Cosmological Inflation and Large-Scale Structure

Enormous progress has been made in inflationary cosmology in the past few years and this book is the first to provide a modern and unified overview of the subject. Coverage examines every aspect of inflationary cosmology and carefully compares predictions with the latest observations, including those of the cosmic microwave background, the clustering and velocities of galaxies and the epoch of structure formation. Problems are included throughout to help the student develop a thorough understanding. An ideal introduction to what promises to be one of the most fruitful topics of research in science in the next decade, this volume will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, theoretical physics and applied mathematics.

This textbook provides graduate students with a thorough and up-to-date introduction to inflationary cosmology--currently the most promising theory for the origin of structure in the Universe. Enormous progress has been made in this area in the last few years and this book is the first to provide a modern and unified overview. It covers all aspects of the theory and careful compares predictions with the latest observations. With the host of international experiments currently underway, inflationary cosmology promises to be one of the most fruitful topics of research in science in the next decade and this book provides graduate students with the ideal introduction.