Current Topics in Astrofundamental Physics, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1995 The Early Universe Nato Science Series C: Series, Vol. 467

An up-to-date presentation of the progress and current problems in the early universe, cosmic microwave background radiation, large scale structure formation, and the interplay between them. The emphasis is on the mutual impact of fundamental physics and cosmology, both at theoretical and experimental (observational) levels within a deep, well- focused and well-defined programme.
The nature of the domain itself leads to different aspects, approaches and points of view on the same topic. Special care has been taken to provide the reader the basis of the different, sometimes competing lines of research.
All contributions are uniformly excellent, with a careful selection of the subjects and approaches covered, presenting a unifying and rigorous view of the field.
Audience: experimentalists and theoreticians from a variety of backgrounds: physics, astrophysics and astronomy. An excellent reference for post-doctoral scientists. Useful for senior scientists and advanced graduate students.

Preface. Thirty years of NATO in Erice. I: The Early Universe. The covariant and gauge invariant approach to perturbations in cosmology; G. F. R. Ellis. Lectures on inflationary cosmology; A. Linde. Back reactions of strings in self consistent string theory; H. J. de Vega, N. Sánchez. Topological defects in cosmology; E. P. S. Shellard. Cosmological inflation, microwave background anisotropies and large scale structure of the universe; D. S. Salopek. II: Cosmic Microwave Background. The big bang and the infrared sky as seen by COBE; J. C. Mather. Spectrum of the cosmic microwave background: Results and prospects; A. Kogut. Cosmic microwave background anisotropy spectrum from primordial density perturbations; G. F. Smoot. Cosmic microwave background anisotropy at large angular scales/ COBE DMR results; G. F. Smoot. COBE / DMR: Testing the initial conditions; A. Kogut. Detection of primary and secondary anisotropies in the CMB; A. Lasenby, S. Hancock. Small-scale fluctuations in the microwave sky: CBR fluctuations on sub-arcminute scales and sources of foreground noise; R. B. Partridge. Results and plans of CMB anisotropy observations (COBE, DMR, MAX and COBRAS); G. F. Smoot. III: Large Scale Structure. Dark matter and the value of Omega; C. S. Frenk. Dark matter and Sakharov oscillations; I. D. Novikov. Two lectures on the observational determination of the Hubble expansion rate; A. Sandage, G. A. Tammann. Photographs of the Institute. Author index. Subject index.