2001/02/23 by Arthur Kosowsky
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
published as in Modern Cosmology, eds. S. Bonometto, V. Gorini, and U. Moschella (IOP Publishing, Bristol and Philadelphia, 2002) · 52 pages. Lectures given at the Italian Society of Gravitational Physics summer school in Como, Italy, May 2000
arxiv created 2001/02/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
This set of lectures provides an overview of the basic theory and phenomenology of the cosmic microwave background. Topics include a brief historical review; the physics of temperature and polarization fluctuations; acoustic oscillations of the primordial plasma; the space of inflationary cosmological models; current and potential constraints on these models from the microwave background; and constraints on inflation.