A Note for the Reader

The content of this manuscript could be reduced solely to that of chapter 4 which is summarized in the abstract of the next chapter. Also, the chapter containing the -- at times quite extensive -- notes on the main text could be omitted. However, only the manuscript in its totality can really give the entire scope of ideas and possibilities put forward. The reason for this being the fact that at first sight unrelated topics reappear in a sometimes subtly different light or that seemingly independent issues are concerned with the same (unresolved) problems, in effect extending the radius of relevant subjects. The motivation behind this meticulous approach is of course the optimism that a greater web of ideas will yield new ansätze for future progress. In this spirit the sometimes apparent redundancy of sections and notes in fact weave additional threads into the tapestry of this web, enhancing its richness. Also, for reasons of completeness every possible angle and related topic is hoped to be included. This also goes for the many references which at times only show further possibilities at the horizon. In addition, the sometimes philosophically inclined remarks should be understood as giving the backdrop to the whole issue of cognizance and not as diluting rigorous scientific ideas. Again, hope lies in the emergence of new possibilities given the very general, extensive but coherent foundation presented here.

With this said the reader should arm himself with a red pen and a reductionistic attitude and single out the core concepts and repeating themes which most strongly hint at new areas of research and understanding. The tabula rasa emerging at the end of the ordeal should hopefully not be all that empty but contain firm hints of how very different concepts could be linked to yield a greater theory. Some of the ingredients presented here are:

• Symmetry concepts and group theory of quantum fields.
• The Higgs mechanism without a perturbative expansion around the ground state.
• The beginning and end of cosmology, i.e. the big bang and the `recent' accelerated expansion of the universe.
• The Higgs mechanism and early cosmological evolution, namely inflation.
• The cosmological constant.

The unifying elements are on the one side the concept of the vacuum, i.e. space-time, and the dynamics of scalar fields on the other.

A constantly underlying theme is that of string/M-theory and its connections to the mentioned topics.