Publisher's Synopsis
The formation of galaxies is one of the major unresolved problems in cosmology, and provides one of the greatest challenges. New generations of telescopes and detectors are producing data that probe the Universe to unsurpassed depths. Understanding these data requires an amalgam of astronomical specialties that comprise, amongst others, star formation, interstellar matter, radio galaxies, X-ray clusters, quasars, inflationary cosmology and the cosmic microwave background.;The topics chosen for this school represent diverse areas of astrophysics and cosmology and include: an in-depth overview of the revolution in extragalactic X-ray astronomy triggered by the ROSAT satellite; the current status of the cosmic microwave background; star formation in galaxies and galaxy evolution; inflation and the early universe; the connection between intergalactic clouds seen in absorption towards quasars and forming galaxies; and a review of the thermal history of the cosmological gas and galaxy formation.
