Most of time, everything is homogeneous and isotropic, until it’s not…
TIPI strongly believe General Relativity should be a prerequisite for Cosmology. That being said, Tong’s notes do a brilliant job introducing the subject without its need. But, in no way, you can consider your Cosmology education complete by doing it just the Newtonian way. So, while Tong might be an excellent introduction, make sure you follow it up eventually by picking up Baumann’s textbook / or supplement with some of the nice video lectures that are available these days on Youtube.
PRIMARY REFERENCES
Lecture notes on Cosmology - David Tong 🌟
Introductory Ideal for Beginners
Honestly, if you’re starting from scratch, these lecture notes are the place to begin. Like all of Tong’s notes, they are clear and full of intuition, and you don’t need any General Relativity: everything is done with good old Newtonian physics. They also work well as reference notes alongside a formal course. Don’t expect worked examples, though (they’re lecture notes after all), and if it’s your first time seeing the material, it can take some patience to see how the results fit together.
TIPAttempt the Problem sets, they are not that hard for these set of notes.
Cosmology - Daniel Baumann 💫
Introductory State-of-the-art
Whichever cosmology course you’re taking, these notes are worth having next to you. There’s an appendix on General Relativity that covers only the parts you need for cosmology, which helps a lot.
What makes them so good are the details: step-by-step calculations, lots of clear diagrams, and the small boxed sections, which matter more than they look (don’t skip them).
The notes also come with lecture “scripts”, which are long summaries of each class. They’re very useful for revising or for catching up on a lecture you missed.
UpdateThe notes have been converted into a book in 2022
Intro to Cosmology - Barbara Ryden
Introductory Ideal for Beginners
I came across this book after my cosmology coursework, though I’d heard it mentioned a few times before. I started with Dodelson, but I think this one is a better first read for someone new to the subject. It goes through all the important topics in a clear order, and it pairs well with Baumann’s lecture notes.
Modern Cosmology - Dodelson
Intermediate Unique
A classic. Even the small comments in this book are worth reading carefully, and if a topic is giving you a headache, this is a good place to look. The chapters on the Boltzmann equations (3 and 4) and on inflation (6) are especially good.
ADVANCED REFERENCES
The Early Universe - Kolb and Turner
Advanced Old-is-gold