Elementary Particles and the Early Universe. A Synergy of Particle Physics and Cosmology in the Birth and Evolution of the Universe

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
About the authors
PART I: Cosmology
	INTRODUCTION
		Historical Perspective Of Cosmology In A Nutshell
	1 Cosmology Concepts
		1.1 Cosmology Essentials
			1.1.1 Hubble’s Law
			1.1.2 Cosmological Redshift
			1.1.3 Peculiar Velocity
	2 Horizons
		2.1 Hubble Horizon
		2.2 Particle Horizon
		2.3 Conformal Time
		2.4 Event Horizon
	3 The Standard Big Bang Theory
		3.1 Friedmann’s equations: Einstein’s General Relativity and the Cosmological Principle
		3.2 Successes and Problems of the Old Big Bang Theory
		3.3 The Horizon Problem
		3.4 What is Inflation?
		3.5 The Flatness Problem
	4 Inflationary Cosmology I – Foundations
		4.1 The Scalar Field
		4.2 Potential Energy Density Properties for Inflation
	5 Inflationary Cosmology II – Beginning and End
		5.1 Gravity
		5.2 The Quantum Uncertainty Principle: the Universe is Born
	6 Inflationary Cosmology III – Quantum Fluctuations and the Origin of Galaxies and Multiple Universes
		6.1 Quantum Fluctuations
		6.2 Freezing of Fluctuations
		6.3 Reheating
		6.4 Preheating
PART II: Particle Physics
	7 The Standard Model of Particle Physics I – Particles and Fields
		7.1 Elementary Particles
		7.2 Fundamental Forces
		7.3 Electroweak Force and the Higgs Boson
			7.3.1 Electroweak Force
			7.3.2 Higgs Boson
PART III: Elementary Particles and the First 375,000 Years
	8 Thermal History of the Universe and Beyond
		8.1 Definition of Grand Unified Theories
		8.2 Thermal History of the Universe
		8.3 Timeline
			8.3.1 Baryogenesis
			8.3.2 Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
			8.3.3 Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) Quark-Gluon Phase Transition
			8.3.4 Neutrino Decoupling
			8.3.5 Electron-positron Annihilation and Nucleosynthesis
			8.3.6 Recombination and the CMB
Appendix A: Elements of Group Theory
	A.1 When Does A Set of Elements Form A Group?
	A.2 Representation Of A Group
	A.3 Lie Groups
	A.4 The Rotation Group
	A.5 How To Represent Rotations?
	A.6 Special Orthogonal Group So(N)
	A.7 Special Unitary Group Su(2)
	A.8 Spinors And Rotation
Appendix B: The Standard Model of Particle Physics II - Spontaneous symmetry breaking
	B.1 The Ferromagnet
	B.2 Lagrange Field Theory
	B.3 Generalising The Lagrangian Density
	B.4 Examples Of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
		B.4.1 Real scalar field ø (r, t)
		B.4.2 Complex scalar field ø (r, t)
Appendix C: The Standard Model of Particle Physics III - How Gauge Bosons Acquire Mass and Electroweak Unification
	C.1 Gauge Symmetry
	C.2 Local Gauge Invariance
	C.3 The Higgs Mechanism
	C.4 The Higgs Field
	C.5 Electroweak Theory: Masses of the W[sup(±)] ,Z[sup(0)], and Zero Mass of the Photon
Index