About this course: We have learned a lot recently about how the Universe evolved in 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang. More than 80% of matter in the Universe is mysterious Dark Matter, which made stars and galaxies to form. The newly discovered Higgs-boson became frozen into the Universe a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang and brought order to the Universe. Yet we still do not know how ordinary matter (atoms) survived against total annihilation by Anti-Matter. The expansion of the Universe started acceleration about 7 billion years ago and the Universe is being ripped apart. The culprit is Dark Energy, a mysterious energy multiplying in vacuum. I will present evidence behind these startling discoveries and discuss what we may learn in the near future. This course is offered in English.

Who is this class for: Completion of this course requires introductory physics knowledge (qualitative understanding of concepts such as force, energy, etc.) and some basic math (basic algebra and geometry). To audit the course, no prior knowledge is required.

Created by: The University of Tokyo

Taught by: Hitoshi Murayama, Director, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study (TODIAS)
MacAdams Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley

Level	Beginner
Commitment	2-4 hours/week
Language	English
How To Pass	Pass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings	4.8 stars Average User Rating 4.8See what learners said

Syllabus

WEEK 1

From Daily Life to the Big Bang

Understanding the Universe in which we live and how to probe it can begin with simple daily life experiences such as night and day and the four seasons. Starting from these observations, we will take a journey from our local Earth at the present time all the w...

12 videos, 3 readings, 10 readings

Graded: Graded Quiz 1-1

Graded: Graded Quiz 1-2

Graded: Graded Quiz 1-3

Graded: Optional Challenge Problem 1

WEEK 2

Birth of Elements and Higgs Boson

We are made of chemical elements. So one of the fundamental questions “where do we come from?” leads to another question: “how were elements born?”. This is related to the Higgs Boson, an important particle in answering this question which remained elusive unt...

9 videos, 9 readings

Graded: Graded Quiz 2-1

Graded: Graded Quiz 2-2

WEEK 3

Dark Matter and Anti-Matter

In this module, we will learn about dark matter and anti-matter -- some of the more mysterious sides of the Universe. We know dark matter played an important role in the formation of stars and galaxies, but much of properties are still unknown to us. In anothe...

8 videos, 1 reading, 8 readings

Graded: Graded Quiz 3-1

Graded: Graded Quiz 3-2

Graded: Optional Challenge Problem 2

WEEK 4

Inflation and Dark Energy

At the very beginning, the Universe exponentially expanded during a period known as the cosmic inflation. Recent studies suggested that the Universe has entered into another stage of expansion, considered to be caused by 'mysterious' dark energy. In this modul...

8 videos, 7 readings

Graded: Graded Quiz 4-1

Graded: Graded Quiz 4-2

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The University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, UTokyo offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity.

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From the Big Bang to Dark Energy