Gravity and Superstrings 1

This is a course on advanced topics in general relativity, like the physics of black holes or advanced cosmology (in particular the theory of inflation).

At the end of the course the student is expected to have the following skills:
1. Profound knowledge of the physics of black holes, in particular of the thermodynamics of black holes
2. Knowledge in advanced cosmology, knows the problems of the cosmological standard model and the physics of inflation
3. Knows what a Chern-Simons gauge theory is and how gravity in three dimensions can be formulated as a Chern-Simons theory.