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Principles, Progress and Problems in Inflationary Cosmology
Inflationary cosmology has become one of the cornerstones of modern
cosmology. Inflation was the first theory within which it was possible to make
predictions about the structure of the Universe on large scales, based on
causal physics. The development of the inflationary Universe scenario has
opened up a new and extremely promising avenue for connecting fundamental
physics with experiment. This article summarizes the principles of inflationary
cosmology, discusses progress in the field, focusing in particular on the
mechanism by which initial quantum vacuum fluctuations develop into the seeds
for the large-scale structure in the Universe, and highlights the important
unsolved problems of the scenario. The case is made that new input from
fundamental physics is needed in order to solve these problems, and that thus
early Universe cosmology can become the testing ground for trans-Planckian
physics.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures commissioned article for the AAPPS Bulletin,
appeared in 200
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