A monograph on inflationary cosmology and cosmological phase transitions, investigating modern cosmology's relationship to elementary particle physics. This work also includes a non-technical discussion of inflationary cosmology for those unfamiliar with the theory.

Focusing primarily on a particular algebraic model, the Interacting Boson Approximation Model (IBM), this book presents an approach to understanding the atomic nucleus that exploits simple algebraic techniques. It outlines the algebraic structure of the IBM and other algebraic models.

applications to the structure of atomic nuclei. The author systematically develops these models from the elementary level, through an introduction to tensor algebra, to the use of group theory in spectroscopy. The book's extensive and detailed appendix includes a large selection of useful formulae of tensor algebra and spectroscopy. The serious graduate student, as well as the professional physicist, will find this complete treatment of the shell model to be an invaluable addition to the literature.