Connections developed in recent years between particle physics and cosmology are the focus of attention in this new textbook. The author describes some of the theories which have been developed to describe the fundamental interaction of elementary particle physics in the extremely high temperatures of the early universe, taking care to distinguish facts and well established results from hypotheses and speculation.

Inhalt

1 The Cosmological Models.- 2 Facts - Observations of Cosmological Significance.- 3 Thermodynamics of the Early Universe in the Classical Hot-Big-Bang Picture.- 4 Can the Standard Model be Verified Experimentally?.- 5 Gauge Theories and the Standard Model.- 6 Grand Unification Schemes.- 7 Relic Particles from the Early Universe.- 8 Baryon Synthesis.- 9 The Inflationary Universe.- 10 Typical Scales - From Observation and Theory.- 11 The Evolution of Small Perturbations.- 12 Computer Simulations and the Large-Scale Structure.- A.l The Gauge-Invariant Theory of Perturbations.- A. 1.2 Gauge-Invariant Variables.- A. 1.3 Linearized Einstein Equations for Gauge-Invariant Variables.- A. 1.4 Some Remarks on Multi-Component Systems.- Recent Developments.- A. The Cosmic Microwave Background.- B. Nucleosynthesis.- C. Large Scale Motions.- Peculiar Velocities.- D. Observations of the Galaxy Distribution/ Large Scale Structure.- Faint Galaxies.- High Redshift Objects.- Statistics.- E. Numerical Simulations of Galaxy Formation.- F. Some Remarks on Inflation.- References.