Overview

This Unit aims to provide an introduction to cosmology, including the physics of the early Universe, dark matter and dark energy, and the evolution of the observed large-scale structure.

Requisites

Prerequisites
AST10001 Discovering the Universe
PHY10004 Electronics and Electromagnetism

AND

150 credit points

Assumed Knowledge

A foundation of conceptual astronomy

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Study Period 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
24-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-May-2025
Results released date
24-June-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Appraise and state a conceptual knowledge of space-time and how it has evolved, its observational and theoretical basis
  • Explain and apply advanced cosmology concepts such as the big bang model and cosmic inflation, dark matter and dark energy, with the ability to use them in a technical way
  • Distinguish and summarise the major unresolved questions in cosmology
  • Appraise, apply and explain the tools with which we probe the large-scale structure of the universe, including large galaxy surveys and supercomputer simulations in technical manner understandable to a specialist audience
  • Use problem solving skills to explain and synthesise solutions to problems in cosmology
  • Design and create a research project on an astronomy topic, assessing and critiquing current knowledge, using credible sources of astronomical information, data and research articles

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Learning Activities		 3.00  12 weeks  36
On-Campus
Class		 2.00 6 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		 8.50 12 weeks 102
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
NewsgroupsIndividual 20 - 40% 1,2,3,4 
Online QuizzesIndividual 15 - 25% 1,2,3,4,5 
ProjectIndividual 40 - 60% 6 

Content

  • Cosmology:  special and general relativity; the hot “big bang” cosmology and alternative cosmologies; the different ‘flavours’ of dark matter and dark energy
  • Modern cosmological observations, redshift, Hubble’s Law, standard candles and standard rods
  • The Early Universe:  inflation; early universe particle physics; origin and physics of the cosmic microwave background radiation; nucleosynthesis.
  • Basic demographic properties of galaxies in the local universe: morphology/mass/size/stellar populations/scaling relations
  • The earliest galaxies, galaxies formation and growth, galaxy dynamics
  • Cosmology:  special and general relativity; the hot “big bang” cosmology and alternative cosmologies; the different ‘flavours’ of dark matter and dark energy
  • Modern cosmological observations, redshift, Hubble’s Law, standard candles and standard rods
  • The Early Universe:  inflation; early universe particle physics; origin and physics of the cosmic microwave background radiation; nucleosynthesis.
  • Basic demographic properties of galaxies in the local universe: morphology/mass/size/stellar populations/scaling relations
  • The earliest galaxies, galaxies formation and growth, galaxy dynamics.
  • Large-scale Structure:  structure formation and evolution; observational cosmology; using supercomputers to build synthetic Universes; the ultimate fate of the Universe

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.