Astrophysics is a subject that attempts the impossible tasks of reconciling the infinitely small with the infinitely large; of seeking the infinitely small in the infinitely large; and of explaining the universe, its structure and its workings with the help of the particles that can be detected in it.
François Vannucci , one of the world’s greatest specialists on the neutrino (a particle that cannot be detected because it does not interact with other particles) assesses the recent discipline of astrophysics. He defines what should be understood by an “astroparticle” and reviews the various cosmic phenomena in which we are able to observe astroparticles: supernova explosions, gerbes, rays, high-energy photons, etc.
This book is an exploration of the sky. It takes the reader “behind the scenes” to where the elements of the universe are produced and its history is played out. The author shows that physics has stopped asking questions about the earth to pose them instead about the heavens. Astrophysics, he says, is the physics of the twenty-first century.

François Vannucci reviews the state of knowledge and the methodology of this flourishing new discipline. He shows us how the key to what is happening on earth can be found in the stars. This is a fascinating introduction to the physics of tomorrow by one of the greatest specialists in the detection of cosmic particles.

François Vannucci , a physics professor at the University of Paris-VII-Denis Diderot, is the author of Le Mirroir aux neutrinos(2003).