ASTR/PHYS 328/428 Course Project

Course Project

The Values of Cosmic Parameters
H₀ | q₀ | T₀ | Ω_m | Ω_Λ | Ω_b | f_b | σ₈ | n | r

The class project is a joint effort to compile observational constraints on the values of the fundamental cosmic parameters.

Each of you will choose an appropriate paper on which to report. Which one is up to you; some examples are given below. It should have a bottom line, like H₀ = 70 or Ω_m = 0.25 (along with error bars, of course). Write an abstract (1 paragraph) on the result as if you were an author of the paper who was going to present it at a AAS meeting, where 5 minute talks are the norm. The written abstract is intended for the other conference attendees - your classmates - more than me; I will post them so we can read them like the abstracts at a conference.

Topics to Investigate: Observational Constraints

The goal is to learn about observational constraints on cosmological parameters. E.g.,

H₀ from direct measurements (e.g., Riess et al. (2019)
Age constraints [f(q₀,1/H₀)] from globular clusters (e.g., Valcin et al. (2020)
Ω_b from the light element abundances (e.g., deuterium, helium, lithium)
Ω_m from
- kinematics
- large scale structure (e.g., 2dF; 6dF;
- cluster baryon fractions (e.g., Evrard)
- cluster mass-to-light ratios (e.g., CNOC)
See the more general list of topics for more ideas.

Note that observational constraints often boil down to a statement like "Ω_bh² = 0.019 +/- 0.001." This is the essence of what you're after, though of course you need to understand the method in order to appreciate how the result is obtained and what might go wrong. But we will need something like this as a bottom-line answer for intercomparison of results in the culminating discussion.