Synopsis
Thisbookisaneditedversionofthelecturesdeliveredduringthe1stAegean SummerSchoolonCosmology, heldonSamosisland, Greece, inSeptember 21-29,2001, andorganizedjointlybytheDepartmentofMathematics, U- versity of the Aegean and the Department of Physics, National Technical UniversityofAthens. Cosmology, thescienceoftheuniverse, standsatthecrossroadsofmany ?eldsofphysicsandmathematicsandpresentsuswithchallengingproblems of many forms. Although there are by now many textbooks discussing the subjectatmanylevels, itistruethatnosinglebookhasthecharacteristics wehadinmindwheneditingthisvolume. Wehavetriednottoproducea proceedingsvolumebutmoreamultiauthoredtextbookwhichcouldserveas areferencesourceofcurrentideasincosmology. Webelievethisbookcovers atanintroductorylevelmostoftheissueswhichareconsideredimportant inmoderncosmologicalresearchandcanbereadbyagraduatestudentor researcherwhowishestoacquireareasonableknowledgeofcosmologythat will, wehope, continuetobeofvalueforyearstocome. The 1st Aegean School on Cosmology, and consequently this book, - camepossiblewiththekindsupportofmanypeopleandorganizations. We received ?nancial support from the following sources and this is gratefully the Municipality of Karlovassi, the North Aegean Regional Secretariat, the Prefecture of Samos, the Ministry of the Aegean, and the NationalBankofGreece. TheadministrativesupportoftheSchoolwastakenupwithgreatcare byMrs. EvelynPappaandMantoKatsianiandwewouldliketothankthem bothfortheirkinde?ortstoresolvemanyissueswhicharosebefore, during andaftertheSchool. WeacknowledgethehelpofMr. NectariosBenekoswho designedandmaintainedthewebsiteoftheSchool. Last, butnotleast, wearegratefultothesta?ofSpringer-Verlag, resp- siblefortheLectureNotesinPhysics, whoseabilitiesandhelpcontributed greatlytothe?neappearanceofthisbook. Karlovassi, Samos, SpirosCotsakis March2002 EleftheriosPapantonopoulos TableofContents PartI HistoryandOverview 1 IsNatureGeneric? SpirosCotsakis, PeterG. L. Leach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. 2 PrinciplesofCosmologicalModelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1. 2. 1 Spacetimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1. 2. 2 TheoriesofGravity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. 2. 3 MatterFields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 3 Cosmologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 4 CosmologicalProblems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1. 4. 1 TheSingularityProblem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1. 4. 2 TheProblemofCosmicTopology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1. 4. 3 TheProblemofAsymptoticStates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1. 4. 4 GravityTheoriesandtheEarlyUniverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1. 5Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2 EvolutionofIdeasinModernCosmology AndreasParaskevopoulos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 2
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
