Elementary cosmology
Subtitle: from Aristotle's universe to the big bang and beyond
By: James J. Kolata
Contributors: Institute of Physics (Great Britain)
Series: IOP concise physics; IOP concise physics
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
Published: 2015
Place of publication: San Rafael [California]
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781681741000; 9781681742281; 9781681740362
Subjects: Cosmology; SCIENCE; Cosmology and the universe
Other titles: From Aristotle's universe to the big bang and beyond
Description: 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.
Notes: "Version: 20151101"--Title page verso.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on December 1, 2015).

Includes bibliographical references.

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."
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Acknowledgements; title: Author biography; title: 1. The scientific method; title: 1.1. Introduction to the scientific method; title: 1.2. Some mathematics.; title: 2. Early astronomy; title: 3. Nebulae.; title: 4. Cosmic distances; title: 4.1. The cosmic distance ladder; title: 4.2. Spiral nebulae : are they extragalactic?; title: 4.3. The chemical composition of stars.; title: 5. Space-time; title: 5.1. The speed of light; title: 5.2. The special theory of relativity; title: 5.3. The general theory of relativity; title: 5.4. Universal expansion.; title: 6. The Big Bang; title: 6.1. The structure and history of the Universe; title: 6.2. The geometry of space-time; title: 6.3. The father of the Big Bang; title: 6.4. The creation of the element.; title: 7. Cosmic microwave background radiation; title: 7.1. The 'smoking gun' of the Big Bang; title: 7.2. Decoupling; title: 7.3. How bright is the CMB?; title: 7.4. 'Matter dominated' versus 'radiation dominated' Universes; title: 7.5. How uniform is the CMB?; title: 8. Dark matter; title: 8.1. Dark matter defined; title: 8.2. Non-baryonic dark matter.; title: 9. The standard model of cosmology; title: 9.1. Nucleosynthesis; title: 9.2. The birth and death of stars; title: 9.3. The size of the Universe.; title: 10. The very early Big Bang; title: 10.1. The four forces of nature; title: 10.2. The quantum nature of forces; title: 10.3. The unification of forces; title: 10.4. The quark model; title: 10.5. The leptons; title: 10.6. The gluons; title: 10.7. The standard model of high-energy physics; title: 10.8. The history of the Universe : the early frames; title: 10.9. Why matter rather than antimatter?; title: 11. Inflation; title: 11.1. The horizon problem; title: 11.2. The flatness problem; title: 11.3. The smoothness problem; title: 11.4. The magnetic monopole problem; title: 11.5. Inflation; title: 11.6. How inflation solves the Big Bang problems.; title: 12. Dark energy; title: 12.1. The curvature of space-time; title: 12.2. The accelerating universal expansion; title: 12.3. Dark energy and the CMB; title: 12.4. Is there a signature of inflation in the CMB?; title: 13. Higher dimensions; title: 13.1. Field theories; title: 13.2. Kaluza-Klein theory; title: 13.3. Compactification; title: 13.4. QED; title: 13.5. Quantization of the weak and strong forces; title: 13.6. Early attempts at a quantum theory of gravity.; title: 14. String theory; title: 14.1. Particles and 'string'; title: 14.2. M-theory; title: 14.3. The multiverse.; title: 15. Black holes and wormholes; title: 15.1. The life of the Sun; title: 15.2. The life of massive stars; title: 15.3. Neutron stars; title: 15.4. Black holes; title: 15.5. Some properties of black holes; title: 15.6. The thermodynamics of black holes; title: 15.7. Hawking radiation; title: 15.8. The singularity at the center of a black hole.; title: 16. Reading list; title: 17. Links to astronomy websites.