Elementary cosmology : from Aristotle's universe to the big bang and beyond / James J. Kolata.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kolata, J. J. (James J.), author.

Contributor:

Morgan & Claypool Publishers, publisher.

Institute of Physics (Great Britain), publisher.

Series:

IOP (Series). Release 2.

IOP concise physics

[IOP release 2]

IOP concise physics, 2053-2571

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosmology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (various pagings) : illustrations (some color).

Distribution:

Bristol [England] : IOP Publishing, [2015]

Other Title:

From Aristotle's universe to the big bang and beyond

Place of Publication:

San Rafael [California] : Morgan & Claypool Publishers, [2015]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

text file

Biography/History:

James Kolata is Emeritus Professor of Nuclear Physics at the University of Notre Dame. He received his B.S. from Marquette University and his M.S. and PhD from Michigan State University. Before coming to Notre Dame, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at the University of Pittsburgh. This book is from his elective course at Notre Dame entitled "Elementary Cosmology."

Summary:

Cosmology is the study of the origin, size, and evolution of the entire universe. Every culture has developed a cosmology, whether it be based on religious, philosophical, or scientific principles. In this book, the evolution of the scientific understanding of the Universe in Western tradition is traced from the early Greek philosophers to the most modern 21st century view. After a brief introduction to the concept of the scientific method, the first part of the book describes the way in which detailed observations of the Universe, first with the naked eye and later with increasingly complex modern instruments, ultimately led to the development of the "Big Bang" theory. The second part of the book traces the evolution of the Big Bang including the very recent observation that the expansion of the Universe is itself accelerating with time.

Contents:

Preface

Acknowledgements

Author biography

1. The scientific method

1.1. Introduction to the scientific method

1.2. Some mathematics

2. Early astronomy

3. Nebulae

4. Cosmic distances

4.1. The cosmic distance ladder

4.2. Spiral nebulae : are they extragalactic?

4.3. The chemical composition of stars

5. Space-time

5.1. The speed of light

5.2. The special theory of relativity

5.3. The general theory of relativity

5.4. Universal expansion

6. The Big Bang

6.1. The structure and history of the Universe

6.2. The geometry of space-time

6.3. The father of the Big Bang

6.4. The creation of the element

7. Cosmic microwave background radiation

7.1. The 'smoking gun' of the Big Bang

7.2. Decoupling

7.3. How bright is the CMB?

7.4. 'Matter dominated' versus 'radiation dominated' Universes

7.5. How uniform is the CMB?

8. Dark matter

8.1. Dark matter defined

8.2. Non-baryonic dark matter

9. The standard model of cosmology

9.1. Nucleosynthesis

9.2. The birth and death of stars

9.3. The size of the Universe

10. The very early Big Bang

10.1. The four forces of nature

10.2. The quantum nature of forces

10.3. The unification of forces

10.4. The quark model

10.5. The leptons

10.6. The gluons

10.7. The standard model of high-energy physics

10.8. The history of the Universe : the early frames

10.9. Why matter rather than antimatter?

11. Inflation

11.1. The horizon problem

11.2. The flatness problem

11.3. The smoothness problem

11.4. The magnetic monopole problem

11.5. Inflation

11.6. How inflation solves the Big Bang problems

12. Dark energy

12.1. The curvature of space-time

12.2. The accelerating universal expansion

12.3. Dark energy and the CMB

12.4. Is there a signature of inflation in the CMB?

13. Higher dimensions

13.1. Field theories

13.2. Kaluza-Klein theory

13.3. Compactification

13.4. QED

13.5. Quantization of the weak and strong forces

13.6. Early attempts at a quantum theory of gravity

14. String theory

14.1. Particles and 'string'

14.2. M-theory

14.3. The multiverse

15. Black holes and wormholes

15.1. The life of the Sun

15.2. The life of massive stars

15.3. Neutron stars

15.4. Black holes

15.5. Some properties of black holes

15.6. The thermodynamics of black holes

15.7. Hawking radiation

15.8. The singularity at the center of a black hole

16. Reading list

17. Links to astronomy websites.

Notes:

"Version: 20151101"--Title page verso.

"A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on December 1, 2015).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781681741000

9781681742281

OCLC:

931791435

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.