Contents

## **Preface XI**


Chapter 9 **Quintom Potential from Quantum Anisotropic Cosmological Models 219** J. Socorro, Paulo A. Rodríguez, O. Núñez-Soltero, Rafael Hernández and Abraham Espinoza-García Chapter 10 **Leptogenesis and Neutrino Masses in an Inflationary SUSY Pati-Salam Model 241** C. Pallis and N. Toumbas Chapter 11 **Light Cold Dark Matter in a Two-Singlet Model 271** Abdessamad Abada and Salah Nasri

Preface

V and VI).

matter particles (see chapters IX,X, and XI).

The vast amount of currently available data overwhelmingly support the view that our Universe is mainly composed of sources of matter and energy of unknown nature, dubbed dark matter and dark energy. Regular sources of matter and energy, those found in laboratory, would represent a mere five percent of the total, and only a fraction of it appears to be condensed forming stars. Dark sources of matter and energy seem necessary to reconcile the amplitude and correlations of the tiny temperature fluctuations observed in the cosmic microwave background radiation with the distribution of matter at large scales and with the intensity of the light coming from distant supernovae (see chapter I). Though the gravitational effects of these dark sources is manifest from cosmological observations, the existence of dark matter particles has not yet been confirmed through laboratory experiments or observations, and the effects of dark energy are even more elusive and challenging from both the theoretical and the experimental/observational sides. This has motivated new strategies and synergies between different sectors of the Physics community, and numerous experiments and observational programs in different fronts are currently underway or planned (see chapters II, III, and IV) to improve our understanding of the distribution and properties of the matter in the Universe. These studies will significantly contribute to determine whether the current cosmological model is consistent or not, and should shed new light on the viability of the theoretical framework provided by Einstein's theory of gravity or if it should be abandoned in favor of some extension of it (see chapters

The origin and evolution of the Universe in the very remote past determines in a very fundamental way what we observe today and, for this reason, observations can help obtain valuable information about the first instants of time of the Universe. As the volume of observations increases and the precision improves, the theoretical frameworks used to interpret them must also be extended and be sufficiently general as to allow for the identification and correct interpretation of new physical phenomena present in the data. This motivates the study of cosmological models without big bang (see chapter VII), of the observable effects that the quantum interaction of our Universe with other universes could have (see chapter VIII), and of how quantum gravity and new symmetries of nature could influence the inflationary era and the primordial generation of standard matter and dark

All these open questions provide a flavor of the research avenues currently followed in the field of Cosmology and will have an important impact on the shape of this discipline in the future. The theory of black holes and the consistency of their thermodynamical properties, and recent phenomena observed in solar winds interacting with planetary atmospheres are also covered in this book (see chapters XII and XIII, respectively). As all these are active

Chapter 12 **Where Is the PdV in the First Law of Black Hole Thermodynamics? 291** Brian P. Dolan

#### Chapter 13 **Plasma Vortices in Planetary Wakes 317** H. Pérez-de-Tejada, Rickard Lundin and D. S. Intriligator
