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Article Contents

TITLE PAGE

1.INTRODUCTION

2. THE STANDARD MODEL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES
2.1. The Friedman-Robertson-Walker Model with a Hot Big Bang
2.2. Some Puzzling Features of the FRW Models
2.2.1. The Horizon Problem
2.2.2. The Flatness Problem
2.2.3. Monopoles
2.2.4. Domain Walls
2.2.5. Smoothness Problem
2.2.6. The Lambda-Term
2.3. The Problem of Formation of Structures

3. THE CONCEPT OF INFLATION
3.1. The Basic Mechanism
3.2. The Epicycles of Inflation
3.3. Historical Comment

4. THE PROBLEM OF STRUCTURE FORMATION
4.1. The Scale Invariant Spectrum
4.2. Origin of Density Perturbations
4.3. A Critique of Inflation: Expectations and Performance

5. INFLATION AND DARK MATTER

6. THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT

7. OUTLOOK

REFERENCES