Cosmology: A Research Briefing -- Copyright -- Preface -- Contents -- I. OVERVIEW -- WHAT IS COSMOLOGY? -- WHAT'S ALL THE EXCITEMENT ABOUT? -- THE COSMIC QUESTIONS -- WHY DO RESEARCH IN COSMOLOGY? -- WHY NOW? -- SUMMARY -- II. THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION -- WHAT IS THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION? -- WHAT DO WE LEARN BY MEASURING THE PROPERTIES OF THE CMBR? -- The spectrum -- Why are "bumps" in the CMBR so important? -- MEASUREMENTS OF ANISOTROPY -- Large-scale anisotropy -- Medium-scale anisotropy -- Small-scale anisotropy -- III. THE LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE -- GALAXY MAPS AND LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE -- What is large-scale structure, and why is it important? -- Mapping the large-scale structure -- The importance of uniform galaxy surveys -- Theory of large-scale structure -- COSMIC VELOCITY FLOWS -- What are cosmic flows, and why are they important? -- Measuring cosmic flows -- SUMMARY AND PROSPECTS FOR LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE -- IV. THE DISTANT UNIVERSE -- MEASURING THE COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS -- The Hubble constant, H0 -- The deceleration parameter, q0 -- The density parameter, -- DEEP IMAGING OF GALAXIES -- EVOLUTION OF LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE BACK IN TIME -- SUPERNOVAE, QUASARS, AND ABSORPTION LINE SYSTEMS: PROBES FOR COSMOLOGY -- GRAVITATIONAL LENSES -- What are gravitational lenses, and why are they important? -- Measuring cosmological parameters with gravitational lenses -- V. PHYSICS OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE -- PRIMORDIAL NUCLEOSYNTHESIS AND DARK MATTER -- EPOCH OF INFLATION AND GRAND UNIFIED THEORIES OF MATTER -- PARTICLE THEORY AND DARK MATTER CANDIDATES -- WIMPs -- Axions -- Neutrinos -- SUMMARY OF THE STUDY OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE -- VI. CONCLUSION -- GLOSSARY -- REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING.