The Early Universe

Connections developed in recent years between particle
physics and cosmologyare 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 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 earlyuniverse, the basic ideas of the
standard and the grand unified theories of elementary
particles, and the influence of dark matter on the
large-scale evolution of structure. In addition to making
some minorcorrections 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.