A Taste of Cosmology

Abstract

This is the summary of two lectures that aim to give an overview of cosmology. I will not try to be too rigorous in derivations, nor to give a full historical overview. The idea is to provide a "taste" of cosmology and some of the interesting topics it covers. The standard cosmological model is presented and I highlight the successes of cosmology over the past decade or so. Keys to the development of the standard cosmological model are observations of the cosmic microwave background and of large-scale structure, which are introduced. Inflation and dark energy and the outlook for the future are also discussed. Slides from the lectures are available from the school website: physicschool.web.cern.ch/PhysicSchool/CLASHEP/CLASHEP2011/.