Cosmology in Gauge Field Theory and String Theory

Abstract

This new book is intended for students and researchers who want to go intothe interplay between cosmology and high-energy physics. It assumes aprior knowledge of these subjects such as some of the topics contained in theprevious books by the authors, Introduction to Gauge Field Theory (1993 Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing) and Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theory and String Theory (1994 Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing). However, the book is intendedto be self-contained, explaining, from a modern perspective, somebackground material mainly in standard cosmology, topological defects,baryogenesis, inflationary cosmology and, at the end of the book, some of thebasics of string theory.What is distinctively new about this book is that it lies in the interplaybetween cosmology and high-energy physics typically above 100 GeV (1015K). Often these subjects are presented in regular textbooks in adisconnected way, or in research papers, proceedings and reviewpapers but usually not ina pedagogical style. Thus, in this sense, the book is unique and deserves aspecial place in the recent literature.The book starts by reviewing the standard material of the early universe. Thestandard model of cosmology from a modern perspective is revised in chapter1. In chapter 2, phase transitions in different models are discussed,Higgs, electroweak, GUTs, supersymmetric GUTs and supergravity, by usingquantum field theory at finite temperature. Chapter 3 is devoted to ageneral account of topological defects and discusses how they arise aspossible remnants of these phase transitions in GUTs. Other relics, such asneutrinos and axions, are introduced in chapter 5 and their impact in cosmology is assessed. In chapter 4, some of the most relevant mechanisms ofbaryogenesis are discussed in the context of the different GUTs and the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Inflation is also discussed inthe context of GUTs. In chapter 6, the authors introduce the dark matterproposal in terms of the WIMPS arising in supersymmetric gauge theory, inparticular, from the MSSM.A modern overview of the different mechanisms involved in the process ofinflation is the aim of chapter 7. This is a preliminary to the well writtendiscussion of inflation in the context of four-dimensional supergravity inchapter 8. In the remaining chapters, the authors focus on more recentsubjects that are the arena of intense research, such as cosmology and blackholes in string theory. From the different proposals in the literature, theauthors have captured the more basic and relevant material without engaging indiscussion of any particular recent proposal, for instance, the new results ofstring compactifications with fluxes and their application to cosmologicalmodels or the study of cosmological models driven by tachyonic matter. Both are open problems. I have no doubt that this book will be valuable for students of high-energyphysics and gravitation taking courses in modern aspects of cosmology, andfor people preparing their PhD in this subject. The otherbooks by the authors that I have mentioned have been present in introductory courses ofthe subject as text or reference books for many years. Their new bookwill surely follow this same fate.