The Music of the Big Bang: The Cosmic Microwave Background and the New Cosmology / Edition 1

by Amedeo Balbi

Overview

Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, its own world creation tales, its philosophical speculations, its re- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories about the Universe, built upon rational ded- tion, have to survive the hard test of experiment and observation. Cosmology, the science which studies the origin and evo- tion of the Universe, had to overcome enormous difficulties before it could achieve the same level of dignity as other physical dis- plines. At first, it had no serious physical model and mathematical tools that could be used to address the complexity of the problems it had to face. Then, it suffered from a chronic lack of experim- tal data, which made it almost impossible to test the theoretical speculations. Given this situation, answering rigorously the many questions on the nature of the Universe seemed nothing more than a delusion. Today, however, things have changed. We live in the golden age of cosmology: an exciting moment, when, for the first time, we are able to scientifically understand our Universe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783540787266
Publisher:	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date:	11/17/2008
Series:	Astronomers' Universe
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Amedeo Balbi is a researcher in cosmology at the Department of Physics of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. In the past, he worked at the University of California at Berkeley with George Smoot (Nobel Prize 2006 in Physics). Currently, he is involved in the preparation of ESA's forthcoming Planck satellite mission.

Table of Contents

Prologue.- The framework (an introduction to the Big Bang model).- First light (an introduction to the cosmic background radiation - CMB).- Cosmic seeds (structure formation in the Universe and the CMB).- Music of the spheres (acoustic oscillations in the primordial Universe).- Finding harmony (the discovery of acoustic oscillations in the CMB power spectrum).- The undiscovered country (some future prospects).- Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"Balbi … is currently working on a satellite experiment to further study the CMB. His well-written book follows the ways in which the CMB has been used to understand the universe. … he gives a very readable account of current cosmological thought, especially for general readers. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduate and public libraries." (A. Spero, Choice, Vol. 46 (9), May, 2009)

From the Publisher