Calibrating the Cosmos

How Cosmology Explains Our Big Bang Universe

Franck Levin - Collection Astronomer's Universe

300 pages, parution le 01/12/2006

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Résumé

Calibrating the Cosmos describes hard science, but is gently written. It explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the interpretation of the resulting data that have led to the current understanding of the origin, evolution and properties of our expanding Big Bang universe.

Many people have a sketchy idea of the work of cosmologists, but Professor Levin's experience in teaching both scientific and liberal arts students has enabled him to impart much of our current thinking without resorting to difficult mathematics. Theoretical concepts are emphasized, in particular the symmetries of homogeneity and isotropy enjoyed by our universe on the largest scales, how these symmetries lead to only one quantity being needed to describe the growth of the universe from its infancy to the present time, and how the so-called parameters of the universe are the ingredients used to construct the model universes to which ours - the real thing - is compared.

Levin includes the 2003 results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the 2003 and 2004 results of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to ensure that the book is up to date. He explains the relevance of the discoveries done by the new physics Nobel laureates Smoot and Mather!

Background material is provided in the first four chapters; the current picture and how it was attained are discussed in the next four chapters; and some unsolved problems and conjectured solutions are explored in the final chapter.

Sommaire

Preface
Introduction: The Splendid Science
Measuring Distances: On the Earth, in the Solar System, to the Nearby Stars
Light, Radiation, and Quanta
Stars: Attributes, Energetics, End Stages
The Expanding Universe
Homogeneous, Isotropic Universes
The Parameters of the Universe
The Early Universe
Conjectures
Appendix A: Powers of Ten
Appendix B: Primordial Nucleosynthesis
Appendix C: The Elementary Particle Zoo
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Glossary

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Springer
Auteur(s)	Franck Levin
Collection	Astronomer's Universe
Parution	01/12/2006
Nb. de pages	300
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	649g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780387307787
ISBN13	978-0-387-30778-7