Exploring the invisible universe : from black holes to superstrings / Belal E. Baaquie, Frederick H. Willeboordse (National University of Singapore).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baaquie, B. E., author.

Willeboordse, Frederick H., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physics--Popular works.

Physics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (488 p.)

Place of Publication:

Singapore : World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

""Why"? Why is the world, the Universe the way it is? Is space infinitely large? How small is small? What happens when one continues to divide matter into ever smaller pieces? Indeed, what is matter? Is there anything else besides what can be seen? Pursuing the questions employing the leading notions of physics, one soon finds that the tangible and visible world dissolves — rather unexpectedly — into invisible things and domains that are beyond direct perception. A remarkable feature of our Universe is that most of its constituents turn out to be invisible, and this fact is brought out with great force by this book. Exploring the Invisible Universe covers the gamut of topics in advanced modern physics and provides extensive and well substantiated answers to these questions and many more. Discussed in a non-technical, yet also non-trivial manner, are topics dominated by invisible things — such as Black Holes and Superstrings as well as Fields, Gravitation, the Standard Model, Cosmology, Relativity, the Origin of Elements, Stars and Planetary Evolution, and more. Just giving the answer, as so many books do, is really not telling anything at all. To truly answer the "why" questions of nature, one needs to follow the chain of reasoning that scientists have used to come to the conclusions they have. This book does not shy away from difficult-to-explain topics by reducing them to one-line answers and power phrases suitable for a popular talk show. The explanations are rigorous and straight to the point. This book is rarely mathematical without being afraid, however, to use elementary mathematics when called for. In order to achieve this, a large number of detailed figures, specially developed for this book and found nowhere else, convey insights that otherwise might either be inaccessible or need lengthy and difficult-to-follow explanations. After Exploring the Invisible Universe, a reader will have a deeper insight into our current understanding of the foundations of Nature and be able to answer all the questions above and then some. To understand Nature and the cutting edge ideas of contemporary physics, this is the book to have."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1. Synopsis; 2. Fields; 2.1 The Question; 2.2 What is a Field?; 2.3 Pressure Field; 2.3.1 Propagating pressure field; 2.4 Electric and Magnetic Fields; 2.4.1 Magnetic field; 2.5 The Electromagnetic Field; 2.5.1 Electromagnetic waves; 2.5.2 Maxwell's field equations; 2.6 Do Fields Need aMedium?; 2.6.1 Action at a distance; 2.7 Lorentz Transformations; 2.8 Gravitational Field; 2.9 Quantum Fields; 2.9.1 Feynman diagrams; 2.10 Quantum Vacuum; 2.10.1 Casimir effect and Lamb shift; 2.11 Unification of Particles and Interactions; 2.12 The Answer

3. The Geometry of Space3.1 The Question; 3.2 Is Space Curved?; 3.3 Description of Curved Space; 3.4 Parallel Transport; 3.5 Geodesics; 3.5.1 Constructing a geodesic; 3.5.2 Geodesics on a sphere S2; 3.6 Distances in Curved Spaces; 3.7 Special Theory of Relativity; 3.8 Spacetime Intervals; 3.8.1 Null, timelike and spacelike; 3.9 Curvature; 3.10 The Answer; 4. Gravity; 4.1 The Question; 4.2 Newton's Gravity and Special Relativity; 4.3 Equivalence Principle: Accelerating Frame; 4.4 Gravity: Slowing Down Time; 4.5 Gravity: Bending Spacetime; 4.6 Geodesics and Freely Falling Frames

4.7 Geodesics and Cosmological Time4.8 The Pattern of Spacetime and Gravity; 4.9 Curvature and Matter; 4.10 Gravitational Radiation; 4.11 The Answer; 5. Black Holes; 5.1 The Question; 5.2 Brief History of Black Holes; 5.3 Laplace's Dark Star; 5.4 The Schwarzschild Geometry; 5.5 Astrophysical Black Holes; 5.6 Black Holes: Dilating Time; 5.7 Black Holes: Bending Space; 5.8 Event Horizon: Black Hole's Boundary; 5.8.1 Stationary observer; 5.9 Permanent Trapping of Light; 5.9.1 Light cones: Stationary observer; 5.9.2 Light cones: In-falling observer; 5.10 Spinning Black Holes

5.10.1 Kerr black hole5.11 Extremal Kerr Black Hole and Ergosphere; 5.12 Energy from a Kerr Black Hole; 5.13 Reissner-Nordstrom Charged Black Hole; 5.14 Black Hole Entropy; 5.14.1 Bekenstein-Hawking entropy; 5.15 Black Hole Temperature; 5.16 Black Hole Thermodynamics; 5.17 Hawking Radiation; 5.18 The Answer; 6. Cosmology; 6.1 The Question; 6.2 Introduction; 6.3 Expanding Universe: Newtonian Cosmology; 6.4 Friedmann Equation; 6.4.1 Hubble's law revisited; 6.5 The Curvature Parameter k; 6.5.1 k=0: Critical universe; 6.5.2 k>0: Closed universe; 6.5.3 k<0: Open universe

6.6 The Cosmological Constant Λ6.7 Age of the Universe; 6.7.1 Critical density: k=0; 6.8 Energy of the Universe; 6.8.1 Mass-energy and radiation density; 6.9 The Very Early Universe; 6.9.1 Planck scale; 6.9.2 Grand Unification scale; 6.9.3 Electroweak scale; 6.9.4 Condensation of quarks; 6.9.5 Formation of light nuclei; 6.9.6 Formation of atoms; 6.9.7 Formation of galaxies; 6.9.8 Present; 6.10 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis; 6.11 Inflationary Universe; 6.11.1 Inflaton field; 6.11.2 Flatness problem; 6.11.3 Horizon problem; 6.11.4 Exotic relics; 6.12 Cosmic Background Radiation

6.13 Primordial Microscopic Black Holes

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

981-4618-68-3

OCLC:

907289859