INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE: COSMOLOGICAL PERTURBATIONS AND INFLATIONARY THEORY (SECOND EDITION)

This book accompanies another book by the same authors, Introduction to the Theory of the Early Universe: Hot Big Bang Theory (Second Edition) and presents the theory of the evolution of density perturbations and relic gravity waves, the theory of cosmological inflation, and post-inflationary reheating. Written in a pedagogical style, the main chapters give a detailed account of the established theory, with derivation of formulas. Being self-contained, it is a useful textbook for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. Essential materials from General Relativity, theory of Gaussian random fields and quantum field theory are collected in the appendices. The more advanced topics are approached similarly in a pedagogical way. These parts may serve as a detailed introduction to current research.Particle physics and cosmology enjoyed rapid development between the first and the second editions of this book. In the second edition, the numerical values of particle physics and cosmological parameters have been updated in accordance to contemporary data.