Electroweak baryogenesis

Contrary to naive cosmological expectations, all evidence suggests that the universe contains an abundance of matter over antimatter. This article rev iews the currently popular scenario in which testable physics, present in t he standard model of electroweak interactions and its modest extensions, is responsible for this fundamental cosmological datum. A pedagogical explana tion of the motivations and physics behind electroweak baryogenesis is prov ided, and analytical approaches, numerical studies, up to date developments , and open questions in the field are also discussed. [S0034-6861(99)00105- 1].