Cosmological Dynamics
Edmund Bertschinger
TL;DR
<3-5 sentence high-level summary>These lecture notes provide a comprehensive, pedagogical treatment of cosmological dynamics, bridging Newtonian cosmology, kinetic theory, and relativistic perturbation theory. They develop both Eulerian and Lagrangian formalisms for fluids and collisionless matter, explain the role of boundary conditions at infinity, and derive the Vlasov, Gilbert, and ADM frameworks governing structure formation. A key emphasis is placed on gauge choices (notably Poisson and synchronous gauges) and on connecting relativistic gravity with Newtonian intuition through the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic fields. The material lays a solid foundation for understanding how different dark matter components and relativistic effects influence the growth of cosmic structure.
Abstract
This is a set of lecture notes basd on the lectures on cosmological dynamics given by E. Bertschinger at Les Houches in August 1993. The contents include elementary mechanics in cosmology, Eulerian and Lagrangian fluid dynamics, hot dark matter, and relativistic cosmological perturbation theory. To typeset the notes one must first obtain the style files and figures in file figmac.uu sent separately. Place all the files in one directory, run latex three times, and run dvips or equivalent to produce a postscript file.