This book constitutes the proceedings of an up-to-date and comprehensive meeting devoted to the question whether baryon number violation can occur — in the standard model of weak and electromagnetic interactions — at rates which can be relevant to cosmology and particle experiment. There has been a great deal of activity and many new results in the past year, and the meeting was the first occasion for a review of the field. It is the only source in which all the work in this field is reviewed in a single volume. As such, it would provide a useful reference for graduate students and researchers wanting to learn more about this area.

The successes of the standard models of particle physics and cosmology are many, but have proven incapable of explaining all the phenomena that we observe. This book investigates the potentially important role of quantum physics, particularly quantum anomalies, in various aspects of modern cosmology, such as inflation, the dynamical generation of the visible and dark matter in the universe, and gravitational waves. By doing so, the authors demonstrate that exploring the links between cosmology and particle physics is key to helping solve the mysteries of our Universe.