COSMIC STRUCTURE FORMATION

Students are expected to learn the fundamentals of cosmology and the formation of structures in our Universe. The course will cover analytic and numerical treatments of gravitational collapse (with and without pressure), thermodynamic processes, and cosmological radiative transfer, illustrating how these processes shape the formation of the first dark matter structures, the first stars and galaxies, galaxy evolution, and the intergalactic medium. Topical examples will be given throughout the lectures.

Basics of classical physics, general relativity, radiative processes, Fourier analysis, and a basic familiarity with coding in Python/C.

1. The homogeneous Universe
   (a) Distance
   (b) Dynamics
2. Dark Matter Structures
   (a) Linear evolution of density perturbations
   (b) Spherical collapse model for non-linear evolution
   (c) Excursion-set formalism and halo mass functions
   (d) Lagrangian perturbation theory: Zel’dovich approximation
   (e) N-body simulations
   (f) The halo model
3. Baryonic Structures
   (a) The formation of galaxies
         i. Linear evolution with pressure
         ii. Cosmological Jeans mass
         iii. Thermal evolution of collapsing gas
         iv. The first stars and black holes
         v. Analytic models of galaxy evolution and star formation
         vi. Empirical trends of galaxy formation
         vii. Abundance matching
         viii. Radiative transfer
   (b) The intergalactic medium
         i. Ionization evolution: the Epoch of Reionization
         ii. Density evolution and HI substructure
         iii. Thermal evolution
         iv. The cosmic 21-cm signal

All lecture notes and other materials will be provided in class.

Each student will be assigned an exercise or a small research project  and the results will be the starting point for the oral exam discussion. Its aim is to probe the level of comprehension of the central concepts, their applications, and the link to observations.

• Descibe the halo model and its applications
  
• How does the mean temperature of the Universe evolve with cosmic time?  What are the relevant physical processes at each epoch?