When The Universe Took A U-turn

by B G Sidharth

Overview

This book addresses some of the baffling questions encountered at the final frontier of space and time related to particle physics and cosmology in the context of recent iconoclastic observations and developments. When particle physics stagnated in the early seventies, a new development emerged — String Theory.For the past 25 years, String Theory, popularly called the “Theory of Everything”, has mesmerized not just scientists, but also the general public. Yet a closer scrutiny today reveals that it is no more than a mathematical marvel. It has neither predicted anything nor has it been anywhere near verification. We are essentially where we were in the early seventies.Another chronic problem that Einstein had abandoned was the unified description of his theory of General Relativity that deals with the Universe at large and Electromagnetism which is to do with particles. Such a description is necessary even if it warrants a radical departure from our time-honoured ideas of space and time. A bright spot has now appeared in Cosmology. Iconoclastic observations in the past years have shown that the Universe is actually accelerating, driven by a mysterious Dark Energy. This book takes the lay reader through these uncharted waters and mind-boggling developments on an unimaginable journey from the ultra small to the farthest stretches conceivable, via such imagination defying concepts as extra dimensions and multiple universes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814277815
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/08/2009
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface vii

List of Figures X1

1 The Lord is subtle, but defies commonsense! 1

2 You can be younger than your grandson 11

3 God does not play dice, or does He? 31

3.1 The Classical Catastrophe 31

3.2 Particles Disguised as Waves 37

3.3 The Paradox of Reality 47

4 Time is running backwards isn't it? 57

4.1 Dealing With Billions 57

4.2 Time, the Eternal Enigma 66

5 On a collision course 75

5.1 Bits of Atoms 75

5.2 Fundamental Forces 86

5.3 Quantum Gravity 93

5.4 Strings and Loops 100

5.5 A Critique 109

5.6 Smashing the Atoms 122

6 Law without law 127

6.1 The Perfect Universe 127

6.2 The Lawless Universe 138

7 When the universe took a U turn 151

7.1 The Exploding Universe 151

7.2 Birth Pangs of the Universe 152

7.3 The Infant Universe 154

7.4 A Dark Mystery 156

7.5 The U turn 158

7.6 A Darker Mystery 160

7.7 Other Footprints 164

7.8 A New Dawn 168

7.9 Blow out Infinity 171

Bibliography 177

Index 181