Enjoy Our Universe

You Have No Other Choice
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-19-881780-2
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 409 g

Enjoy Our Universe is a guide for an enjoyable visit to the Universe. The "Universe" refers to all "observable things," ranging in size from the entire cosmos to elementary particles. This small tome on fundamental physics, cosmology, Higgs bosons, time travel and all that, is unlike any other analogous book. Its scientific statements are correct or, at least, they coincide with the opinions held by the vast majority of experts. It establishes clear distinctions between things we know for sure -- in the sense of having strong observational support for them -- and things that we know that we do not know, or we do not understand. In this sense, it is scientifically honest.

In descriptions of our Universe and of the way it functions, beauty is a recurring word. In an attempt to portray its beauty from the eyes of the beholder, the book is profusely illustrated. Its offbeat, tongue-in-cheek illustrations greatly enhance its readability, particularly in those chapters whose understanding, admittedly, requires a little extra effort. This book's idiosyncracies remind us of our own smallness and eccentricities even as we read about the logic, function and magnificence of the Universe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

de Rujula, Alvaro

De Rújula, Alvaro

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Physik Quantenphysik Hochenergiephysik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Quantenphysik Teilchenphysik
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Kosmologie, Urknalltheorie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Quantenphysik Relativität, Gravitation
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Quantenphysik Radioaktivität

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Preface

- 2: Physics as an art form

- 3: Science as a sport

- 4: The bothersome question of units

- 5: The scientific method

- 6: The three relativities

- 7: A first fast visit to the universe

- 8: More on the fundamental forces and their 'carriers'

- 9: Everything, so far

- 10: A parenthesis on quantum mechanics

- 11: Understanding relativity and quantum mechanics

- 12: Spin, statistics, supernovae, neutron stars and black holes

- 13: Parallel realms

- 14: A parenthesis on relativistic R2QFTs

- 15: The unification of forces

- 16: A parenthesis: Is basic science useful?

- 17: Back to twins

- 18: Some instruments of macro-physics

- 19: The discovery of gravitational wave emission

- 20: The direct detection of gravitational waves

- 21: Some instruments of micro-physics

- 22: The LHC and its detectors

- 23: The 'Higgs' boson, and its field in the 'vacuum'

- 24: Today's Standard Models of particles and gravity

- 25: The expansion of the Universe

- 26: Finding cosmic fossils

- 27: Where is the Cosmic Antimatter?

- 28: More on the Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR)

- 29: Problems with the 'old' Big Bang Cosmology

- 30: Inflation

- 31: Limitations and peculiarities of the fundamental interactions

- 32: The discreet symmetries of the fundamental interactions

- 33: Dark Matter

- 34: The origin of structures

- 35: The fate of the Universe

- 36: Back to the ether?

- 37: The crash

- 38: In spite of our admitted ignorance

Über Autor(innen)

Alvaro De Rújula was born in Madrid, where he studied physics and obtained his PhD. He has worked in Italy (International Institute of Theoretical Physics, Trieste), France (Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques), the USA (Harvard and Boston Universities) and CERN (in various positions, from Summer Student to leader of the Theory Division). He also is currently at the Instituto de Física Teórica of the Autonomous University of Madrid (IFT/UAM/CSIC). In the 1970's he contributed to the consolidation of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, mainly QCD and its charmed quarks. He has also worked on neutrinos (mass measurements and Earth tomography), the absence of antimatter in the Universe, how to discover the Higgs.