What's your favorite brief survey of modern cosmology?

[marcus]

http://www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0202008

Here is a good overview of cosmology describing the evidence for the present model, the open questions, and what ongoing observations can be expected to resolve over the next decade. The writing is rigorous and for fellow profesionals (no effort at popularization) but it is authoritative, broad-gauge, and concise, so it may be of use to some PF folk. The date is spring 2002 so it is fairly up to date.

If you know of a better recent survey article at this level, please let me know. Here (down to the asterisks) is a sample exerpt copied from the first page:

MAKING SENSE OF THE NEW COSMOLOGY

Michael S. TURNER
Center for Cosmological Physics
Departments of Astronomy & Astrophysics and of Physics
Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637-1433, USA
NASA/Fermilab Astrophysics Center
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Batavia, IL 60510-0500, USA

Abstract:
Over the past three years we have determined the basic features of the Universe--spatially flat; accelerating; comprised of 1/3 a new form of matter, 2/3 a new form of energy, with some ordinary matter and a dash of massive neutrinos; and apparently born from a burst of rapid expansion during which quantum noise was stretched to astrophysical size seeding cosmic structure. The New Cosmology greatly extends the highly successful hot big-bang model.

Now we have to make sense of all this: What is the dark matter particle? What is the nature of the dark energy? Why this mixture? How did the matter--antimatter asymmetry arise?
What is the underlying cause of in ation (if it indeed occurred)?

*******end of quote*********

What's your idea of a concise summary of where cosmology stands at present----the main evidence, the main results, conjectures etc. the focus for future research?

The same view is available at various levels of sophistication. For example Ned Wrights cosmology tutorial covers a lot of the same ground but in a style that makes it highly accesible----certainly to undergrads and I would guess also to a lot of Highschoolers.
Maybe I will add some links to Ned Wright pages to this thread.

But mainly I would like to know what other people have found, at whatever level, that serves this purpose----especially if online and you give the links!

 

[Almsco]

Cosmology is currently a very active and exciting field of research. The current model of the Universe consists of a flat, accelerating space-time with 1/3 of its energy density in a "dark matter" particle, 2/3 in a "dark energy", and some ordinary matter and massive neutrinos. There are still many open questions such as what the dark matter particle is, what the nature of the dark energy is, how the matter-antimatter asymmetry arose, and what the underlying cause of inflation (if it occurred) was. Scientists are actively researching these topics as well as looking for evidence to support the current model. To learn more about the current state of cosmology, a good resource is Ned Wright's cosmology tutorial which covers the same topics in an accessible style for both undergraduate and high school students.