Neutrino Cosmology

Description

The role that neutrinos have played in the evolution of the Universe is the focus of one of the most fascinating research areas that has stemmed from the interplay between cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics. In this self-contained book, the authors bring together all aspects of the role of neutrinos in cosmology, spanning from leptogenesis to primordial nucleosynthesis, their role in CMB and structure formation, to the problem of their direct detection. The book starts by guiding the reader through aspects of fundamental neutrino physics, such as the standard cosmological model and the statistical mechanics in the expanding Universe, before discussing the history of neutrinos in chronological order from the very early stages until today. This timely book will interest graduate students and researchers in astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics, who work with either a theoretical or experimental focus.

Julien Lesgourgues currently works at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and in the Theory Division at CERN, Switzerland. His research is focused on cosmology and on the theoretical interpretation of cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure astrophysical data. Gianpiero Mangano is a Senior Researcher in Theoretical Physics at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Napoli. His research interests cover several areas in cosmology, such as primordial nucleosynthesis and the physics of neutrinos in the early Universe, and cosmological aspects of noncommutative spacetimes at the Planck scale. Gennaro Miele is Associate Professor in Theoretical Physics at Universita degli Studi di Napoli 'Federico II'. His main research interest concerns cosmology, where he has been working in primordial nucleosynthesis and neutrino cosmology. Sergio Pastor is a Researcher in the Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Universitat de Valencia, Spain. His main research interests include neutrino physics, in particular the study of their role in astrophysical and cosmological scenarios, and other topics in astroparticle physics.

'... this is an authoritative text for anyone who wants to understand neutrino physics from particle and cosmological perspectives, and is highly recommended.' The Observatory