The Physics Of The Early Universe

The Physics of the Early Universe is an edited and expanded version of the lectures given at a recent summer school of the same name. Its aim is to present an advanced multi-authored textbook that meets the needs of both postgraduate students and young researchers interested in, or already working on, problems in cosmology and general relativity, with emphasis on the early universe. A particularly strong feature of the present work is the constructive-critical approach to the present mainstream theories, the careful assessment of some alternative approaches, and the overall balance between theoretical and observational considerations. As such, this book will also benefit experienced scientists and nonspecialists from related areas of research.

This fourth edition of Börner's "The Early Universe" is practically a new book, not just updated version. In particular, it is now organized so as to make it more useful as a textbook. And problem sections are also added. In the centre are the connections between particle physics and cosmology: The standard model, some basic implications of quantum field theory and the questions of structure formation. Special emphasis is given to the observed anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background and the consequences drawn for cosmology and for the structure formation models. Nuclear and particle physicists and astrophysicists, researchers and teachers as well as graduate students will welcome this new edition of a classic text and reference.

"University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result."--Open Textbook Library.

The Early Universe has become the standard reference on forefront topics in cosmology, particularly to the early history of the Universe. Subjects covered include primordial nubleosynthesis, baryogenesis, phases transitions, inflation, dark matter, and galaxy formation, relics such as axions, neutrinos and monopoles, and speculations about the Universe at the Planck time. The book includes more than ninety figures as well as a five-page update discussing recent developments such as the COBE results.

This book is written from the viewpoint that a deep connection exists between cosmology and particle physics. It presents the results and ideas on both the homogeneous and isotropic Universe at the hot stage of its evolution and in later stages. The main chapters describe in a systematic and pedagogical way established facts and concepts on the early and the present Universe. The comprehensive treatment, hence, serves as a modern introduction to this rapidly developing field of science. To help in reading the chapters without having to constantly consult other texts, essential materials from General Relativity and the theory of elementary particles are collected in the appendices. Various hypotheses dealing with unsolved problems of cosmology, and often alternative to each other, are discussed at a more advanced level. These concern dark matter, dark energy, matter–antimatter asymmetry, etc. Particle physics and cosmology underwent rapid development between the first and the second editions of this book. In the second edition, many chapters and sections have been revised, and numerical values of particle physics and cosmological parameters have been updated.

An up-to-date presentation of the progress and current problems in the early universe, cosmic microwave background radiation, large scale structure formation, and the interplay between them. The emphasis is on the mutual impact of fundamental physics and cosmology, both at theoretical and experimental (observational) levels within a deep, well- focused and well-defined programme. The nature of the domain itself leads to different aspects, approaches and points of view on the same topic. Special care has been taken to provide the reader the basis of the different, sometimes competing lines of research. All contributions are uniformly excellent, with a careful selection of the subjects and approaches covered, presenting a unifying and rigorous view of the field. Audience: experimentalists and theoreticians from a variety of backgrounds: physics, astrophysics and astronomy. An excellent reference for post-doctoral scientists. Useful for senior scientists and advanced graduate students.

A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang—and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universe Scientists in the past few decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history. Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe’s first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it. Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.

List of Participants ••. ••. •. . . . •. . ••. . . ••. ••. •. •. . . ••. •. •. . . ••. • xi I. MOSS / The Quantum Origin of the Universe ••••. •. •. •••. •••. ••• M. S. TUru~ER / Cosmology and Particle Physics •. . •••. ••. •. . •••. •• 19 G. GELMINI / Supersynunetry and the Early Universe •••. •. ••. . •. •. . 115 J. D. BARROW / Relativistic Cosmology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 P. J. E. PEEBLES / Yet Another Scenario for Galaxy Formation . ••. 203 ?:1. B. '-lISE / Non-Gaussian Fluctuations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 S. D. H. mUTE / N-body Hethods and the Formation of Large-Scale Structure • . •. . . . • . • • . • • • . . . • . . . . • • . . . • . • . . 239 • . . . • • . . . . • T. PI~~ / Numerical Relativity and Cosmology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 J. R. BOND / Distortions and Anisotropies of the Cosmic Background Radiation •. •. . . ••. ••. •••. ••••. . ••. . •••••. •• 283 J. V. HALL / The Early Universe - An Observer's View. . . . . . . . . . . . 335 G. GELHINI / Can the Solar Neutrino Problem be the First Detected Signature of Dark Hatter from the Halo of Our Galaxy? 351 A. K. DRUKIER / Detecting Cold Dark !1atter Candidates •. •. •. . . •. . 361 S. TOULMIN / The Early Universe: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives . •. •. . . . . . . •. . . . •••. •. •. •. •. . . . ••••. . •. •. • 393 INDEX . . •. . . •. . . ••. . . ••••. . . •••••. . . •. •. •. . •. . . . •. . •. •. . . ••. •••.