Dark Side of the Universe : Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Cosmos

by Nicolson, Iain

• ISBN13: 9780801885921
• ISBN10: 0801885922
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-19
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Once we thought the universe was filled with shining stars, dust, planets, and galaxies. We now know that more than 98 percent of all matter in the universe is dark. It emits absolutely nothing yet bends space and time; keeps stars speeding around galaxies; and determines the fate of the universe.But dark matter is only part of the story. Scientists have recently discovered that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, driven by a mysterious commodity called dark energy. Depending on what dark matter and energy happen to be, our seemingly quiet universe could end its days in a Big Rip, tearing itself apart, or a Big Crunch, collapsing down to a universe the size of nothing, ready to be reincarnated in a Big Bang once again.For the general reader and armchair astronomer alike, Iain Nicolson's fascinating account shows how our ideas about the nature and the content of the universe have developed. He highlights key discoveries, explains underlying concepts, and examines current thinking on dark matter and dark energy. He describes techniques that astronomers use to explore the remote recesses of the cosmos in their quest to understand its composition, evolution, and ultimate fate.

Author Biography

Iain Nicolson is a writer, lecturer, and occasional broadcaster on astronomy and space science. A Visiting Fellow of the University of Hertfordshire and a contributing consultant to Astronomy Now, he is a frequent contributor to BBC Television's The Sky at Night. His most recent books include Unfolding Our Universe and Stars and Supernovas.

Table of Contents

Anatomy of the cosmos	p. 1
Big Bang and cosmic destiny	p. 21
More than meets the eye	p. 33
The rise and fall of MACHOs	p. 49
It's matter : but not as we know it	p. 57
The challenge of MOND : does dark matter exist at all?	p. 73
The WIMP hunters	p. 81
Matter is not enough	p. 99
Runaway universe : exploding stars point to accelerating expansion	p. 115
Einstein's greatest blunder?	p. 129
Dark energy - the prime mover	p. 139
Testing the new cosmology	p. 155
Epilogue : a good time to be here	p. 175
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.