The Beginning and Evolution of the Universe

Abstract

We review the current standard model for the evolution of the Universe from an early inflationary epoch to the complex hierarchy of structure seen today. We summarize and provide key references for the following topics: observations of the expanding Universe; the hot early Universe and nucleosynthesis; theory and observations of the cosmic microwave background; Big Bang cosmology; inflation; dark matter and dark energy; theory of structure formation; the cold dark matter model; galaxy formation; cosmological simulations; observations of galaxies, clusters, and quasars; statistical measures of large-scale structure; and measurement of cosmological parameters. We conclude with discussion of some open questions in cosmology. This review is designed to provide a graduate student or other new worker in the field an introduction to the cosmological literature.

69 pages. Invited review article for Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Supplementary references, tables, and more concise PDF file at http://www.physics.drexel.edu/universe

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• New Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries of Type Ia Supernovae at z > 1: Narrowing Constraints on the Early Behavior of Dark Energy
• Reconstructing Dark Energy
• Cosmology with Weak Lensing Surveys
• Consequences of dark matter-dark energy interaction on cosmological parameters derived from SNIa data
• CMB anisotropies from primordial inhomogeneous magnetic fields
• Probing for dynamics of dark energy and curvature of universe with latest cosmological observations
• Towards optimal parallel PM N-body codes: PMFAST
• Cosmological constraints from COMBO-17 using 3D weak lensing
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• The Weak Energy Condition and the Expansion History of the Universe
• Topology of structure in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: model testing
• CMB anisotropies due to cosmological magnetosonic waves
• Accelerating cosmologies tested by distance measures
• A Nearly Model-Independent Characterization of Dark Energy Properties as a Function of Redshift
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Model-Independent Distance Measurements from Gamma-Ray Bursts and Constraints on Dark Energy
• CMB Temperature Anisotropy from Broken Spatial Isotropy due to an Homogeneous Cosmological Magnetic Field
• Growth Index of DGP Model and Current Growth Rate Data
• Constraints on Kinematic Model from Recent Cosmic Observations: SN Ia, BAO and Observational Hubble Data
• Cosmological Studies with Radio Galaxies and Supernovae
• Constraints on dark energy from baryon acoustic peak and galaxy cluster gas mass measurements