Particle theory

Abstract:

The first part of this lecture quickly touches upon some important but infrequently discussed issues in large extra dimension and warped extra dimension scenarios, with particular reference to effects in the early universe. The second part discusses a modification and extension of an earlier proposal by Brown and Teitelboim to relax the effective cosmological term by nucleation of fundamental membranes.

Abstract:

These lectures provide an introduction to the physics of the standard Big Bang cosmology. We emphasize the observational basis for constructing general relativistic world models and retracing the thermal history of the universe. Physical processes during the radiation-dominated era, such as the thermalization of the relic background radiation and the synthesis of the light elements, are discussed in detail.