In completely separate video news, here are videos of lectures I gave at CERN several years ago: “Cosmology for Particle Physicists” (May 2005). These are slightly technical — at the very least they presume you know calculus and basic physics — but are still basically accurate despite their age.
- Introduction to Cosmology
- Dark Matter
- Dark Energy
- Thermodynamics and the Early Universe
- Inflation and Beyond
Update: I originally linked these from YouTube, but apparently they were swiped from this page at CERN, and have been taken down from YouTube. So now I’m linking directly to the CERN copies. Thanks to commenters Bill Schempp and Matt Wright.
Comments
10 responses to “Intro to Cosmology Videos”
I started them today. Excellent !!! just the right level of math, I only have a B.S. in Physics from Columbia University and a few graduate courses. But I have been reading this stuff for 20 years and it is finally sinking in. Again Excellent series I learned something. Regards Pat Orlando.
If using a monochromatic mass distribution for black holes tells you that dark matter is particles, and using a more physically plausible platykurtic distribution tells you it’s almost all black holes, then is either answer basically accurate?
I found the first lecture fantastic, and expect the rest will be also. Is there a way to download these ?
I have to find me some detailed lecture notes because I still don’t understand how one can measure a black body distribution in the microwave background. I’d expect minimum entropy and black body radiation is high or max entropy.
Amazing lectures Sean, thanks for posting them. It is a bit strange to hear how confident you were that dark matter particles would be discovered at the LHC!
Re: video one. The conservation of linear and angular momentum are consequences of the homogeneity and isotropy of space, respectively, while the conservation of energy is a consequence of the homogeneity of time. Energy is not conserved in any evolving system regardless of scale. But the key question remains: What is the source of the vacuum energy? I suspect it is the potential energy of curvature. The universe is not flat because of inflation, but because of internal micro stresses relieved by expansion (lambda being a measure of the elasticity of the vacuum).
With regards to the subject of lecture three – I’d love to know your opinion on this development by Professor Gong-Bo Zhao:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171003111032.htm
After thoroughly enjoying the first two lectures they suddenly seem to have been taken down, possibly today. I also cannot find them on YouTube. Do they exist elsewhere?
No idea. Maybe they will come back.
It looks like the videos are no longer on YouTube, but the same ones seem to be available on CERN’s website (where they can be watched online or downloaded): http://cds.cern.ch/record/794317