The Book of Universes Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos

by Barrow, John D.

• ISBN13: 9780393343113
• ISBN10: 0393343111
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-11
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Einstein's theory of general relativity opens the door for the study of other possible universes-and weird universes at that. The Book of Universes gives us a stunning tour of these potential universes, introducing us to the brilliant physicists and mathematicians who first revealed these startling possibilities. John D. Barrow then explains the latest insights that physics and astronomy have to offer about our own universe, showing how they lead to the concept of the multiverse-the universe of all possible universes.

Author Biography

John D. Barrow is a professor of mathematical sciences and the director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University. He lives in Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Being in the Right Place at the Right Time	p. 1
Two men walking	p. 1
Funny things, universes	p. 2
The importance of place	p. 4
Aristotle's spherical universe	p. 12
Ptolemy's 'Heath Robinson' universe	p. 14
Copernican revolutions	p. 16
The Earnestness of Being Important	p. 22
Special times and special places	p. 22
Democratic laws	p. 24
The changing universe	p. 26
The nebular hypothesis	p. 31
Life in an Edwardian universe	p. 33
The decaying universe	p. 37
Karl Schwarzschild: the man who knew too much	p. 41
Einstein's Universes	p. 47
Completing a Copernican vision	p. 47
Einstein's insight	p. 49
A digression	p. 52
The creation of Einstein's universe of motionless matter	p. 54
The second universe: de Sitter s universe of matterless motion	p. 57
Friedmann's universes of matter in motion	p. 60
Lemaître's universes	p. 65
The universe of Einstein and de Sitter	p. 74
Tolman's oscillating universe	p. 76
Lemaître and Tolman's kinky universe	p. 80
Milne's universe (and Newton s universes)	p. 82
Expected Universes: the Rococo Period	p. 86
Fractal universes	p. 86
Dr Kasner's universe	p. 91
Dirac's universe-where gravity decays	p. 95
Einstein and RosenÆs undulating universe	p. 100
Something Completely Different	p. 105
A Swiss-cheese universe	p. 105
Perturbed universes	p. 108
Schrödinger's universe	p. 112
Gödel's spinning universe	p. 115
The Steady Statesmen Come and Go with a Bang	p. 123
A universe that always was, is and is to come	p. 123
A table-top universe	p. 133
The electric universe	p. 137
Hot universes	p. 139
Universes, Warts and All	p. 148
Turbulent universes	p. 148
Distorted universes: from one to nine	p. 153
Smooth universes and a new observational window	p. 160
Chaotic universes	p. 161
Mixmaster universes	p. 165
Magnetic universes	p. 168
The universes of Brans and Dicke	p. 170
Matter-antimatter universes	p. 172
The Beginning for Beginners	p. 175
Singular universes	p. 175
Which universes are singular?	p. 180
Cold and tepid universes	p. 188
An unexpectedly simpler universe	p. 189
And a unified way of thinking	p. 191
Brave New Worlds	p. 194
Asymmetric universes	p. 194
Problem universes	p. 197
Inflationary universes	p. 198
Chaotic inflationary universes	p. 204
Eternal inflationary universes	p. 208
Suddenly, the universe seems simpler again	p. 212
The many universes run out of control	p. 213
Post-Modern Universes	p. 218
Random universes	p. 218
Probable universes	p. 220
Anthropic universes	p. 221
Possible universes	p. 229
Home-made universes	p. 231
Naturally selected universes	p. 234
Fake universes	p. 237
Universes where nothing is original	p. 244
Boltzmann s universe	p. 248
Fringe Universes	p. 253
Wrap-around universes	p. 253
Quantum universes	p. 260
A self-creating universe	p. 267
Colliding universes	p. 269
The dying of the light	p. 273
Hyperuniverses	p. 275
The Runaway Universe	p. 277
The best-buy universe	p. 277
The preposterous universe	p. 284
The puzzling universe	p. 290
Notes	p. 297
Picture Credits	p. 341
Index	p. 343
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