Table of Contents

Section I: The Background Universe. Cosmological Models. Testing FLRW Models. The Hot Big-Bang Model. Inflation. Section II: Structure Formation: a Newtonian Approach. The Gravitational Instability Scenario. Density Fluctuations: Statistical Tools and Observables. The Luminous Universe. A Dark Universe. Section III: Structure Formation: a Relativistic Approach. The Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Solution. Structure Formation: a Relativistic Approach I. Structure Formation: a Relativistic Approach II. CMB Temperature Anisotropy. CMB Polarisation. Section IV: Future Perspectives. Precision Cosmology.

About the Author

Nicola Vittorio is full professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Physics Department of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He has been Dean (1999-2008) of the Faculty of Science and President (2006-2008) of the Association of the Deans of the Italian Faculties of Science. From 2010 to 2013 he was Vice-Rector for Higher Education of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He is coordinating for the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) the project “Lauree Scientifiche” or “Hard Science” Diploma Project, promoted by the Association of the Deans of the Italian Faculties of Science together with the Association of Italian Industries. Since 2010, he has been the Deputy President of the Comitato del MIUR per lo Sviluppo della Cultura Scientifica e Tecnologica, chaired by Prof. Luigi Berlinguer.

In February 2012, he joined the Technical Secretariat for Scientific Policy of MIUR as an advisor to the Minister of Education, Universities and Research. Since 2012 he has been a Member of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research – MIUR Policies Board and Chairman of the Bologna Follow-Up Group – BFUG Working Group on the Third Cycle of European Higher Education Area. Since 2013 he has been Vice-Rector for Doctoral Education and Internazionalization of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. His main research interest is in theoretical cosmology and data analysis of space missions. He has published more than 100 articles in refereed journals.

Nicola Vittorio is co-investigator of the ESA Planck mission for the observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background. He is a member of the Italian Astronomical Society, the Italian Physical Society, the Academy of Science of Turin, and the International Astronomical Union.

Reviews

"The material is well presented, the equations are rigorously derived and complemented by the physical insight of an expert in the field, and all chapters are accompanied by useful exercises and their solutions…this book is a valuable and well-written introduction to the very active field of observational cosmology. It will serve as a welcome complement to the current literature in the field and will be very useful, especially for PhD students entering the field of cosmology."
—Ruth Durrer, Department de Physique Theorique, Universite de Geneve "This textbook provides a full exploration of the developments in cosmological studies over the past hundred years; from the invention of General Relativity (GR) and the somewhat academic earlier exercises of its applications to the Universe, to the present practices of "precision cosmology", as a result of an impressive sequence of extensive observations and discoveries. The text is very clear, well-written throughout, and its various topics are all treated with mathematical rigour.
The book has 14 chapters, which are conveniently organized into three main sections, and each chapter ends with a number of exercises and fully-developed solutions, which provide further tools for a deeper understanding of the subject matters discussed. More than 350 well-selected figures (in black and white) clarify the text’s physical assumptions, findings, and formal mathematical treatment. In addition, five appendices illustrate the basic mathematical tools required for a fuller appreciation of the GR theory, which is the foundation at the heart of our present understanding of cosmology. And finally, the bibliography of more than 200 entries will enable the keen student to locate the original works quoted in the text. The contents of the first, and at least parts of the second, section can also be used as a tutorial for students approaching the studies of cosmology, while the remaining parts of the textbook