Relativistic cosmology

Abstract

The subject of cosmology is an admixture of imaginative ideas, intuitive predictions and hard scientific facts. This has made cosmology a case of three distinct cultures; that of astronomers, who look at the universe and find hard data, relativists - who build models of universe that range from simple to esoteric ones, and the particle physicists who can test their the- ories of very high energy physics only in the cosmic laboratory that was there at the very onset of the universe. This culture can well be compared with the British culture, where one has three classes: the working class, the professionals and the aristrocrats. This course will try to give certain glimpses of cosmology in these three fields.