This book is a comprehensive survey of the current state of knowledge about the dynamics and gravitational properties of cosmic strings treated in the idealized classical approximation as line singularities described by the Nambu-Goto action. The author's purpose is to provide a standard reference to all work that has been published since the mid-1970s and to link this work together in a single conceptual framework and a single notational formalism. A working knowledge of basic general relativity is assumed. The book will be essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students in...

In the course of the development of electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions, the concept of (internal) gauge invariance grew up and established itself as an unavoidable dynamical principle in particle physics. It is less known that the principle of equivalence, and the basic dynamical properties of the gravitational interaction can also be expressed as a (spacetime) gauge symmetry.
Gravitation and Gauge Symmetries sheds light on the connection between the intrinsic structure of gravity and the principle of gauge invariance, which may lead to a consistent unified field theory. The...

Cosmology is a relatively new science, but cosmological questions are as old as mankind. Turning philosophical and metaphysical problems into problems that physics can treat, and hopefully solve, has been an achievement of the twentieth century. Modern Cosmology brings together contributions from a number of outstanding scientists currently working in various research fields in cosmology. Topics covered range over several different aspects of modern cosmology, from observational matters to advanced theoretical speculations.