"Structure formation in the universe", Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Structure Formation in the Universe, Cambridge, UK, 26 July - 6 August 1999. Edited by Robert G. Crittenden and Neil G. Turok. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001 ix, 382 p. NATO Science Series, Series C: Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 565. ISBN 140200155X, p.17 (astro-ph/0007247)

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Abstract. I review the current status of the theory of Cosmic Inflation. My discussion covers the motivation and implementation of the idea, as well as an analysis of recent successes and open questions. There is a special discussion of the physics of "cosmic coherence" in the primordial perturbations. The issue of coherence is at the heart of much of the success inflation theory has achieved at the hands of the new microwave background data. While much of this review should be useful to anyone seeking to update their knowledge of inflation theory, I have also made a point of including basic material directed at students just starting research.

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION
• MOTIVATING INFLATION: THE COSMOLOGICAL FEATURES/PROBLEMS
• The Standard Big Bang
• The Flatness Feature
• The Homogeneity Feature
• The Horizon Feature
• When the Features become Problems
• The Monopole Problem
• THE MACHINERY OF INFLATION AND WHAT IT CAN DO
• The potential dominated state
• A simple inflationary cosmology: Solving the problems
• Mechanisms for producing inflation
• The start of inflation
• Perturbations
• Further remarks
• COSMIC COHERENCE
• Key ingredients
• A toy model
• The results of coherence
• PREDICTIONS
• Flatness
• Coherence
• Perturbation spectrum and other specifics
• THE BIG PICTURE AND OPEN QUESTIONS
• CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES