Introduction.- Hot big bang model.- Cosmological perturbations.- Cosmic microwave background.- Inflation.- Big bang problem.- Cosmological constant problem.- The problem of quantum gravity.- Canonical quantum gravity.- Canonical quantum cosmology.- Cosmology of quantum gravities.- String theory.- String cosmology.- Perspective.

This comprehensive textbook is devoted to classical and quantum cosmology, with particular emphasis on modern approaches to quantum gravity and string theory and on their observational imprint. It covers major challenges in theoretical physics such as the big bang and the cosmological constant problem. An extensive review of standard cosmology, the cosmic microwave background, inflation and dark energy sets the scene for the phenomenological application of all the main quantum-gravity and string-theory models of cosmology.
Born of the author's teaching experience and commitment to bridging the gap between cosmologists and theoreticians working beyond the established laws of particle physics and general relativity, this is a unique text where quantum-gravity approaches and string theory are treated on an equal footing. As well as introducing cosmology to undergraduate and graduate students with its pedagogical presentation and the help of 45 solvedexercises, this book, which includes an ambitious bibliography of about 3500 items, will serve as a valuable reference for lecturers and researchers.

Born of Italian parents, Gianluca Calcagni obtained his "laurea" degree in physics at Padua University and his Ph.D. at Parma University in 2005. He has worked at a number of research institutes in Japan, UK, USA and Germany. Since 2012, Calcagni has been a Ramón y Cajal fellow at the IEM-CSIC in Madrid. His research areas are multifractal spacetimes (about which he is currently writing a book), cosmologies beyond the standard model, quantum gravity and string theory. He has published about 80 papers since 2003.