In this course, we cover the theory of the cosmic microwave background fluctuations. In particular:

• The expanding universe
• Stokes parameters, spin harmonics and E and B modes
• Cosmological perturbations
• Gauge freedom and gauge transformations
• The Boltzmann equation for photons
• The scattering terms of Boltzmann's equation for photons
• The multipole expansion
• The line of sight strategy of solving the multipole hierachy
• The multipole spectrum of temperature and polarization fluctuations
• Finding initial conditions for the fluctuations
• The tight coupling limit before recombination
• Analytic estimates
• If time permits: secondary anisotropies

You can download the lecture notes new from 02-05-2010 (without a chapter on secondary anisotropies yet).

• The Cosmic Microwave Background, by Ruth Durrer (2008) ISBN-10: 0521847044
• Principles of Physical Cosmology by P.J.E Peebles (1993) ISBN-10: 0691019339
• Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background, Matthias Zaldarriaga's Thesis
• Gauge Invariant Cosmological Perturbations, J. M. Bardeen (1980), Phys.Rev.D22:1882-1905,1980

Master students may acquire 4 credit points subject to a written exam at the end of the course.