The weight of the vacuum a scientific history of dark energy Helge S. Kragh, James M. Overduin

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kragh, Helge, 1944- author.

Overduin, James M., author.

Series:

SpringerBriefs in physics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dark energy (Astronomy).

Cosmology--History.

Cosmology.

Physics--History.

Physics.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Heidelberg New York Springer [2014]

Summary:

"The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of cosmic acceleration due to dark energy, a discovery that is all the more perplexing as nobody knows what dark energy actually is. We put the modern concept of cosmological vacuum energy into historical context and show how it grew out of disparate roots in quantum mechanics (zero-point energy) and relativity theory (the cosmological constant, Einstein's 'greatest blunder'). These two influences have remained strangely aloof and still co-exist in an uneasy alliance that is at the heart of the greatest crisis in theoretical physics, the cosmological-constant problem"--Provided by publisher

Contents:

Early ideas of space and vacuum

The active ether

Planck's second quantum theory

Half-quanta and zero-point energy

Nernst's cosmic quantum ether

The Hamburg connection

The cosmological constant

From Casimir to Zel'dovich

Inflation and the false vacuum

Variable cosmological constants and quintessence.-How heavy is the vacuum?

The accelerating universe

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and author index

Print version record

Other Format:

Print version Kragh, Helge, 1944- Weight of the vacuum

ISBN:

9783642550904

3642550908

OCLC:

880931618

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license