Preface

Summary

This book provides a survey of modern cosmology emphasizing the relativistic approach. It is shaped by a number of guiding principles.

• Adopt a geometric approach Cosmology is crucially based in spacetime geometry, because the dominant force shaping the universe is gravity; and the best classical theory of gravity we have is Einstein's general theory of relativity, which is at heart a geometric theory. One should therefore explore the spacetime geometry of cosmological models as a key feature of cosmology.

• Move from general to special One can best understand the rather special models most used in cosmology by understanding relationships which hold in general, in all spacetimes, rather than by only considering special high symmetry cases. The properties of these solutions are then seen as specialized cases of general relations.

• Explore geometric as well as matter degrees of freedom As well as exploring matter degrees of freedom in cosmology, one should examine the geometric degrees of freedom. This applies in particular in examining the possible explanations of the apparent acceleration of the expansion of the universe in recent times.

• Determine exact properties and solutions where possible Because of the nonlinearity of the Einstein field equations, approximate solutions may omit important aspects of what occurs in the full theory. Realistic solutions will necessarily involve approximation methods, but we aim where possible to develop exact relations that are true generically, on the one hand, and exact solutions of the field equations that are of cosmological interest, on the other.