Weaving The Universe: Is Modern Cosmology Discovered Or Invented?

by Paul S Wesson

Overview

This new book is a thorough but short review of the history and present status of ideas in cosmology. It is aimed at a broad audience, but will contain a few equations where needed to make the argument exact. The coverage of cosmological ideas will focus mainly on the period from the early 1900s when Einstein formulated relativity and when his colleague Sir Arthur Eddington was creating relativistic models of the universe. It ends with the completion of the Large Hadron Collider in late 2008, having surveyed modern ideas of particle physics and astrophysics. To organize the large body of information involved, the book uses the life of Eddington and the weaving together of ideas in cosmology as themes. This should provide a clear and entertaining account presented in a historical context that leads up to the present day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814313940
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/22/2010
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Weaving The Warp 1

2 Puzzles of Physics 30

2.1 Introduction 30

2.2 Olbers' Paradox 30

2.3 Zero-Point Fields and the Cosmological 'Constant' 36

2.4 The Hierarchy Problem 41

2.5 Supersymmetry and Dark WIMPs 43

2.6 The Fermi-Hart Paradox: Where are the Aliens? 46

2.7 Conclusion 53

3 The Meaning of Dimensions 57

3.1 Introduction 57

3.2 Dimensions and Fundamental Constants 59

3.3 Eddington and His Legacy 65

3.4 Campbell and His Theorem 69

3.5 Conclusion 73

4 Time as an Illusion 76

4.1 Introduction 76

4.2 Physics and the Flow of Time 79

4.3 Time as a Subjective Ordering Device 84

4.4 Mathematics and Reality 89

4.5 Conclusion 91

5 The Nature of Matter 97

5.1 Introduction 97

5.2 Properties of Matter 99

5.3 Creating Matter 106

5.4 Negative Mass? 120

5.5 Manipulating Matter 121

5.6 Conclusion 132

6 Science and Religion: Immiscible? 137

6.1 Introduction 137

6.2 Newton 138

6.3 Einstein 140

6.4 Eddington 141

6.5 Milne 144

6.6 Laplace 149

6.7 Conclusion 154

7 Weaving the Weft 158

Index 203