TheverysmallandtheverylargeareintimatelyconnectedinNature. Particle physics and astrophysics meet in fundamental questions: the structure and evolution of stars; their end and how this is manifested; how we think galaxies are created from matter we have yet to discover and why we believe the most energetic particles cannot come from the most distant universe. During the IV Escuela Mexicana de Astrof ?sica (EMA-2005), held in the beautiful colonial city of Morelia between 18 and 23 July 2005, we reviewed and explored the numerous connections between astrophysics and particle physics. The core of the school program, aimed to advanced postgraduated students and young researchers in physics and astrophysics, was formed by half a dozen extended lecture courses delivered by recognized experts in their ?elds. Thewrittenversionsofthesecoursesbecamethemainsubstanceofthis book. Three review talks were devoted to the techniques and results of novel astronomical windows of the XX and XXI centuries: radioastronomy, gam- ray astronomy and gravitational wave astronomy. This volume includes also six short contributions, presented as single talks during the EMA-2005, - amples of experimental and theoretical research work presently conducted in M exico and Latin-America. This book is the ?nal product of a two year process centered on the EMA- 2005. We believe it will serve as a guide not just to the participants but also to the communities of all interrelated ?elds.

Alberto Carramiñana: Ph.D. in high energy astronomy from the University of Durham. Posdoctoral researcher at the ESTEC center of the European Space Agengy and since 1993 full time researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica in Tonantzintla, México.

Extended Topics.- Nuclear Astrophysics: Evolution of Stars from Hydrogen Burning to Supernova Explosion.- Pulsars as Probes of Relativistic Gravity, Nuclear Matter, and Astrophysical Plasmas.- Theory of Gamma-Ray Burst Sources.- Understanding Galaxy Formation and Evolution.- Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays: From GeV to ZeV.- Astronomical Technical Reviews.- Radio Astronomy: The Achievements and the Challenges.- Gamma-ray Astrophysics - Before GLAST.- Gravitational Wave Detectors: A New Window to the Universe.- Research Short Contributions.- Hybrid Extensive Air Shower Detector Array at the University of Puebla to Study Cosmic Rays.- Search for Gamma Ray Bursts at Sierra Negra, México.- Are There Strangelets Trapped by the Geomagnetic Field?.- Late Time Behavior of Non Spherical Collapse of Scalar Field Dark Matter.- Inhomogeneous Dark Matter in Non-trivial Interaction with Dark Energy.- Mini-review on Scalar Field Dark Matter.