This book provides an overview of many of the dramatic recent developments in the fields of astronomy, cosmology and fundamental physics. Topics include observations of the structure in the cosmic background radiation, evidence for an accelerating Universe, the extraordinary concordance in the fundamental parameters of the Universe coming from these and other diverse observations, the search for dark matter candidates, evidence for neutrino oscillations, space experiments on fundamental physics, and discoveries of extrasolar planets. This book will be useful for researchers and graduate students who wish to have a broad overview of the current developments in these fields.

From the contents: Cosmic Microwave Background Fluctuations.- Evidence for an Accelerating Universe from Type Ia Supernovae.- Cosmological Weak Lensing.- Constraining Cosmological Parameters with Observations of Galaxy Clusters.- First Light and the Reionization of the Universe.- The State of the Universe: Cosmological Parameters 2002.- Cosmological Constant Problems and Their Solutions.- Searches for Dark Matter.- Neutrino Masses and Oscillations.- The Standard Model of Particle Physics: Status and Low-Energy Tests.- High-Energy Tests of the Standard Model and Beyond.- Astroparticle Physics with the L3+C Detector.- Beyond the Standard Model.- Alpha: A Constant That is not a Constant?- Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Most Powerful Cosmic Explosions.- Astrophysics with High-Energy Gamma Rays.- Cosmic Rays at the Highest Energies.- High-Energy Neutrinos from Cosmic Rays.- Unravelling the X-Ray Background.- What Do We Really Know About Neutron Stars?- Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxy Centers.- The Center of the Milky Way.- Sources of Gravitational Waves.- Status and Prospect of Laser-Interferometric Gravitational Wave Astronomy.- Fundamental Physics with Space Experiments.- Astro Particle Physics from Space.- Stars and Fundamental Physics.- First Science Results from the VLT Interferometer.- Formation of Planetary Systems.- Extrasolar Planetary Systems.- Towards the Detection of Earth-Like Extra-Solar Planets.- Future Perspectives at CERN.- Future Perspectives at ESO.