| The_Cosmological_Constant The following pages present a discussion of the role the cosmological constant plays in modern cosmology. They are designed to offer an overview of how the cosmological constant alters standard cosmol |
| Cosmological_Models The aim of this set of lectures is a systematic presentation of a 1+3 covariant approach to studying the geometry, dynamics, and observational properties of relativistic cosmological models. |
| Cosmological_models_(Cargèse_lectures_1998) The aim of this set of lectures is a systematic presentation of a 1+3 covariant approach to studying the geometry, dynamics, and observational properties of relativistic cosmological models. |
| Cosmology From the Official String Theory Website. Basic and advanced tutorials on the age and structure of the universe, the Big Bang, and the relation of string theory to cosmology. |
| Cosmology_from_Topological_Defects Lecture Notes delivered at the Xth Brazilian School on Cosmology and Gravitation, Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, July 29 - August 9, 2002. |
| Cosmology_II__From_Planck_Time_to_BBN Progress in early Universe cosmology, including strings, extra dimensions, inflation, phase transitions, and baryogenesis, is reviewed. |
| Cosmology_Made_Simple A very basic overview of cosmology |
| Cosmology__Methodological_Debates_1932-48 Discusses philosophical views about cosmology in the 1930s and 1940s; from the Stanford Encyclopedia, by George Gale. |
| Cosmology_Tutorial Preliminary introduction to General Relativity and its application to Cosmology. Also study of stringy matter as a part of the Universe. |
| Dynamical_Systems_in_Cosmology A tutorial introducing the use of dynamical systems to study the large scale structure of the universe. |
| Einstein-deSitter_Model An article on the Einstein-deSitter model of cosmology |
| Elementary_introduction_to_pre-big_bang_cosmology_and_to_the_relic_graviton_background This is a contracted version of a series of lectures for graduate and undergraduate students |
| Everything_Forever;_Learning_to_See_and_Model_All_Possible_Universes This site is intended to help the reader step outside of time and imagine the shape of what is ultimately possible in a timeless universe. |
| An_Exposition_on_Inflationary_Cosmology In this paper, the fundamentals of modern cosmology for an isotropic and homogeneous space-time will be reviewed. Other issues suggesting a more general theory are presented and inflation is introduce |
| Friedmann-Lemaitre_Cosmological_Models Article from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics. |
| From_Newton\'s_Laws_to_the_Wheeler-deWitt_equation This is a pedagogical paper which explains some ideas in cosmology at a level accessible to undergraduate students. Following standard quantization procedures the Wheeler-DeWitt equation |
| Introduction_to_Cosmology_-_Astrophysics These notes form an introduction to cosmology with special emphasis on large scale structure, the cmb anisotropy and inflation. In some places a basic familiarity with particle physics is assume |
| Introduction_to_Cosmology_-_High_Energy_Physics_-_Phenomenology A set of postrscript lecture notes by George Lazarides on the basic principles of cosmology. |
| Introduction_to_Inflationary_Cosmology Introduction to cosmology and inflation by Scott Watson of Brown University. |
| Introductory_review_of_cosmic_inflation These lecture notes provide an introduction to cosmic inflation. In particular the basic concepts of inflation, generation of density perturbations, and reheating after inflation. |
| Knowing_the_Universe_and_Its_Secrets Learn about the life and energy processes of stars and galaxies. Page has explanations of ancient and modern theories, as well as charts and astronomical photos. |
| Low_Density_Inflationary_Universes A review of the geometry and density of the universe, with a focus on inflationary models. |
| Mathematical_Cosmology A review of current unsolved problems in mathematical cosmology |
| Minkowski_Functionals_in_Cosmology Minkowski functionals provide a novel tool to characterize the large-scale galaxy distribution in the Universe. Here we give a brief tutorial on the basic features of these morphological measure |
| Multidimensional_Gravity_and_Cosmology A short review of recent results on exact solutions in multidimensional cosmology |
| New_Developments_in_Cosmology A review of how the understanding of our Universe has evolved |
| Numerical_Simulations_in_Cosmology_I__Methods This lecture gives a short introduction to different methods used in cosmology. The focus is on major features of N-body simulations: equations, main numerical techniques, effects of resolution, and m |
| Particle_Aspects_of_Cosmology_and_Baryogenesis An introduction to particle aspects of cosmology with particular reference to primordial nucleosynthesis, dark matter and baryogenesis is provided. In particular, various scenarios-GUT baryogenesis, e |
| The_Possible_Geometries_for_Space A short article on the possible structures for space in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model |
| A_Quantum_Leap_for_Cosmology A theory that unites quantum mechanics and general relativity claims that there was no first moment in time, but it still agrees with the predictions of classical cosmology. |
| A_Review_of_Inflationary_Cosmology The aim of this lecture is to highlight two areas of recent progress in inflationary cosmology, namely reheating and the quantum theory of cosmological perturbations. |
| Scientific_American__Four_Keys_to_Cosmology The big bang theory works better than ever. If only cosmologists could figure out that mysterious acceleration.... |
| Should_We_Believe_in_Big_Bang? Pablo G. Ostrov explains Big Bang theory for non-scientists. |
| A_Simple_Introduction_to_Pre-Big-Bang_Physics/Cosmology A simple, non-technical introduction to the pre-big bang scenario is given, emphasizing physical motivations, considerations, and consequences over formalism. |
| Space,_Time,_and_Cosmology Learn about the origins of the universe and its fate. Einstein's Theory of Relativity is both interesting and comprehensible. |
| 1st_SPOT_Cosmology References to cosmological sites featuring in-depth coverage of issues like dark matter, black holes and symmetric theory. |
| Stephen_Hawking\'s_Universe Detailed explanations of the most important ideas and developments in human understanding of the universe. Includes original essays by some of today's leading figures in cosmology, along with original |
| String_Cosmology A lecture on aspects of superstring theory and cosmology. |
| String_Cosmology__A_Review Talk presented at COSPAR '02, Houston, Texas, October 2002. |
| A_Study_of_a_Model_Cosmology Contains report of a seminar on a model cosmology with a preliminary introduction to General Relativity. |
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Boomerang First Data Release: July 21, 2005 We have released the first round of data from the 2003 flight. This round of papers currently includes an instrument paper, the temperature and polarization spectra, and the results from cosmological parameter estimation. The papers may be obtained from arXiv.org, while both the papers and the data are posted on the collaboration web sites in North America and in Italy. 
Click here and here for daily web-logs of our activities in the fieldYou can also see the track of Boomerang's Antarctic flightBe sure to check out the Boomerang web sites at Case Western and at La Sapienza 
Temperature and polarization anisotropies as seen by Boomerang 2003. The inflight performance of B2K was exceptional, with each 145GHz receiver achieving an NET of 200 uKrts for a single polarization.
A map of the Stokes Q parameter as seen by Boomerang 2003. The color scaling is identical to the temperature plot above, emphasizing the tiny amplitude of the polarized signal. 
The Antarctic continent. Our highbay is approximately 13km East of McMurdo Station, at 77 deg 51.63' S Latitude, 167 deg 04.27' East. 
The volcano Mount Erebus, as seen from Castle Rock, on Ross Island, Antarctica. 
Temperature Fluctuations in the Cosmic Background Radiation, as measured by Boomerang in 1998. 
The Principal Investigator of the Boomerang project. 
Mission StatusBoomerang has landed in a remote region of the Antarctic Plateau. The data vessel has been successfully recovered, and plans are in the works to recover the payload next season. Approximately 12 days of useable data were obtained, with excellent receiver perfomance. The analysis has begun! Click here for some tantalizing images from some of the data. The Boomerang team is extremely excited about the data, and equally grateful for the efforts of the NSBF and NSF personnel which have made this season a success. BackgroundThe continuing mission of the Boomerang project is to study the properties of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMBR). Although the existence of the CMBR was first predicted in 1948, the radiation was not observed until 1965. This discovery, by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Laboratories, was completelyinadvertent - the cosmological significance of the discovery was largely lost on the two researchers, who were attempting to develop commercial technology. The scientific interpretation of the result was published simultaneously by Dicke, Peebles, Roll, and Wilkinson who had been collaborating on a dedicated experiment to detect this relic radiation just as Penzias and Wilson made their discovery. Today, we continue to design and build instruments in the spirit of both of these pioneering research groups - we strive to provide observational tests of existing theories, while keeping a keen eye out for unanticipated phenomena.The Cosmic Microwave Background is essentially the afterglow of the Big Bang. The preponderance of the observational evidence indicates that about 14 billion years ago the observable Universe was a small fraction of the size that it is today. As a result, the Universe would have been a very dense and hot place to be - far hotter than anything on Earth today, hotter even than our Sun! Therefore, one can think of that early epoch as a sort of explosion, or Big Bang. Since those early times, the Universe has been expanding and, therefore, cooling. Today the Universe is a cold place, just 2.7 degrees Celsius above absolute zero (water freezes at a temperature 100 times hotter than this!) Although the cosmic fireball has been cooling all these years, the glow is still bright enough to be observed. We design, build, and operate instruments designed to collect information about this afterglow. When interpreted through the scientific formalism of modern relativistic cosmology, these data provide a wealth of information regarding the basic structure of our Universe. Boomerang '98After over five years of development Boomerang made its first long duration balloon flight above Antarctica in 1998. The '98 instrument consisted of sixteen unpolarized detectors which operated at four different wavelengths, or colors. At the time of its release, the data from this flight was of unprecedented quality. The instrument's sensitivity, frequency coverage, and angular resolution allowed the unambiguous measurement of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background over a broad range of angular scales. The basic scientific result of this mission is the determination that the Universe appears to be geometrically flat. Within the context of Relativistic Cosmology, beams of light which are initially parallel to one another need not remain so indefinitely. They may either cross, diverge, or remain parallel to one another depending on the fundamental nature of the Universe. In a so-called flat Universe, the beams of light remain parallel. One of the major implications of this result is that we have only a very dim understanding of what the Universe is made of. The sort of stuff which is familiar to us all, the elements (Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, Iron, etc.), light, and even more exotic things like neutrinos only account for about 5% of all the stuff of which our Universe is made. The nature of the rest remains a mystery. The fact that the vast majority of the Universe consists of mass and energy which is fundamentally different, but whose nature is otherwise completely unknown, suggests that we have much to learn. The release of the WMAP data in 2003 confirmed the cosmological results of the 1998 Boomerang data and provided a much improved measurement of the large angular scale temperature fluctuations. In addition, the WMAP results provided the first unambiguous measurement of the correlation between the temperature and polarization of the CMB at large angular scales. Boomerang 2003Since 1998 we have completely redesigned the focal plane of the instrument to study the polarization as well as the temperature anisotropy of the CMB. The polarization properties of the radiation, if they are consistent with those predicted by the currently favored lambda-CDM scenario, will provide a direct confirmation that the temperature fluctuations are truly Cosmological in origin. In addition, they allow us to constrain many of the parameters which describe our Universe with higher precision and less degeneracy than is possible through the analysis of the temperature anisotropies alone. In addition to the study of the Microwave Background Radiation, Boomerang 2003 will provide the most sensitive survey to date of the intensity, spectrum and polarization of Galactic emission at millimeter wavelengths. Very little is known about the polarization properties of the diffuse emission from the Galaxy at these frequencies. These data will aid in our understanding of the physics of the interstellar medium. While scientifically interesting in its own right, knowledge of the nature of Galactic emission is also necessary in guiding the design of the next generation of CMB polarimeters. Boomerang is an international consortium with funding from national agencies in Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Within the U.S., the payload development and flight are each supported by NASA and by NSF. Additional support for the development of the detector system has been provided by Caltech and JPL. Copyright © Caltech Observational Cosmology, 2002-2005 - Last updated July 2005. Maintained by William Jones. 