The Amazing Unity of the Universe: And Its Origin in the Big Bang (Astronomers' Universe)

In The First Chapters The Author Describes How Our Knowledge Of The Position Of Earth In Space And Time Has Developed, Thanks To The Work Of Many Generations Of Astronomers And Physicists. He Discusses How Our Position In The Galaxy Was Discovered, And How In 1929, Hubble Uncovered The Fact That The Universe Is Expanding, Leading To The Picture Of The Big Bang. He Then Explains How Astronomers Have Found That The Laws Of Physics That Were Discovered Here On Earth And In The Solar System (the Laws Of Mechanics, Gravity, Atomic Physics, Electromagnetism, Etc.) Are Valid Throughout The Universe. This Is Illustrated By The Fact That All Matter In The Universe Consists Of Atoms Of The Same Chemical Elements That We Know On Earth. This Unity Is All The More Surprising When One Realizes That In The Original Big Bang Theory, Different Parts Of The Universe Could Never Have Communicated With Each Other. It Then Is A Mystery How They Could Have Shared The Same Physical Laws. This Problem Was Solved By The Introduction Of The Idea Of Inflation, A Phase Of Extremely Rapid Expansion Of The Universe During The First Fraction Of A Second Following The Big Bang. The Author Explains How The Unity Of The Universe Finds Its Origin In The Big Bang Prior To Inflation. The Book Addresses The Many Fundamental Questions About The Universe And Its Contents From The Perspective Of The Big Bang: The Formation Of Structure In The Universe, The Questions Of The Mysterious Dark Matter And Dark Energy, The Possibilities Of Other Universes (the Multiverse) And Of The Existence Of Intelligent Life Elsewhere In The Universe. Our Strange Universe -- The Sun’s Backyard: Our Solar System -- How Distant Are The Stars?- The Discovery Of The Structure Of Our Milky Way Galaxy -- The Chemical Composition Of The Sun And Stars -- Other Galaxies And The Discovery Of The Expansion Of The Universe -- Gravity According To Galilei, Newton, Einstein And Mach -- Einstein, De Sitter, Friedmann, Lemaitre And The Evolution Of The Universe -- The Big Bang As The Origin Of The Universe -- The Origin Of The Matter In The Universe -- We Are Made Of Stardust: Timescales Of The Universe And Of Life -- Is The Universe Open, Closed Or Flat? The Horizon Problem, The Flatness Problem And Inflation -- Dark Matter And Dark Energy: Our Strange Universe -- Ripples In The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation -- Time In The Universe -- From Universe To Multiverse -- Intelligent Life Elsewhere In The Universe -- Epilogue -- Appendices. By Edward Van Den Heuvel. Preface 6 Contents 8 Chapter 1: Our Strange Universe 12 Chapter 2: The Sun’s Backyard: Our Solar System 16 Sizes and Masses of the Planets 22 Distances in the Solar System 23 Chemical Composition of the Sun and Planets 24 Why Earth Does Not Have a Cosmic Composition 25 Moons 28 The Age of the Solar System 32 The Great Bombardment 35 Possible Causes of the Late Heavy Asteroid Bombardment 37 How did Earth Acquire Such a Large Moon? 39 Chapter 3: How Distant Are the Stars? 41 The Parallax Method 43 The Distance to the Nearest Star as Compared to the Distance to the Sun 53 Far Away = Long Ago 53 Chapter 4: The Discovery of the Structure of Our Milky Way Galaxy 56 The Work of William Herschell 57 The Work of Kapteyn 60 “Fog” in the Milky Way System 63 Harlow Shapley and the System of Globular Star Clusters 64 Jan Oort Discovers the Motion of the Sun 66 Radio Astronomy Shows Us the Entire Milky Way System 70 Chapter 5: The Chemical Composition of the Sun and Stars 75 Kirchhoff and Bunsen’s Discovery 76 Formation of Spectral Lines: Quantum Jumps of Electrons in Atoms 80 The Miraculous Unity of the Universe 84 The Chemical Composition of the Stars 84 Chapter 6: Other Galaxies and the Discovery of the Expansion of the Universe 86 Distances to Other Galaxies 91 The Most Distant Galaxies 95 The Expansion of the Universe 96 Is Our Galaxy at the Centre of the Universe? The Raisin-­Bread Model of an Expanding Universe 100 Chapter 7: Gravity According to Galilei, Newton, Einstein and Mach 104 Introduction 104 The Weakest Force of Nature 107 Inertial Mass Versus Gravitational Mass 109 Science is a Young Man’s Game 110 The Special Theory of Relativity 111 The Quantum Explanation of the Photoelectric Effect 112 Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity 114 The Four Classical Predictions of General Relativity and Their Experimental Confirmation 116 Deflection of Light by the Sun 117 The Motion of Mercury's Perihelion 118 The Gravitational Redshift of Light 119 A Fourth Classical Effect: The Shapiro Time Delay 120 Navigation with GPS 121 The Origin of Inertia 122 Can Newton’s Theory of Gravity now go into the Garbage Bin? 123 Chapter 8: Einstein, de Sitter, Friedmann, Lemaître and the Evolution of the Universe 124 The Cosmological Principle 125 De Sitter’s Discovery 128 Friedman’s Solutions 130 Einstein’s Reactions to Friedman’s Discoveries 134 Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” 135 Lemaître’s Hypothesis of the Big Bang 135 The Origin of the Name Big Bang 138 The Hubble Time 139 The Cosmological Redshift 140 Can Galaxies Move Away from us with Velocities Larger than the Speed of Light? 143 How Large is the Universe? 143 Chapter 9: The Big Bang as Origin of the Universe 144 Radiation in the Early Universe 148 The Prediction of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation 151 The Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation from the Big Bang 153 Further Proofs of the Big Bang 157 The Abundances of Light Isotopes 157 The Evolution of Galaxies 157 Olbers’ Paradox: Why Is It Dark At Night? 165 Cosmology as a Real Science 165 Chapter 10: The Origin of the Matter in the Universe 168 Why Is There Matter in the Universe? 170 Brief Summary of the History of the Universe 172 Planck Time, Planck Length and Planck Mass 172 The Unification of All Forces of Nature 175 Chapter 11: We Are Made of Stardust; Timescales of the Universe and of Life 178 Stellar Populations in Galaxies 179 Star Cluster Ages and the Cycle of Enrichment of the Gas of Galaxies with Heavier Elements 183 Once More the Cosmic Timescale 187 The Development of Life on Earth 188 The Origin of the Eukaryotes 191 The Timescales of Earth and of the Universe 192 Chapter 12: Is the Universe Open, Closed or Flat? The Horizon Problem, the Flatness Problem and Inflation 195 The Horizon Problem 196 Inflation 199 The Flatness Problem 200 Chapter 13: Dark Matter and Dark Energy: Our Strange Universe 203 Gravitational Lenses 205 What Is Dark Matter? 205 Does Dark Matter Really Exist? 208 Dark Energy: From Greatest Blunder to a Genial Stroke 210 Vacuum Energy 217 The Perfect Free Lunch 219 Chapter 14: Ripples in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation 221 Structure Formation in a Static Universe 226 Structure Formation in an Expanding Universe 227 The Cosmic Web: Further Confirmations of the Existence of Dark Matter and Energy 229 Chapter 15: Time in the Universe 233 What Happened Before the Big Bang? 237 About the Direction of Time 237 Universal Clocks of the Universe 240 Chapter 16: From Universe to Multiverse 243 Red Giants, Carbon Nuclei and Fred Hoyle 246 Another Coincidence: The Excited Energy Levels in the Oxygen Nucleus 249 How Finely Tuned Are These Properties of the Carbon and Oxygen Nuclei? 250 Anthropic Considerations 251 The Multiverse Theory: A New Form of the Continuous Creation Theory of Hoyle, Bondi and Gold? 257 Chapter 17: Intelligent Life Elsewhere in the Universe 259 The Origin of Life 260 Where Is Everybody? 262 Optimistic and Pessimistic Estimates 264 The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence 265 Why Were We Never Visited? 266 Possible Stumbling Blocks for the Existence of Intelligent Extraterrestrials 270 Earth Could Be Quite Unique 270 Refined Astronomical Considerations 271 Considerations from Evolutionary Biology 272 Our Rare Earth 274 Chapter 18: Epilogue 276 Appendix A: Some Data About the Solar System 282 Appendix B: The Structure of Atoms and the Standard Model of Elementary Particles and Forces 284 The Structure of Atoms: Protons, Neutrons and Electrons 284 The Quarks and the Standard Model 286 Appendix C: About the Parameters of the Universe 289 The Critical Density and the Hubble Constant 289 The Timescale of the Expansion 292 Redshifts Larger than One 294 Appendix D: The Radiation Laws of Planck, Wien and Stefan-Boltzmann 295 Appendix E: The Equations for the Jeans Length and the Jeans Mass 296 Credits of the Figures 298 Author Index 305 Subject Index 309 "In the first chapters the author describes how our knowledge of the position of Earth in space and time has developed, thanks to the work of many generations of astronomers and physicists. He discusses how our position in the Galaxy was discovered, and how in 1929, Hubble uncovered the fact that the Universe is expanding, leading to the picture of the Big Bang. He then explains how astronomers have found that the laws of physics that were discovered here on Earth and in the Solar System (the laws of mechanics, gravity, atomic physics, electromagnetism, etc.) are valid throughout the Universe. This is illustrated by the fact that all matter in the Universe consists of atoms of the same chemical elements that we know on Earth. This unity is all the more surprising when one realizes that in the original Big Bang theory, different parts of the Universe could never have communicated with each other. It then is a mystery how they could have shared the same physical laws. This problem was solved by the introduction of the idea of inflation, a phase of extremely rapid expansion of the Universe during the first fraction of a second following the Big Bang. The author explains how the unity of the Universe finds its origin in the Big Bang prior to inflation. The book addresses the many fundamental questions about the Universe and its content from the perspective of the Big Bang: the formation of structure in the Universe, the questions of the mysterious dark matter and dark energy, the possibilities of other Universes (the Multiverse) and of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe."--Page 4 of cover. Front Matter....Pages i-x Our Strange Universe....Pages 1-4 The Sun’s Backyard: Our Solar System....Pages 5-29 How Distant Are the Stars?....Pages 31-45 The Discovery of the Structure of Our Milky Way Galaxy....Pages 47-65 The Chemical Composition of the Sun and Stars....Pages 67-77 Other Galaxies and the Discovery of the Expansion of the Universe....Pages 79-96 Gravity According to Galilei, Newton, Einstein and Mach....Pages 97-116 Einstein, de Sitter, Friedmann, Lemaître and the Evolution of the Universe....Pages 117-136 The Big Bang as Origin of the Universe....Pages 137-160 The Origin of the Matter in the Universe....Pages 161-170 We Are Made of Stardust; Timescales of the Universe and of Life....Pages 171-187 Is the Universe Open, Closed or Flat? The Horizon Problem, the Flatness Problem and Inflation....Pages 189-196 Dark Matter and Dark Energy: Our Strange Universe....Pages 197-214 Ripples in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation....Pages 215-226 Time in the Universe....Pages 227-236 From Universe to Multiverse....Pages 237-252 Intelligent Life Elsewhere in the Universe....Pages 253-269 Epilogue....Pages 271-276 Back Matter....Pages 277-315