Cosmic paradoxes / Julio A. Gonzalo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gonzalo, Julio A. (Julio Antonio)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosmology.

Physical Description:

xxi, 134 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Singapore : World Scientific, [2012]

Summary:

Beginning with the famous Olber's paradox, a number of cosmological paradoxes, such as the missing mass, dark energy, and the baryon-to-photon ratio, have been and are today the subject of many scientific controversies. The Big Bang model, anticipated by Lemaitre in 1927 and reformulated twenty years later by Gamow, Alpher and Herman, is one of the most spectacular successes in the entire history of physics. It remains today surrounded by considerable theoretical speculation without sufficient observational support.

This book discusses such paradoxes in depth with physical and logical content and historical perspective, and is not too technical in order to serve a wide audience. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Facts and Principles 1

1 Energy Conservation 3

2 Energy Non-Conservation Means Too Much Freedom 9

3 The Four Interactions 15

4 Matter, Radiation, Particles 21

5 The Dark Night Sky and Olbers' Paradox 27

Part II Relativistic Cosmology 35

6 General Relativity and Cosmology 37

7 The Friedmann-Lemaitre Solutions 45

8 The Role of Radiation Pressure 53

9 The Einstein-Lemaitre Correspondence 59

Part III More Paradoxes 63

10 The Accelerating Universe Paradox 65

11 The Missing Mass and Dark Energy Paradoxes 71

12 The Photon-to-Baryon Ratio Paradox 77

Part IV A Contingent Universe 83

13 The Universe is Finite, Open and Contingent 85

14 The Very Early Universe: Indeterminacy or Uncertainty 89

15 Singular Moments in Cosmic History 93

16 A Brief Outline: World Events and Cosmological Discoveries from - 4500 to 2010 99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789814355117

9814355119

9789814355612

9814355615

OCLC:

709667025