Resumo Neste artigo apresentamos uma introdução à evolução do Universo predita pela equação de Friedmann, a qual leva em consideração a composição e geometria do Universo. A dependência da solução da equação de Friedmann na geometria é analisada, assim como a sua solução para diferentes combinações para os constituintes básicos que formam o Universo. Os distintos comportamentos possíveis da evolução temporal do Universo são determinados e o cenário predito pela Cosmologia Padrão é apresentado.

Abstract In this paper we describe the evolution of the Universe in terms of the Friedmann equation, which takes into account of the composition and geometry of the Universe. The dependence of the solution on the geometry and composition for different combinations of the basic constituents are discussed. The distinct behaviours for the temporal evolution of the Universe are determined and the scenario predicted by the Standard Cosmology is presented.

We report on our recent investigations in photonuclear production of heavy quarks and vector mesons in ultraperipheral collisions at nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus reactions. They are initiated by quasi-real photons coming from one of the nuclei or hadron in interactions taking place at large impact parameter. We focus on the role played by the high energy theoretical/phenomenological approaches in photon-nuclei scattering, namely the strength of parton saturation phenomenon and high energy nuclear shadowing. In particular, our theoretical predictions are compared with the recent experimental measurements on coherent r (STAR) and J/Y (PHENIX) photoproduction at RHIC and estimates for LHC are given.