Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• understand the basis of modern cosmology based on the hot big bang
• summarise the main candidate dark matter particles, and the prospects for directly detecting them
• compare models to explain the late-time acceleration of the Universe’s expansion, i.e. dark energy and the cosmological constant
• discuss observational prospects for understanding the nature of dark energy
• explain the theoretical problems that led to the theory of inflation, how an early inflationary period solves them and how researchers are investigating inflation.