In this corrected and enlarged edition of Börner's well respected textbook the reader will find an up-to-date account of the interplay between particle physics and astrophysics upon which modern cosmology is founded. 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.

Klappentext

In this corrected and enlarged edition of Börner's well respected textbook, you will find an up-to-date account of the interplay between particle physics and astrophysics upon which modern cosmology is founded. The author describes some of the theories which have been developed to model the fundamental interaction of elementary particles in the extremely high temperatures of the early universe, taking care to distinguish facts and well- established results from hypotheses and speculations. The three parts of the book discuss the standard hot big bang model of the early universe, the basic ideas of the standard and the grand unified theories of elementary particles, and the influence of dark matter of the large- scale evolution of structure. In addition to making some minor corrections, the author has added an appendix presenting new results and an updated bibliography. Two main groups of readers are addressed: research students in astronomy can use this book to understand the impact of elementary particle theory on cosmology, while research students in particle physics can use it to acquaint themselves with the basic facts of cosmology. The book is written carefully enough to appeal also to a wider audience of physicists.

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.1 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.- D. Observations of the Galaxy Distribution/ Large Scale Structure.- E. Numerical Simulations of Galaxy Formation.- F. Some Remarks on Inflation.- New References.- 1. Cosmic Microwave Background.- 2. Cosmic Parameters.- 3. Dark Matter.- 3.1 X-Ray Observations.- 3.2 Gravitational Lenses.- 4. Galaxy Formation.- References.