new physics; it will not require specialist astronomical knowledge.