Elementary cosmology :from Aristotle's universe to the big bang and beyond /

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"Version: 20151101"--Title page verso."A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics"--Title page verso.Includes bibliographical references.Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Author biography -- 1. The scientific method -- 1.1. Introduction to the scientific method -- 1.2. Some mathematics2. Early astronomy -- 3. Nebulae4. Cosmic distances -- 4.1. The cosmic distance ladder -- 4.2. Spiral nebulae : are they extragalactic? -- 4.3. The chemical composition of stars5. Space-time -- 5.1. The speed of light -- 5.2. The special theory of relativity -- 5.3. The general theory of relativity -- 5.4. Universal expansion6. The Big Bang -- 6.1. The structure and history of the Universe -- 6.2. The geometry of space-time -- 6.3. The father of the Big Bang -- 6.4. The creation of the element7. Cosmic microwave background radiation -- 7.1. The 'smoking gun' of the Big Bang -- 7.2. Decoupling -- 7.3. How bright is the CMB? -- 7.4. 'Matter dominated' versus 'radiation dominated' Universes -- 7.5. How uniform is the CMB?8. Dark matter -- 8.1. Dark matter defined -- 8.2. Non-baryonic dark matter9. The standard model of cosmology -- 9.1. Nucleosynthesis -- 9.2. The birth and death of stars -- 9.3. The size of the Universe10. The very early Big Bang -- 10.1. The four forces of nature -- 10.2. The quantum nature of forces -- 10.3. The unification of forces -- 10.4. The quark model -- 10.5. The leptons -- 10.6. The gluons -- 10.7. The standard model of high-energy physics -- 10.8. The history of the Universe : the early frames -- 10.9. Why matter rather than antimatter?11. Inflation -- 11.1. The horizon problem -- 11.2. The flatness problem -- -- 11.3. The smoothness problem -- 11.4. The magnetic monopole problem -- 11.5. Inflation -- 11.6. How inflation solves the Big Bang problems12. Dark energy -- 12.1. The curvature of space-time -- 12.2. The accelerating universal expansion -- 12.3. Dark energy and the CMB -- 12.4. Is there a signature of inflation in the CMB?13. Higher dimensions -- 13.1. Field theories -- 13.2. Kaluza-Klein theory -- 13.3. Compactification -- 13.4. QED -- 13.5. Quantization of the weak and strong forces -- 13.6. Early attempts at a quantum theory of gravity14. String theory -- 14.1. Particles and 'string' -- 14.2. M-theory -- 14.3. The multiverse15. Black holes and wormholes -- 15.1. The life of the Sun -- 15.2. The life of massive stars -- 15.3. Neutron stars -- 15.4. Black holes -- 15.5. Some properties of black holes -- 15.6. The thermodynamics of black holes -- 15.7. Hawking radiation -- 15.8. The singularity at the center of a black hole16. Reading list -- 17. Links to astronomy websites.Cosmology is the study of the origin, size, and evolution of the entire universe. Every culture has developed a cosmology, whether it be based on religious, philosophical, or scientific principles. In this book, the evolution of the scientific understanding of the Universe in Western tradition is traced from the early Greek philosophers to the most modern 21st century view. After a brief introduction to the concept of the scientific method, the first part of the book describes the way in which detailed observations of the Universe, first with the naked eye and later with increasingly complex modern instruments, ultimately led to the development of the "Big Bang" theory. The second part of the book traces the evolution of the Big Bang including the very recent observation that the expansion of the Universe is itself accelerating with time.Trade, Undergraduate, High School Physics.Also available in print.Mode of access: World Wide Web.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.James Kolata is Emeritus Professor of Nuclear Physics at the University of Notre Dame. He received his B.S. from Marquette University and his M.S. and PhD from Michigan State University. Before coming to Notre Dame, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at the University of Pittsburgh. This book is from his elective course at Notre Dame entitled "Elementary Cosmology."Title from PDF title page (viewed on December 1, 2015).

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: .,

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1 online resource (various pagings) :illustrations (some color).

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781681741000

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523.1

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Subject(s)

Cosmology.
SCIENCE / Cosmology.
Cosmology and the universe.

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James J. Kolata.

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