Presented by Anas Bouzid: Understanding the different facets of the evolution of short, intense laser pulses as they propagate through plasmas is fundamentally important to the design and optimization of Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs). A review of the basic physics of laser pulse propagation with a focus on longitudinal evolution in underdense plasmas is provided. The derivation of analytical expressions for the laser energy depletion rate and the laser self-steepening rate in the early stages of laser plasma interaction is summarized and accompanied by a brief discussion on their scopes of validity. Consequences of these characteristics of the pulse dynamics on the design of laser-driven accelerators are also discussed.