Birth of the Universe and Fundamental Physics, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1995 Proceedings of the International Workshop Held in Rome, Italy, 18-21 May 1994 Lecture Notes in Physics Series, Vol. 455

The articles collected in this volume cover topics ranging from Planck-scale physics to galaxy clustering. They deal with various new ideas from cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics that might lead to a better understanding of our physical universe. Among the topics covered are inflationary models, nucleosynthesis, dark matter, large-scale clustering, cosmic microwave background radiations and more. The book addresses researchers but it also gives a good overview of the subject for graduate students in astrophysics and particle physics.

Wave function of the universe and particle physics.- Gravitational topological charge.- Cosmological principle and the debate about large scale structures distribution.- Statistics of cosmological inhomogeneities.- The potential of potential reconstruction.- Naturalness of inflation.- Inflation and gravitational waves.- Stationary Universe Model: Inputs and Outputs.- The inflationary role of the dilaton in string cosmology.- String cosmology.- Multidimensional cosmological models: Classical and quantum solutions.- Semiclassical equations for homogeneous cosmologies with perturbations.- Nöther symmetries and exact solutions.- Thermodynamics of solitons.- A Schrödinger equation for quantum universes.- Cosmic time machines.- First post inflationary particles equation of state.- Thermal quantum corrections to (Anti) de Sitter geometry.- Primordial non-gaussian signatures in the sky.- Quantum diffusion of planck mass and the evolution of the universe.- Billiard representation for multidimensional quantum cosmology near the singularity.- Connecting inflation to observations.- False vacuum chaotic Inflation: The new paradigm?.- Comments on standard cosmology.- Emergence of classical geometry in quantum cosmology.- Non-linear relativistic evolution of cosmological perturbations in irrotational dust.- Observing cosmic strings through their lensing properties.- Scalar-tensor theories with generalized dilaton couplings.- Long-range energy and momentum transfer in the Quark-Hadron Phase Transition.- Exact solutions for cosmological perturbations with collisionless matter.- First-order inflation in general relativity.- Beyond direct hierarchical clustering.- Evidence that gamma-ray bursts repeat and are Galactic in origin.- Quasars and large scale structure of the universe.- Primordial perturbation spectra with broken scale invariance and comparison with observations.- Mixed cold-hot dark matter model with a falling initial perturbation spectrum.- Voids and adhesion theory.- The current status of late time phase transition models.- Primary anisotropy detections in the cosmic microwave background.- COBE observations of the Big Bang.- The COBRAS/SAMBA mission.- Cosmic strings confront COBE.- Beyond the central limit theorem.- Using the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of galaxy clusters masses.- The cluster distribution as a test for dark matter models.- Kurtosis of cosmological density and velocity fields.- CMBR polarization from gravitational waves.- Hamilton-Jacobi theory and the Zel'dovich approximation.- The effect of gravitational lensing on observations of the CMBR.- Angular momentum redistribution in remnants of merger of galaxies.- Galaxy surveys and dark matter models: The statistics of voids.- X-ray data vs. galaxy velocity dispersions in galaxy clusters.- Gravitational microlensing by halo dark matter.- Merging rates inside large scale structures.- The environment of local AGNs.- A comparison of approximations to gravitational instability.- Primordial molecules in the collapse phase of a protocloud.- The least-action approach to gravitational instability.- Stochastic aggregation model for the multifractal distribution of matter.- The theory of everything vs the theory of anything.- Baryogenesis in brief.- The complex scalar field, instantons and inflationary universes.- Cosmoparticle physics of family symmetry breaking.- Recent progress in inflationary cosmology.- Black holes, wormholes, and time machines.- Concluding Remarks.