Cosmic Inflation

• Motivation: cosmic puzzles
  
  • flatness
  • horizon: CMB sky, normal contrast
  • structure: CMB sky, high contrast
• the solution: exponential expansion
  how this creates flatness
• quantum fluctuations to cosmic fluctuations
• the inflaton and scalar fields
• inflation and the CMB
• scorecard and outlook

Formation of Cosmic Structures

• starting point: tiny density fluctuations
• gravitational (Jeans) instability
• cold dark matter (CDM)
• hierarchical structure formation
• cosmos in a computer: the state of the art
  • the growth of structure: theory, observation
  • the cosmic web
  • a galaxy cluster merger
  • millenium simulation: evolution over time, zoom into snapshot
  • simulation of Milky Way formation