How the Universe Got Its Spots
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
9780691096575 (ISBN)
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Is the universe infinite, or is it just really big? Does nature abhor infinity? In startling and beautiful prose, Janna Levin's diary of unsent letters to her mother describes what we know about the shape and extent of the universe, about its beginning and its end. She grants the uninitiated access to the astounding findings of contemporary theoretical physics and makes tangible the contours of space and time--those very real curves along which apples fall and planets orbit. Levin guides the reader through the observations and thought-experiments that have enabled physicists to begin charting the universe. She introduces the cosmic archaeology that makes sense of the pattern of hot spots left over from the big bang, a pursuit on the verge of discovering the shape of space itself. And she explains the topology and the geometry of the universe now coming into focus--a strange map of space full of black holes, chaotic flows, time warps, and invisible strings.
Levin advances the controversial idea that this map is edgeless but finite--that the universe is huge but not unending--a radical revelation that would provide the ultimate twist to the Copernican revolution by locating our precise position in the cosmos. As she recounts our increasingly rewarding attempt to know the universe, Levin tells her personal story as a scientist isolated by her growing knowledge. This book is her remarkable effort to reach across the distance of that knowledge and share what she knows with family and friends--and with us. Highly personal and utterly original, this physicist's diary is a breathtaking contemplation of our deep connection with the universe and our aspirations to comprehend it.
Janna Levin is an Advanced Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. She holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked previously at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Acknowledgements vii Preface ix 1. Is the universe infinite or is it just really big? 1 2. Infinity 5 3. Newton, 300 years and Einstein 16 4. Special relativity 23 5. General relativity 37 6. Quantum chance and choice 50 7. Death and black holes 63 8. Life and the big bang 79 9. Beyond Einstein 99 10. Adventures in Flatland and hyperspace 104 11. Topology: links, locks, loops 115 12. Through the looking glass 131 13. Wonderland in 3D 141 14. Mirrors in the sky 151 15. How the universe got its spots 162 16. The ultimate prediction 178 17. Scars of creation 185 18. The shape of things to come 194 Epilogue 199 Index 201
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 31.3.2002 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 68 line illus. |
| Verlagsort | New Jersey |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 235 mm |
| Gewicht | 482 g |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geografie / Kartografie |
| ISBN-13 | 9780691096575 / 9780691096575 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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