Overview

This NATO Advanced Study Institute course provided an updated understanding, from a fundamental and deep point of view, of the progress and current problems in the early universe, cosmic microwave background radiation, large-scale struc- ture, dark matter problem, and the interplay between them. Emphasis was placed on the mutual impact of fundamental physics and cosmology, both at the theo- retical and experimental or observational levels, within a deep and well defined programme, and a global unifying view, which, in addition, provides of careful inter-disciplinarity. In addition, each course of this series introduced and promoted topics or sub- jects which, although not of a purely astrophysical or cosmological nature, were of relevant physical interest for astrophysics and cosmology. Deep understanding, clarification, synthesis, and careful interdisciplinarity within a fundamental physics framework, were the main goals of the course. Lectures ranged from a motivation and pedagogical introduction for students and participants not directly working in the field to the latest developments and most recent results. All lectures were plenary, had the same duration, and were followed by a discus- sion. The course brought together experimentalists and theoreticans physicists, astro- physicists and astronomers from a wide variety of backgrounds, including young scientists at the post-doctoral level, senior scientists and advanced graduate stu- dents as well.