Battle of the Big Bang : the new tales of our cosmic origins / Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Afshordi, Niyayesh, 1978- author.

Halper, Phil, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosmogony.

Cosmogony--History.

Big bang theory.

Cosmology--History.

Cosmology.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xiii, 389 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

illustrations.

Other Title:

New tales of our cosmic origins

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Summary:

"A thrilling exploration of competing cosmological origin stories, comparing new scientific ideas that upend our very notions of space, time, and reality. By most popular accounts, the universe started with a bang some 13.8 billion years ago. But what happened before the Big Bang? Here prominent cosmologist Niayesh Afshordi and science communicator Phil Halper offer a tour of the peculiar possibilities: bouncing and cyclic universes, time loops, creations from nothing, multiverses, black hole births, string theories, and holograms. Along the way, they offer both a call for new physics and a riveting story of scientific debate. Incorporating Afshordi's cutting-edge research and insights from Halper's original interviews with scientists like Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, and Alan Guth, Battle of the Big Bang compares these models for the origin of our origins, showing each theory's strengths and weaknesses and explaining new attempts to test these theories. Battle of the Big Bang is a tale of rivalries and intrigue, of clashes of ideas that have raged from Greek antiquity to the present day over whether the universe is eternal or had a beginning, whether it is unique or one of many. But most of all, Afshordi and Halper show that this search is filled with wonder, discovery, and community-all essential for remembering a forgotten cosmic past"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface: Before our first memory

The beginning : cosmology from Thales to Hawking

The multiverse and the ultimate free lunch

Hawking's U-Turn and a universe from nothing

String theories and colliding branes

The big bounce

Déjà vu and the cyclic cosmos

Born from a Black Hole

Speeds of light

Holograms and missing dimensions

Can the universe create itself?

Science of religion, religion of science

The end of the beginning

Appendix: Big bang models cheat sheet.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-356) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Afshordi, Niyayesh, 1978- Battle of the Big Bang.

ISBN:

9780226830476

0226830470

OCLC:

1455329838