Inflationary Cosmology

Some 25 years after the birth of inflationary cosmology, this volume sets out to provide both an authoritative and pedagogical introduction and review of the current state of the field. Readers learn about the arguments supporting the many different scenarios of cosmic inflation. Articles are written by eminent scientists, many of whom have made pioneering contributions to the field of inflationary cosmology.

Inflation has revolutionized cosmology primarily because it has eliminated the dependence of cosmological modelling on initial conditions. Thus inflationary cosmology is able to account for the present universe starting from a wide range of initial conditions. This volume reviews the presents state of subject. Each chapter consists of a brief introduction followed by reprints of important papers. Experts in the field are also provided with a unifying view point.

A thorough and up-to-date graduate textbook on the most promising theory of the universe - inflationary cosmology.

A monograph on inflationary cosmology and cosmological phase transitions, investigating modern cosmology's relationship to elementary particle physics. This work also includes a non-technical discussion of inflationary cosmology for those unfamiliar with the theory.

Cosmic inflation and dark energy hold the key to the origin and the eventual fate of the Universe. Despite the increasing prominence of these subjects in research and teaching over the past decade or more, no introductory textbook dedicated to these topics has been previously published. Dr. Konstantinos Dimopoulos is a highly regarded expert in the field, and an experienced communicator of the subject to students. In this book, he provides advanced undergraduate and early graduate students with an accessible introduction and equips them with the tools they need to understand the cosmology of cosmic inflation and dark energy. Features: Provides a concise, pedagogical "crash course" in big bang cosmology, focusing on the dynamics and the history of the Universe, with an emphasis on the role of dark energy Chapters contain questions and problems for readers to test their understanding The first book to make cosmic inflation and dark energy accessible to students

This is the compelling, first-hand account of Alan Guth's paradigm-breaking discovery of the origins of the universe—and of his dramatic rise from young researcher to physics superstar. Guth's startling theory—widely regarded as one of the most important contributions to science during the twentieth century—states that the big bang was set into motion by a period of hyper-rapid “inflation,” lasting only a billion-trillion-billionth of a second. The Inflationary Universe is the passionate story of one leading scientist's effort to look behind the cosmic veil and explain how the universe began.

Scientific Cosmology is clearly one of the most active physics research fields at present, and likely to remain so in the near future. Shortly after the pioneering cosmological work of Einstein, Georges Lemaitre proposed a model which some years later to be known as the big-bang model. In the early fifties an alternative proposal, the so called steady-state (expansion at constant density) model, became the fashionable model in prominent academic circles. The discovery of the cosmic background microwave radiation (Penzias & Wilson, 1965) made the steady-state model almost untenable. A quarter of a century later the inflationary model was proposed, becoming extraordinarily popular almost immediately. For some it seemed to combine attractive features of both the steady-state and the big-bang models, by postulating a very early violent (constant density) expansion during a very tiny fraction of a second. The book makes use of the best and most recent observational data, from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE, 1992) to the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP, 2003), to discuss the merits and demerits of inflationary cosmology for a general readership acquainted with the basic facts of scientific cosmology. A complete Glossary and a detailed Index help the reader to follow controversial topics, such as dark matter, dark energy, cosmic flatness and accelerated expansion.

This accessible volume provides a modern treatment of the cosmological and string-theoretic background necessary to understand inflation in string theory.