The science of cosmology has been very successful in explaining a wide range of observational evidence about the Universe, from the detailed properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation to the distributions of galaxies, and the elemental abundances in astrophysical environments. However, there are several major unknowns in cosmological theory, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. These gaps in knowledge are frustrating for anyone who would like to understand the nature of the Universe. In this free course, Unsolved problems in cosmology, you will learn about what the current unsolved problems are and about the possible ways in which they may be solved in the future.This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course S385 Cosmology and the distant Universe.
Overview
Syllabus
- 1 Cosmology today
- 1.1 The expanding Universe
- 1.2 The cooling Universe
- 1.3 Matter in the Universe
- 2 Is modern cosmology fundamentally wrong?
- 3 The nature of dark matter
- 4 The nature of dark energy
- 4.1 A cosmological constant
- 4.2 Quintessence models
- 4.3 Modified gravity
- 5 Inflation
- 5.1 Horizon problem
- 5.2 Flatness problem
- 5.3 Monopole problem
- 5.4 Inflationary theories and how to study them
- 6 Conclusion
- 7 Quiz
