Frontiers of Cosmology: Proceedings of the NATO ASI on The Frontiers of Cosmology, Cargese, France from 8 - 20 September 2003 (NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, 187)

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. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 11 1 Basics of Cosmology......Page 12 1. Geometry and Dynamics......Page 13 2. Important quantities needed for observations......Page 16 3. Some solutions of EFL equations:some cosmological models......Page 19 4. The standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (SBBN)......Page 23 5. Observations of "primordial abundances"......Page 27 6. Confrontation of the observed "primordial abundances" to the predictions of the sBBN......Page 29 7. Conclusions......Page 31 References......Page 32 2 The X-ray View of Galaxy Clusters......Page 34 1. Observing Clusters in X-rays – the Chandra Observatory......Page 38 2. Regular Clusters XD Cooling Flows......Page 44 3. Physics of Cluster Cores......Page 47 References......Page 52 3 Clusters: an optical point of view......Page 54 1. Cluster detections in the optical......Page 55 2. Studies of clusters......Page 58 References......Page 65 1. Introduction......Page 67 2. What is a cluster?......Page 68 4. The mass function......Page 69 5. Connection to the observations......Page 70 6. Properties of Clusters and scaling relations......Page 73 7. Clusters abundance evolution......Page 75 8. The baryon fraction......Page 78 References......Page 82 1. Signals from the Dark universe......Page 85 2. Inference probes......Page 86 3. Physical probes......Page 87 References......Page 93 6 Non-thermal and relativistic processes in galaxy clusters......Page 95 1. Non-thermal and relativistic phenomena in galaxy clusters......Page 96 2. The origin of cosmic rays in galaxy clusters......Page 100 3. The astrophysics of cosmic rays in galaxy clusters......Page 104 References......Page 108 1. Introduction......Page 110 2. The hot Big-Bang scenario and its problems......Page 112 3. Inflation and inflationary dynamics......Page 118 4. Basics of cosmological perturbations......Page 126 5. Inflationary perturbations......Page 137 6. Basics of quantum field theory......Page 141 7. Perturbation spectrum......Page 143 References......Page 146 1. The two cosmological constant problems......Page 147 2. A scalar field as dark energy......Page 149 3. Stability of the w[sub(Q)] = Const regime......Page 150 4. Model building......Page 151 6. Observational status......Page 153 References......Page 155 9 CMB Observational Techniques and Recent Results......Page 157 1. Introduction......Page 158 2. Observational Techniques......Page 162 3. Recent Observations......Page 175 4. Summary......Page 178 References......Page 179 1. Introduction......Page 183 2. Cosmological Preliminaries......Page 184 3. The Last Scattering Surface......Page 186 4. Perturbations on Large and Small Scales......Page 188 5. Oscillations in the Primordial Plasma......Page 191 6. The Power Spectrum of CMB Fluctuations......Page 195 7. The CMB and Cosmological Parameters......Page 196 8. Conclusions......Page 199 Acknowledgments......Page 200 References......Page 201 1. Some History......Page 203 2. Supernova classification......Page 204 3. Input Energy......Page 207 4. Core-collapse supernovae......Page 208 6. Conclusions......Page 210 References......Page 211 1. Introduction......Page 214 2. The Hubble constant......Page 215 3. The expansion history of the universe......Page 217 4. Universal acceleration according to Type Ia supernovae......Page 218 5. Characterising dark energy......Page 221 6. Conclusions......Page 222 References......Page 223 1. Introduction......Page 225 2. Physical mechanisms......Page 226 3. Gravitational lenses in Cosmology......Page 230 4. Cosmic Shear: weak lensing as a probe of the large-scale structure......Page 236 References......Page 245 1. Introduction......Page 247 2. Local Dark Matter......Page 248 3. Clusters and Groups of Galaxies......Page 249 4. Masses of Galaxies......Page 251 5. The Nature of Dark Matter......Page 258 6. Summary......Page 262 References......Page 264 1. Challenges of dark matter......Page 269 2. Global baryon inventory......Page 270 3. Confirmation via detailed census of MWG/M31......Page 271 4. Hierarchical galaxy formation......Page 272 5. Unresolved issues in galaxy formation theory......Page 274 6. Resurrecting CDM......Page 275 7. An astrophysical solution: early winds......Page 277 8. Observing CDM via the WIMP LSP......Page 279 9. The future......Page 280 References......Page 283 1. The need for non-baryonic dark matter......Page 285 2. Popular candidates for non-baryonic dark matter......Page 287 3. Neutralino dark matter searches......Page 305 4. Conclusions......Page 332 References......Page 333 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

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!