An Introduction to Mathematical Cosmology [Hardcover]

Jamal Nazrul Islam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1992

This book is a concise introduction to the mathematical aspects of the origin, structure and evolution of the universe. The book begins with a brief overview of observational cosmology and general relativity, and goes on to discuss Friedmann models, the Hubble constant, models with a cosmological constant, singularities, the early universe, inflation and quantum cosmology. This book is rounded off with a chapter on the distant future of the universe. The book is written as a textbook for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. It will also be of interest to cosmologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, applied mathematicians and mathematical physicists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

."..a readable introduction to the newest astrophysical observations and speculations....The strongest feature of this brief book is a well written and easily understood introduction to the physical concepts underlying quantum cosmology and inflation....Islam's book contains a nice collection of topics which are at the current frontier of research in gravity and will be an excellent supplement to a course introducing general relativity." Edward Glass, SIAM Review

Book Description

This is a concise introduction to the mathematical aspects of the origin, structure and evolution of the universe. It begins with a brief overview of observational cosmology and general relativity and goes on to discuss Friedmann models, the Hubble constant, models with a cosmological constant, singularities, the early universe, inflation and quantum cosmology.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521373859
• ISBN-13: 978-0521373852
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,737,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of a Review Than an Introduction, November 1, 2000

By 

Andy Gregory (Cleveland England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Mathematical Cosmology (Paperback)

This book presents a review the basics of mathematical cosmology. For example a review of basic general relativity (a co-ordinate approach) is presented early on (Chapter 2). There are no exercises or problems. You could not learn general relativity from this.The discussion of the geometric and kinematic properties of the RW metric were good. Sufficient material is presented for reviews of standard cosmological models in chapters 3 and 5 although the material concerning the relativistic Friedmann models is covered much more clearly in Foster and Nightingale with the same end results and nice do-able exercises.. Chapter five presents a review of models with a cosmological constant.Some exact solutions (original work by the author) are presented. Rather frustratingly, solutions of some equations are presented with no hints at all as to how they are arrived at. Some approximate relationships are stated without suggesting how they are taken.This makes independent study of the book frustrating at times.There are two chapters later on that present the material from the mathematical supplement to Weinberg's 'three minutes' book in more detail. These are quite fun and could be dipped into independently. I bought this book 'hardback at paperback price - 14.95' which was fair. I would not pay the full price for this book - save up and get Weinberg's Gravitation and Cosmology or get it from the library. It is not really suitable for independent study.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting mathematical treatment of topics in cosmology, December 27, 2004

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Mathematical Cosmology (Paperback)

Some books on cosmology specialize in stating the concepts while keeping the mathematics to a minimum. Others state everything in more mathematical terms. Yet others are textbooks which get one to practice the mathematics. This book takes a different approach from any of these.

To understand cosmology, one needs to know some mathematics. And that would be true even if we knew all the answers to our questions. Given that there are actually multiple models of the universe that are being used and debated, it is even more important to see the mathematics that gets used to characterize them.

Still, this is not a textbook with problem sets. It is more of a review text in some areas (particularly general relativity), and a supplementary book in others. It addresses several important topics in cosmology in useful detail.

The book begins with an overview of cosmology and a review of general relativity. Then Islam spends a significant amount of time on the Robertson-Walker metric, with two different derivations of it. Next, we look at Friedman models of the universe. And then, we look at observational cosmology, with estimates and ranges for the Hubble constant and the resulting age of the universe (which hopefully comes out larger than the ages of the stars and galaxies).

After that, Islam discusses models with a cosmological constant. That's a good idea given that in the last few years, we have obtained more and more evidence for the existence of this (or of a dark energy term). He then includes an interesting chapter on singularities.

After this, there are chapters on the early universe. That means the temperature of the early universe and big bang nucleosynthesis. And we find out about the amounts of primordial helium and deuterium (I think these are still very intriguing issues). The author also shows us a variety of inflationary models (I had fun comparing this chapter with what Roger Penrose said about inflation in "The Road to Reality"). Islam then gives a brief account of quantum cosmology, including a mention of the Hartle-Hawking proposal for the wave function of the "ground state" of the universe.

The book concludes with a chapter about the distant future of the universe, including black hole evaporation and proton decay. While such a section may seem speculative and unsophisticated, I think such topics are a genuine part of cosmology.

This is a useful book, and I recommend it as a supplement to almost any cosmology text.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved every page, September 22, 2010

By 

mh311 - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Mathematical Cosmology (Hardcover)

I picked this book up in the science library. Now I'm studying astrophysics. Get the picture?