https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2007-00380-7
Cosmology
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Corresponding author: grb@mpa-garching.mpg.de
Precise astronomical observations of the cosmic expansion and the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background have confirmed the simple cosmological “big bang” models. They have also produced evidence for a strange composition of the cosmic matter and energy density. The known baryons contribute only 5 percent to the cosmic substrate, while 25 percent are due to unknown dark matter particles, and 70 percent seem to come from a mysterious dark energy component which presently acts like a cosmological constant accelerating the cosmic expansion.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2007
