ENGLISH

The Universe Before the Big Bang: Cosmology and String Theory (Astronomers' Universe)

By Maurizio Gasperini

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
2008
ISBN
3540744193, 9783540744214, 9783540744191
Google Books ID
FT6hGK7BLdQC
Open Library ID
OL12810614M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3066562 bytes)
Series
Astronomers' Universe
Edition
1
Pages
212\212
Topic
Physics Astronomy
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Terms such as "expanding Universe", "big bang", and "initial singularity", are nowadays part of our common language. The idea that the Universe we observe today originated from an enormous explosion (big bang) is now well known and widely accepted, at all levels, in modern popular culture. But what happens to the Universe before the big bang? And would it make any sense at all to ask such a question? In fact, recent progress in theoretical physics, and in particular in String Theory, suggests answers to the above questions, providing us with mathematical tools able in principle to reconstruct the history of the Universe even for times before the big bang. In the emerging cosmological scenario the Universe, at the epoch of the big bang, instead of being a "new born baby" was actually a rather "aged" creature in the middle of its possibly infinitely enduring evolution. The aim of this book is to convey this picture in non-technical language accessibile also to non-specialists. The author, himself a leading cosmologist, draws attention to ongoing and future observations that might reveal relics of an era before the big bang.

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