Understanding the largest physical structures in the universe is essential for the comprehension of the cosmos as a whole. We want to know how our world is formed, what it is made of and how it evolves.Galaxies, as the most visible constituents of the universe, are interesting probes for the cosmic time sequence. Their formation and development provides us with unique clues to the cosmic evolution. This is tightly connected with the hierarchical cosmic structure: groups and clusters of galaxies and their embedding into the large scale structure offer the opportunity to study the dependencies.Galaxy redshift surveys delineate most impressively a large cosmic web, which is composed of sheets and filaments. Grand simulations of the cosmic evolution complement these observations from the theoretical side and allow one quantify and compare various model universes.Quasar absorption line studies, gravitational lensing and even the X-ray background radiation provide important quantitative measures of the history of matter clustering. Finally, the microwave radiation traces very early structures, which are supposed to originate in the phase of inflationary expansion shortly after the big bang.This volume constituting the proceedings of the 12th Potsdam Cosmology Workshop, deals with the basic aspects of cosmological structure formation on the largest physical scales.

Understanding the largest physical structures in the universe is essential for the comprehension of the cosmos as a whole. We want to know how our world is formed, what it is made of and how it evolves. Galaxies, as the most visible constituents of the universe are interesting probes for the cosmic time sequence. Their formation and development provides us with unique clues to the cosmic evolution. This is tightly connected with the hierarchical cosmic structure: groups and clusters of galaxies and their embedding into the large scale structure offer the opportunity to study the dependencies. Galaxy redshift surveys delineate most impressively a large cosmic web, which is composed of sheets and filaments. Grand simulations of the cosmic evolution complement these observations from the theoretical side and allow one quantify and compare various model universes. Quasar absorption line studies, gravitational lensing and even the X-ray background radiation provide important quantitative measures of the history of matter clustering. Finally, the microwave radiation traces very early structures, which are supposed to originate in the phase of inflationary expansion shortly after the big bang. This volume constituting the proceedings of the 12th Potsdam Cosmology Workshop, deals with the basic aspects of cosmological structure formation on the largest physical scales.

Deciphering the script for the Big Bang has now become a joint effort of particle physicists and cosmologists. The origin and first moments of the early Universe were determined by the same fundamental processes which are studied in terrestrial accelerators and whose traces from the early Universe can be seen in astrophysical observations. It is now almost universally accepted that most of the debris left over from the Big Bang is likely to be in the form of particle dark matter. Identifying its nature and measuring its abundance in the Universe have become major goals of theorists and experimentalists alike. This volume reviews the progress made at the frontiers of research in these rapidly expanding fields. A broad range of topics, from inflation to primordial black holes to physics at the Planck era, and to dark matter and neutrinos — both reviews and reports on the most recent advances — is presented by leaders in the field.

Spectacular observational breakthroughs, particularly by the WMAP satellite, have led to a new epoch of CMB science long after its original discovery. Taking a physical approach, the authors of this volume probe the problem of the 'darkness' of the Universe: the origin and evolution of dark energy and matter in the cosmos. Starting with the observational background of modern cosmology, they provide an accessible review of this fascinating yet complex subject. Topics discussed include the kinetics of the electromagnetic radiation in the Universe, the ionization history of cosmic plamas, the origin of primordial perturbations in light of the inflation paradigm, and the formation of anisotropy and polarization of the CMB. This fascinating review will be valuable to advanced students and researchers in cosmology.

Modern physics is confronted with a large variety of complex spatial patterns. Although both spatial statisticians and statistical physicists study random geometrical structures, there has been only little interaction between the two up to now because of different traditions and languages. This volume aims to change this situation by presenting in a clear way fundamental concepts of spatial statistics which are of great potential value for condensed matter physics and materials sciences in general, and for porous media, percolation and Gibbs processes in particular. Geometric aspects, in particular ideas of stochastic and integral geometry, play a central role throughout. With nonspecialist researchers and graduate students also in mind, prominent physicists give an excellent introduction here to modern ideas of statistical physics pertinent to this exciting field of research.