THE BIG BANG relates the development of two parallel strands of scientific thought, describing how particle physicists and cosmologists are working together to study the origin and evolution of the Universe. Physicists studying the subatomic realm concluded that fundamental particles are tiny vibrating strings and membranes, and that the forces of nature evolved as the Big Bang's fireball cooled. Contrary to long-held belief, the expansion rate is not slowing down but accelerating, suggesting that an insight which Einstein dismissed as his 'greatest blunder' might not have been so outlandish after all.
David Harland explains how 'black holes' were first theorised, and then identified in multiple-star systems and, on a much larger scale, in the cores of galaxies. Might what we perceive as the Big Bang have been the view - from the inside - of the creation of a black hole in another Universe?
Author(s): David M. Harland
Series: SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 290
City: London Berlin Heidelberg New York Hong Kong Milan Paris Tokyo
Tags: black holes; the big bang theory; expanding universe; astrophysics; particle physics; cosmology; cmbr;
Front Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 13
List of illustrations......Page 17
List of tables......Page 21
Author’s preface......Page 23
Acknowledgements......Page 25
Part I A sense of perspective......Page 27
THE CELESTIAL REALM......Page 29
NEWTON’S INSIGHTS......Page 30
THE SOLAR SYSTEM......Page 34
A SYSTEM OF STARS......Page 36
THE LIGHTYEAR......Page 38
Part II The forces of nature......Page 41
THE NATURE OF LIGHT......Page 43
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM......Page 45
ELECTROMAGNETISM......Page 48
RELATIVITY......Page 49
THE DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON......Page 53
SEEING THE LIGHT......Page 56
MYSTERIOUS RAYS......Page 59
THE NUCLEUS......Page 61
BOHR’S ATOM......Page 63
QUANTUM MECHANICS......Page 67
UNCERTAINTY......Page 70
FERMIONS AND BOSONS......Page 71
INSIDE THE NUCLEUS......Page 72
NEUTRON INSTABILITY......Page 74
ANTIMATTER......Page 75
ACCELERATORS......Page 76
THE LITTLE NEUTRAL ONE......Page 77
EXCHANGE PARTICLES......Page 79
MUON......Page 81
PION......Page 82
STRANGE PARTICLES......Page 83
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS......Page 85
A NEW OUTLOOK......Page 87
GAUGE INVARIANCE......Page 90
THE WEAK FORCE......Page 92
THE HADRON ZOO......Page 95
QUARKS......Page 99
FEYNMAN’S PARTONS......Page 102
THE MASS ISSUE......Page 103
WEINBERG’S SYNTHESIS......Page 105
BREAKTHROUGH......Page 107
THE DISCOVERY OF THE CHARMED QUARK......Page 109
COLOURED QUARKS, GLUONS AND ASYMPTOTIC FREEDOM......Page 111
THE STANDARD MODEL......Page 117
UNIFICATION OF FERMIONS......Page 119
PROTON DECAY......Page 120
THREE GENERATIONS......Page 123
SUPERGRAVITY......Page 124
STRING THEORY......Page 125
Part III Discovering the Universe......Page 131
WHIRLPOOLS IN THE SKY......Page 133
THE MILKY WAY SYSTEM......Page 134
THE ‘ISLAND UNIVERSES’......Page 148
HUBBLE’S BREAKTHOUGH......Page 154
AMAZING IDEAS......Page 159
THE MOST AMBITIOUS PROJECT......Page 161
THE BIG EYE......Page 162
EXPLODING STARS......Page 165
THE PRIMORDIAL FIREBALL......Page 168
THE HEAVY ELEMENTS......Page 170
STEADY STATE......Page 171
THE RELIC OF THE FIREBALL......Page 172
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES......Page 176
FOLLOWING THE CURVE......Page 177
A MATTER OF SCALE......Page 181
MYSTERIOUS QUASARS......Page 182
SEEING RED......Page 196
SLOWING DOWN......Page 201
INFLATION......Page 204
LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURES......Page 214
DARK MATTER......Page 215
GALACTIC CORES......Page 219
OUR OWN MONSTER......Page 232
HIPPARCOS......Page 239
KEY PROJECT......Page 240
RUNAWAY ACCELERATION!......Page 244
FINALLY, Ω = 1......Page 249
THE NATURE OF BLACK HOLES......Page 253
NO SINGULARITIES!......Page 255
THE COOLING FIREBALL......Page 256
THE MATTER-ANTIMATTER IMBALANCE......Page 259
THE EARLIEST GALAXIES......Page 261
DIM PROSPECTS......Page 263
Further reading......Page 267
Index......Page 275
Back Cover......Page 290
