Cosmology and the Milky Way: An Overview

This lecture provides an overview of the standard model in cosmology, emphasizing the cosmological principle that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. The instructor discusses the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) model, detailing the contributions of dark matter, ordinary matter, and dark energy to the universe's composition. The lecture highlights significant discoveries, including the acceleration of the universe's expansion, which led to Nobel Prize-winning research. The discussion extends to the cosmic microwave background radiation, illustrating the universe's state when it was 380,000 years old. The instructor also covers the formation of galaxies, the challenges of simulating small-scale structures, and the importance of various physical processes such as gas dynamics and star formation. The Milky Way is examined in detail, including its structure, components, and the significance of its dark matter halo. The lecture concludes with a classification of galaxies based on their morphology, providing insights into the diversity of galactic structures observed in the universe.