Einstein's Dream : The Search for a Unified Theory of the Universe

the Author Chronicles The Search For . . . A Theory To Explain All Natural Fields And Their Interaction With Particles. . . . Lives And Contributions Of Physicists And Cosmologists, Starting With The Pioneers Of Scientific Cosmology In The 19th Century, Are Described. Topics Range From Maxwell's Discovery Of The Laws Of Magnetic Fields To Hawking's Work On Black Hole Physics. A Concluding Chapter Looks At The Current State Of Unified Field Theory. (sci Books Films) Contents......Page 8 CHAPTER 1 The Goal......Page 12 The Search for Meaning......Page 19 Einstein's Dream......Page 28 CHAPTER 2 Warped Space-Time......Page 32 Curved Space......Page 37 Einstein and Warped Space-Time......Page 40 Extreme Warping......Page 57 CHAPTER 3 Early Unified Field Theories......Page 60 Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field......Page 61 Early Attempts at Unification......Page 72 Einstein's Unified Field Theory......Page 77 CHAPTER 4 Star Death......Page 84 Eddington......Page 85 The Life Cycle of a Star......Page 90 Chandrasekhar and the White Dwarfs......Page 95 Beyond the White Dwarf......Page 100 Reflection......Page 106 CHAPTER 5 The Ultimate Abyss: The Black Hole......Page 108 Oppenheimer and Continuing Collapse......Page 111 Collapse of a Star to a Black Hole......Page 118 Inside a Black Hole......Page 121 Other Types of Black Holes......Page 123 Searching for Black Holes......Page 125 Other Black Hole Candidates......Page 129 A Realistic Look at the Exotic Possibilities......Page 131 Where the Theory Breaks Down......Page 135 The Discovery of Evaporating Black Holes......Page 137 The Link between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics......Page 142 CHAPTER 6 The Early Universe......Page 144 Discovery of the Expanding Universe......Page 145 Back to the Big Bang......Page 165 The Ultimate Singularity......Page 167 The Hadron Era......Page 170 The Radiation Era......Page 172 The Cosmic Background Radiation......Page 173 The Galaxy Era......Page 177 Reflection......Page 179 CHAPTER 7 Cosmological Controversy......Page 182 The Age of the Universe......Page 185 The Redshift Controversy......Page 192 Rival Cosmologies......Page 197 Varying G Cosmologies and Cosmic Numbers......Page 202 Antimatter and Other Cosmologies......Page 204 Other Universes......Page 206 CHAPTER 8 The Final Fate of the Universe......Page 210 The Missing Mass......Page 212 Other Methods of Determining if the Universe Is Open or Closed......Page 217 Fate of the Closed Universe......Page 219 Bounce......Page 220 Fate of the Open Universe......Page 222 CHAPTER 9 The World of Particles and Fields......Page 224 Dirac's Equation......Page 228 The Infinities......Page 231 Renormalization......Page 233 Yukawa......Page 241 Gauge Theory......Page 244 The Weak Interactions......Page 248 Quantum Chromodynamics......Page 252 Summary and Further Subdivision......Page 260 CHAPTER 10 A Unified Theory of the Universe......Page 264 Supergravity and Superstrings......Page 274 Twistors and Heaven (H Space)......Page 279 CHAPTER 11 Epilogue......Page 282 The Future......Page 284 The New Einstein......Page 285 Further Reading......Page 288 B......Page 290 D......Page 291 E......Page 292 H......Page 293 M......Page 294 P......Page 295 R......Page 296 T......Page 297 Z......Page 298 1: The goal The search for meaning Einstein's dream 2: Warped space-time Curved space Einstein and warped space-time Extreme warping 3: Early unified field theories Farada, Maxwell, and the electromagnetic field Early attempts at unification Einstein's unified field theory 4: Star death Eddington The life cycle of a star Chandrasekhar and the white dwarfs Beyond the white dwarf Reflection 5: The ultimate abyss: the black hole Oppenheimer and continuing collapse Collapse of a star to a black hole Inside a black hole Other types of black holes Searching for black holes Other black hole candidates A realistic look at the exotic possibilities Where the theory breaks down The discovery of evaporating black holes The link between general relativity and quantum mechanics 6: The early universe Discovery of the expanding universe Back to the big bang The ultimate singularity Inflation The Hadron Era The Lepton Era The Radiation Era The cosmic background radiation The Galaxy Era Reflection 7: Cosmological controversy The age of the universe The redshift controversy Rival cosmologies Varying G cosmologies and cosmic numbers Antimatter and other cosmologies Other universes 8: The final fate of the universe The missing mass Other methods of determining if the universe is open or closed Fate of the closed universe Bounce Fate of the open universe 9: The world of particles and fields Dirac's equation The infinities Renormalization Yukawa Gauge theory The weak interactions Quantum chromodynamics 10: Unified theory of the universe Supergravity and superstrings Twistors and heaven (H space) 11: Epilogue The future The new Einstein. Thirty years ago Albert Einstein died, his dream of a theory that would unify the universe unfulfilled. He spent the last decades of his life searching for such a theory-a theory that would explain everything from elementary particles and their interac tions to the overall structure of the universe. But he failed, not because he didn't try hard enough, but because the attempt was ahead of its time. When Einstein worked on the problem liter ally nothing was known about black holes, white holes, sin gularities, the Big Bang explosion and the early universe, quarks, gauge invariance, and weak and strong nuclear forces. Today we know that all these things are important in relation to a unified theory, and that they must be incorporated in and explained by such a theory. Thus, in a sense, our problem is much more complex today than it was in Einstein's day. But scientists have persevered and as a result we are now tan talizingly close to achieving this long-sought goal. Important breakthroughs have been made. In this book we will look at these breakthroughs and at recent unified theories-theories that go by the names supergravity, superstrings, GUTs, and twistor theory. In order to understand the problem, however, we must begin at the beginning Annotation The author chronicles the search for ... a theory to explain all natural fields and their interaction with particles. ... Lives and contributions of physicists and cosmologists, starting with the pioneers of scientific cosmology in the 19th century, are described. Topics range from Maxwell's discovery of the laws of magnetic fields to Hawking's work on black hole physics. A concluding chapter looks at the current state of unified field theory. (Sci Books Films) Looking into the dark night sky we feel a tingle of excitement as we are overcome by its grandeur and beauty.