Inflation and String Theory

The past two decades have seen transformative advances in cosmology and strin theory. Observations of the cosmic microwave background have revealed strong evidence for a period of inflationary expansion in the very early universe, while new insights about compactifications of string theory have led to a deeper understanding of inflation in a framework that unifies quantum mechanics and general relativity.
Written by two of the leading researchers in the field, this complete and accessible volume provides a modern treatment of inflationary cosmology and its connections to string theory and elementary particle theory. After an up-to-date experimental summary, the authors present the foundations of effective field theory, string theory and string compactifications, setting the stage for a detailed examination of models o inflation in string theory.
Three appendices contain background material in geometry and cosmological perturbation theory, making this a self-contained resource for graduate students and researchers in string theory, cosmology, and related fields.