Parallel Worlds : A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

Is our universe dying? Could there be other universes?In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku--an author who "has a knack for bringing the most ethereal ideas down to earth" (Wall Street Journal)--takes readers on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe.In his first book of physics since Hyperspace, Michio Kaku begins by describing the extraordinary advances that have transformed cosmology over the last century, and particularly over the last decade, forcing scientists around the world to rethink our understanding of the birth of the universe, and its ultimate fate. In Dr. Kaku's eyes, we are living in a golden age of physics, as new discoveries from the WMAP and COBE satellites and the Hubble space telescope have given us unprecedented pictures of our universe in its infancy.As astronomers wade through the avalanche of data from the WMAP satellite, a new cosmological picture is emerging. So far, the leading theory about the birth of the universe is the "inflationary universe theory," a major refinement on the big bang theory. In this theory, our universe may be but one in a multiverse, floating like a bubble in an infinite sea of bubble universes, with new universes being created all the time. A parallel universe may well hover a mere millimeter from our own. The very idea of parallel universes and the string theory that can explain their existence was once viewed with suspicion by scientists, seen as the province of mystics, charlatans, and cranks. But today, physicists overwhelmingly support string-theory, and its latest iteration, M-theory, as it is this one theory that, if proven correct, would reconcile the four forces of the universe simply and elegantly, and answer the question "What happened before the big bang?"Already, Kaku explains, the world's foremost physicists and astronomers are searching for ways to test the theory of the multiverse using highly sophisticated wave detectors, gravity lenses, satellites, and telescopes. The implications of M-theory are fascinating and endless. If parallel worlds do exist, Kaku speculates, in time, perhaps a trillion years or more from now, as appears likely, when our universe grows cold and dark in what scientists describe as a big freeze, advanced civilizations may well find a way to escape our universe in a kind of "inter-dimensional lifeboat." An unforgettable journey into black holes and time machines, alternate universes, and multidimensional space, Parallel Worlds gives us a compelling portrait of the revolution sweeping the world of cosmology. Cover......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 12 PREFACE......Page 16 PART I THE UNIVERSE......Page 20 1 Baby Pictures of the Universe......Page 22 THE WMAP SATELLITE......Page 25 THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 29 INFLATION......Page 32 THE MULTIVERSE......Page 33 M-THEORY AND THE ELEVENTH DIMENSION......Page 35 THE END OF THE UNIVERSE STRING COUNTERPART......Page 37 ESCAPE INTO HYPERSPACE......Page 39 2 The Paradoxical Universe......Page 41 BENTLEY’S PARADOX......Page 44 OLBERS’ PARADOX......Page 45 EINSTEIN THE REBEL......Page 49 PARADOXES OF RELATIVITY......Page 50 FORCE AS THE BENDING OF SPACE......Page 54 THE BIRTH OF COSMOLOGY......Page 55 THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 59 3 The Big Bang......Page 64 EDWIN HUBBLE, PATRICIAN ASTRONOMER......Page 65 DOPPLER EFFECT AND THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE......Page 67 HUBBLE’S LAW......Page 69 THE BIG BANG......Page 70 GEORGE GAMOW, COSMIC JESTER......Page 71 NUCLEAR KITCHEN OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 74 MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION......Page 75 FRED HOYLE, CONTRARIAN......Page 77 STEADY STATE THEORY......Page 78 BBC LECTURES......Page 80 NUCLEOSYNTHESIS IN THE STARS......Page 81 EVIDENCE AGAINST THE STEADY STATE......Page 82 HOW STARS ARE BORN......Page 84 BIRD DROPPINGS AND THE BIG BANG......Page 87 PERSONAL AFTERSHOCKS OF THE BIG BANG......Page 88 OMEGA AND DARK MATTER......Page 89 COBE SATELLITE......Page 93 4 Inflation and Parallel Universes......Page 95 BIRTH OF INFLATION......Page 97 SEARCH FOR UNIFICATION......Page 98 UNIFICATION AT THE BIG BANG......Page 100 FALSE VACUUM......Page 104 MONOPOLE PROBLEM......Page 105 FLATNESS PROBLEM......Page 106 HORIZON PROBLEM......Page 107 REACTION TO INFLATION......Page 108 CHAOTIC INFLATION AND PARALLEL UNIVERSES......Page 111 THE UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING......Page 112 WHAT MIGHT OTHER UNIVERSES LOOK LIKE?......Page 115 SYMMETRY AND THE STANDARD MODEL......Page 117 TESTABLE PREDICTIONS......Page 120 SUPERNOVAE—RETURN OF LAMBDA......Page 121 PHASES OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 123 THE FUTURE......Page 126 PART II THE MULTIVERSE......Page 128 5 Dimensional Portals and Time Travel......Page 130 BLACK HOLES......Page 133 EINSTEIN-ROSEN BRIDGE......Page 137 ROTATING BLACK HOLES......Page 140 OBSERVING BLACK HOLES......Page 141 GAMMA RAY BURSTERS......Page 144 VAN STOCKUM’S TIME MACHINE......Page 147 GÖDEL UNIVERSE......Page 148 THORNE TIME MACHINE......Page 150 PROBLEMS WITH NEGATIVE ENERGY......Page 152 A UNIVERSE IN YOUR BEDROOM......Page 155 GOTT TIME MACHINE......Page 159 TIME PARADOXES......Page 161 6 Parallel Quantum Universes......Page 165 TWILIGHT ZONE......Page 167 MONSTER MIND: JOHN WHEELER......Page 169 DETERMINISM OR UNCERTAINTY?......Page 172 TREES IN THE FOREST......Page 175 THE CAT PROBLEM......Page 177 THE BOMB......Page 180 SUM OVER PATHS......Page 182 WIGNER’S FRIEND......Page 184 DECOHERENCE......Page 185 MANY WORLDS......Page 186 IT FROM BIT......Page 190 QUANTUM COMPUTING AND TELEPORTATION......Page 191 QUANTUM TELEPORTATION......Page 193 WAVE FUNCTION OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 197 7 M-Theory: The Mother of All Strings......Page 200 M-THEORY......Page 204 HISTORY OF STRING THEORY......Page 206 TEN DIMENSIONS......Page 211 STRING BANDWAGON......Page 214 COSMIC MUSIC......Page 215 PROBLEMS IN HYPERSPACE......Page 217 WHY STRINGS?......Page 220 SUPERSYMMETRY......Page 222 DERIVING THE STANDARD MODEL......Page 225 M-THEORY......Page 226 MYSTERY OF SUPERGRAVITY......Page 229 ELEVENTH DIMENSION......Page 230 BRANE WORLD......Page 233 DUALITY......Page 234 LISA RANDALL......Page 235 COLLIDING UNIVERSES......Page 240 MINI–BLACK HOLES......Page 245 BLACK HOLES AND THE INFORMATION PARADOX......Page 247 THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE......Page 249 IS THE UNIVERSE A COMPUTER PROGRAM?......Page 252 THE END?......Page 256 8 A Designer Universe?......Page 260 COSMIC ACCIDENTS......Page 265 THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE......Page 266 MULTIVERSE......Page 268 EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSES......Page 273 9 Searching for Echoes from the Eleventh Dimension......Page 275 GPS AND RELATIVITY......Page 276 GRAVITY WAVE DETECTORS......Page 277 LIGO GRAVITY WAVE DETECTOR......Page 278 LISA GRAVITY WAVE DETECTOR......Page 281 EINSTEIN LENSES AND RINGS......Page 282 DARK MATTER IN YOUR LIVING ROOM......Page 285 SUSY (SUPERSYMMETRIC) DARK MATTER......Page 286 SLOAN SKY SURVEY......Page 287 COMPENSATING FOR THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS......Page 290 LASHING RADIO TELESCOPES TOGETHER......Page 292 MEASURING THE ELEVENTH DIMENSION......Page 293 LARGE HADRON COLLIDER......Page 295 TABLETOP ACCELERATORS......Page 299 THE FUTURE......Page 301 PART III ESCAPE INTO HYPERSPACE......Page 304 10 The End of Everything......Page 306 THREE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS......Page 308 THE BIG CRUNCH......Page 310 FIVE STAGES OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 311 CAN INTELLIGENCE SURVIVE?......Page 318 LEAVING THE UNIVERSE......Page 321 11 Escaping the Universe......Page 323 TYPE I, II, AND III CIVILIZATIONS......Page 326 TYPE I CIVILIZATION......Page 330 TYPE II CIVILIZATION......Page 332 TYPE III CIVILIZATION......Page 334 TYPE IV CIVILIZATION......Page 336 INFORMATION CLASSIFICATION......Page 337 TYPES A TO Z......Page 338 STEP ONE: CREATE AND TEST A THEORY OF EVERYTHING......Page 340 STEP TWO: FIND NATURALLY OCCURRING WORMHOLES AND WHITE HOLES......Page 342 STEP THREE: SEND PROBES THROUGH A BLACK HOLE......Page 343 STEP FOUR: CONSTRUCT A BLACK HOLE IN SLOW MOTION......Page 344 STEP FIVE: CREATE A BABY UNIVERSE......Page 346 STEP SIX: CREATE HUGE ATOM SMASHERS......Page 349 STEP SEVEN: CREATE IMPLOSION MECHANISMS......Page 351 STEP EIGHT: BUILD A WARP DRIVE MACHINE......Page 353 STEP NINE: USE NEGATIVE ENERGY FROM SQUEEZED STATES......Page 355 STEP ELEVEN: THE LAST HOPE......Page 357 12 Beyond the Multiverse......Page 362 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE......Page 364 COPERNICAN PRINCIPLE VS. ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE......Page 366 QUANTUM MEANING......Page 368 MEANING IN THE MULTIVERSE......Page 370 WHAT PHYSICISTS THINK ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 373 CREATING OUR OWN MEANING......Page 377 TRANSITION TO TYPE I CIVILIZATION......Page 378 NOTES......Page 382 GLOSSARY......Page 400 RECOMMENDED READING......Page 422 INDEX......Page 426 Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos 1 Cover 1 CONTENTS 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 12 PREFACE 16 PART I THE UNIVERSE 20 1 Baby Pictures of the Universe 22 THE WMAP SATELLITE 25 THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE 29 INFLATION 32 THE MULTIVERSE 33 M-THEORY AND THE ELEVENTH DIMENSION 35 MUSICAL ANALOGY 37 THE END OF THE UNIVERSE STRING COUNTERPART 37 ESCAPE INTO HYPERSPACE 39 2 The Paradoxical Universe 41 BENTLEY’S PARADOX 44 OLBERS’ PARADOX 45 EINSTEIN THE REBEL 49 PARADOXES OF RELATIVITY 50 FORCE AS THE BENDING OF SPACE 54 THE BIRTH OF COSMOLOGY 55 THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE 59 3 The Big Bang 64 EDWIN HUBBLE, PATRICIAN ASTRONOMER 65 DOPPLER EFFECT AND THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE 67 HUBBLE’S LAW 69 THE BIG BANG 70 GEORGE GAMOW, COSMIC JESTER 71 NUCLEAR KITCHEN OF THE UNIVERSE 74 MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION 75 FRED HOYLE, CONTRARIAN 77 STEADY STATE THEORY 78 BBC LECTURES 80 NUCLEOSYNTHESIS IN THE STARS 81 EVIDENCE AGAINST THE STEADY STATE 82 HOW STARS ARE BORN 84 BIRD DROPPINGS AND THE BIG BANG 87 PERSONAL AFTERSHOCKS OF THE BIG BANG 88 OMEGA AND DARK MATTER 89 COBE SATELLITE 93 4 Inflation and Parallel Universes 95 BIRTH OF INFLATION 97 SEARCH FOR UNIFICATION 98 UNIFICATION AT THE BIG BANG 100 FALSE VACUUM 104 MONOPOLE PROBLEM 105 FLATNESS PROBLEM 106 HORIZON PROBLEM 107 REACTION TO INFLATION 108 CHAOTIC INFLATION AND PARALLEL UNIVERSES 111 THE UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING 112 WHAT MIGHT OTHER UNIVERSES LOOK LIKE? 115 SYMMETRY BREAKING 117 SYMMETRY AND THE STANDARD MODEL 117 TESTABLE PREDICTIONS 120 SUPERNOVAE—RETURN OF LAMBDA 121 PHASES OF THE UNIVERSE 123 THE FUTURE 126 PART II THE MULTIVERSE 128 5 Dimensional Portals and Time Travel 130 BLACK HOLES 133 EINSTEIN-ROSEN BRIDGE 137 ROTATING BLACK HOLES 140 OBSERVING BLACK HOLES 141 GAMMA RAY BURSTERS 144 VAN STOCKUM’S TIME MACHINE 147 GÖDEL UNIVERSE 148 THORNE TIME MACHINE 150 PROBLEMS WITH NEGATIVE ENERGY 152 A UNIVERSE IN YOUR BEDROOM 155 GOTT TIME MACHINE 159 TIME PARADOXES 161 6 Parallel Quantum Universes 165 TWILIGHT ZONE 167 MONSTER MIND: JOHN WHEELER 169 DETERMINISM OR UNCERTAINTY? 172 TREES IN THE FOREST 175 THE CAT PROBLEM 177 THE BOMB 180 SUM OVER PATHS 182 WIGNER’S FRIEND 184 DECOHERENCE 185 MANY WORLDS 186 IT FROM BIT 190 QUANTUM COMPUTING AND TELEPORTATION 191 QUANTUM TELEPORTATION 193 WAVE FUNCTION OF THE UNIVERSE 197 7 M-Theory: The Mother of All Strings 200 M-THEORY 204 HISTORY OF STRING THEORY 206 TEN DIMENSIONS 211 STRING BANDWAGON 214 COSMIC MUSIC 215 PROBLEMS IN HYPERSPACE 217 WHY STRINGS? 220 SUPERSYMMETRY 222 DERIVING THE STANDARD MODEL 225 M-THEORY 226 MYSTERY OF SUPERGRAVITY 229 ELEVENTH DIMENSION 230 BRANE WORLD 233 DUALITY 234 LISA RANDALL 235 COLLIDING UNIVERSES 240 MINI–BLACK HOLES 245 BLACK HOLES AND THE INFORMATION PARADOX 247 THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE 249 IS THE UNIVERSE A COMPUTER PROGRAM? 252 THE END? 256 8 A Designer Universe? 260 COSMIC ACCIDENTS 265 THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE 266 MULTIVERSE 268 EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSES 273 9 Searching for Echoes from the Eleventh Dimension 275 GPS AND RELATIVITY 276 GRAVITY WAVE DETECTORS 277 LIGO GRAVITY WAVE DETECTOR 278 LISA GRAVITY WAVE DETECTOR 281 EINSTEIN LENSES AND RINGS 282 DARK MATTER IN YOUR LIVING ROOM 285 SUSY (SUPERSYMMETRIC) DARK MATTER 286 SLOAN SKY SURVEY 287 COMPENSATING FOR THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS 290 LASHING RADIO TELESCOPES TOGETHER 292 MEASURING THE ELEVENTH DIMENSION 293 LARGE HADRON COLLIDER 295 TABLETOP ACCELERATORS 299 THE FUTURE 301 PART III ESCAPE INTO HYPERSPACE 304 10 The End of Everything 306 THREE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS 308 THE BIG CRUNCH 310 FIVE STAGES OF THE UNIVERSE 311 CAN INTELLIGENCE SURVIVE? 318 LEAVING THE UNIVERSE 321 11 Escaping the Universe 323 TYPE I, II, AND III CIVILIZATIONS 326 TYPE I CIVILIZATION 330 TYPE II CIVILIZATION 332 TYPE III CIVILIZATION 334 TYPE IV CIVILIZATION 336 INFORMATION CLASSIFICATION 337 TYPES A TO Z 338 STEP ONE: CREATE AND TEST A THEORY OF EVERYTHING 340 STEP TWO: FIND NATURALLY OCCURRING WORMHOLES AND WHITE HOLES 342 STEP THREE: SEND PROBES THROUGH A BLACK HOLE 343 STEP FOUR: CONSTRUCT A BLACK HOLE IN SLOW MOTION 344 STEP FIVE: CREATE A BABY UNIVERSE 346 STEP SIX: CREATE HUGE ATOM SMASHERS 349 STEP SEVEN: CREATE IMPLOSION MECHANISMS 351 STEP EIGHT: BUILD A WARP DRIVE MACHINE 353 STEP NINE: USE NEGATIVE ENERGY FROM SQUEEZED STATES 355 STEP TEN: WAIT FOR QUANTUM TRANSITIONS 357 STEP ELEVEN: THE LAST HOPE 357 12 Beyond the Multiverse 362 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 364 COPERNICAN PRINCIPLE VS. ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE 366 QUANTUM MEANING 368 MEANING IN THE MULTIVERSE 370 WHAT PHYSICISTS THINK ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE 373 CREATING OUR OWN MEANING 377 TRANSITION TO TYPE I CIVILIZATION 378 NOTES 382 GLOSSARY 400 RECOMMENDED READING 422 INDEX 426 The national bestselling author of The God Equation takes us on a thrilling journey to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own.“A wonderful tour, with an expert guide.” —Brian Greene, New York Times bestselling author of The Elegant Universe Kaku skillfully guides us through the latest innovations in string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, which posits that our universe may be just one in an endless multiverse, a singular bubble floating in a sea of infinite bubble universes. If M-theory is proven correct, we may perhaps finally find answer to the question, “What happened before the big bang?” This is an exciting and unforgettable introduction into the new cutting-edge theories of physics and cosmology from one of the pre-eminent voices in the field. "In his first book of physics since Hyperspace, Michio Kaku begins by describing the extraordinary advances that have transformed cosmology over the last century, and particularly over the last decade, forcing scientists around the world to rethink our understanding of the birth of the universe and its ultimate fate." "The very idea of parallel universes and the string theory that can explain their existence was once viewed with suspicion by scientists, seen as the province of mystics, charlatans, and cranks. But today, theoretical physicists overwhelmingly support string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, as it is the one theory that, if proven correct, would reconcile the four forces of the universe simply and elegantly, and answer the question "What happened before the big bang?""--BOOK JACKET In Parallel Worlds, World-renowned Physicist And Bestselling Author Michio Kaku Takes Readers On A Fascinating Tour Of Cosmology, M-theory, And Its Implications For The Fate Of The Universe. Kaku Describes The Extraordinary Advances That Have Transformed Cosmology Over The Last Century Forcing Scientists Around The World To Rethink Our Understanding Of The Birth Of The Universe, And Its Ultimate Fate. The Universe: Baby Pictures Of The Universe -- The Paradoxical Universe -- The Big Bang -- Inflation And Parallel Universes -- Parallel Quantum Universes -- M-theory: The Mother Of All Strings -- A Designer Universe? -- Searching For Echoes From The Eleventh Dimension -- Escaping The Universe -- Beyond The Multiverse. Michio Kaku. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [403]-405) And Index. Sheds new light on discoveries that have revolutionized the field of cosmology and transformed understanding of the universe, offering an explanation of the multiverse M-theory and its implications in terms of the fate of our own universe.