Frontiers of Cosmology: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on The Frontiers of Cosmology Cargèse, France 8–20 September 2003

The field of Cosmology is currently undergoing a revolution driven by dramatic observational progresses and by novel theoretical scenarios imported from particle physics. This book contains lectures by world experts in the various branches of this field corresponding to lectures presented during the School "Frontiers of the Universe" at the IESC, (Corsica, France). These pedagogical lectures cover major subjects relevant to the field (inflation; CMB: anisotropies and polarization; quintessence/dark energy; inflation; CMB: anisotropies and polarization; clusters of galaxies; gravitational lensing; galaxy formation; dark matter; supernovae and the accelerating expansion of the Universe), providing invaluable introductory material appropriate to PhD students as well as to more senior scientists who wish to become familiar with the various domains of the modern developments in Cosmology. The ?eld of cosmology is currently undergoing a revolution driven by d- matic observational progress and by novel theoretical scenarios imported from particle physics. In particular, two most remarkable results were recently - tained from measurements of the angular spectrum of the ?uctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation providing convincing e- dence that the Universe is nearly ?at and from the Hubble diagram of distant supernovae indicating an accelerating expansion rate, which implies the ex- tence of some dark energy as the dominant component of the Universe. Indeed, the next decade will bene't from high quality data on cosmology from diff- ent major experiments and observatories, with a particular important contri- tion from space missions such as WMAP, Planck Surveyor, XMM and SNAP among others. On one side, cosmologists believe they understand the origin of themain ingredients which allowacoherent description of theUniverse from its very earlyphase, namely in?ation, to the actual epoch which accounts for theoriginof theprimordial?uctuations, allowing predictions of their - prints inthe cosmicmicrowave skyandleading to the large scale structure of theUniverse as observed. Ontheother side, theexistence of a non-zero vacuum density is certainly one of the most astonishing results of modern f- damental physics. Understanding its nature andits originwill be one of the major directions of researchinthe following years. In view of the intensive current activity inthe ?eld, aSchoolfully dedicated to these both sides in cosmology was timely.

The field of Cosmology is currently undergoing a revolution driven by dramatic observational progresses and by novel theoretical scenarios imported from particle physics. This book contains lectures by world experts in the various branches of this field corresponding to lectures presented during the School Frontiers of the Universe at the IESC, (Corsica,France). These pedagogical lectures cover major subjects relevant to the field ( inflation; CMB: anisotropies and polarization; quintessence/dark energy; inflation; CMB: anisotropies and polarization; clusters of galaxies; gravitational lensing; galaxy formation; dark matter; supernovae and the accelerating expansion of the Universe), providing invaluable introductory material appropriate to PhD students as well as to more senior scientists who wish to become familiar with the various domains of the modern developments in Cosmology

Basics of Cosmology....Pages 1-22 The X-Ray View of Galaxy Clusters....Pages 23-42 Clusters: An Optical Point of View....Pages 43-55 Cosmology with Clusters of Galaxies....Pages 57-74 Astrophysical Detection of Darkmatter....Pages 75-84 Non-Thermal and Relativistic Processes in Galaxy Clusters....Pages 85-99 An Introductory Overview about Cosmological Inflation....Pages 101-137 An Introduction to Quintessence....Pages 139-148 CMB Observational Techniques and Recent Results....Pages 149-174 Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background....Pages 175-194 Supernovae as Astrophysical Objects....Pages 195-205 Cosmology with Supernovae....Pages 207-217 Gravitational Lensing: From μ-Lensing to Cosmic Shear Experiments....Pages 219-240 Dark Matter: Early Considerations....Pages 241-262 Dark Matter and Galaxy Formation....Pages 263-278 Non-Baryonic Dark Matter....Pages 279-333 Contains lectures by world experts in the various branches of this field corresponding to lectures presented during the School "Frontiers of the Universe" at the IESC, (Corsica, France). These pedagogical lectures cover major subjects relevant to the field, providing introductory material for PhD students as well as to more senior scientists. Edited By Alain Blanchard And Monique Signore. Proceedings Of The Nato Advanced Study Institute On The Frontiers Of Cosmology, Cargèse, France, 8-20 September, 2003--t.p. Verso. Includes Bibliographical References. We will begin by briefly reviewing the General Cosmological Framework in which the following lectures will fit the Hot Big Bang!