The Cosmic Microwave Background

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the radiation left over from the Big Bang, is arguably the most important topic in modern cosmology. Its theory and observation have revolutionized cosmology from an order-of-magnitude science to a precision science. This graduate textbook describes CMB physics from first principles in a detailed yet pedagogical way, assuming only that the reader has a working knowledge of General Relativity. Among the changes in this second edition are new chapters on non-Gaussianities in the CMB and on large-scale structure, and extended discussions on lensing and baryon acoustic oscillations, topics that have developed significantly in the last decade. Discussions of CMB experiments have been updated from WMAP data to the new Planck data. The CMB success story in estimating cosmological parameters is then treated in detail, conveying the beauty of the interplay of theoretical understanding and precise experimental measurements.

Ruth Durrer is a full Professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics at Geneva University and was the department director for about 10 years. She previously held junior positions at Zürich, Princeton and Cambridge. Among her other duties, she was a member of the Swiss Research Council and of the evaluation board for ERC Advanced Grants. She has written more than 230 research papers and reviews on different topics in cosmology. Her main research subjects are the CMB and large scale structure, topological defects, cosmological phase transitions, cosmic magnetic fields and gravitational waves.