Questions of Modern Cosmology (eBook)

Galileo's Legacy

Mauro D'Onofrio, Carlo Burigana (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: PDF

2009 | 2009
XXX, 530 Seiten
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-642-00792-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Are we living in the 'golden age' of cosmology? Are we close to understanding the nature of the unknown ingredients of the currently most accepted cosmological model and the physics of the early Universe? Or are we instead approaching a paradigm shift? What is dark matter and does it exist? How is it distributed around galaxies and clusters? Is the scientific community open to alternative ideas that may prompt a new scientific revolution - as the Copernican revolution did in Galileo's time? Do other types of supernovae exist that can be of interest for cosmology? Why have quasars never been effectively used as standard candles? Can you tell us about the scientific adventure of COBE? How does the extraction of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy depend on the subtraction of the various astrophysical foregrounds?

These, among many others, are the astrophysical, philosophical and sociological questions surrounding modern cosmology and the scientific community that Mauro D'Onofrio and Carlo Burigana pose to some of the most prominent cosmologists of our time. Triggered by these questions and in the spirit of Galileo's book 'Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems' the roughly 40 interview partners reply in the form of essays, with a critical frankness not normally found in reviews, monographs or textbooks.

Inhalt

Foreword 6
Preface 8
Contents 11
List of Authors 16
Author’s Acknowledgements 20
Acronyms 22
Chapter 1 Introduction 28
Chapter 2 Fundamental Cosmological Observations and Data Interpretation 33
2.1 Outline of the Chapter 33
2.2 From CDM to CDM Paradigm 36
2.3 Type Ia SNe as Probe of the Paradigm Shift 38
2.4 SNe Physics and the CDM Scenario 42
2.5 Cosmology with Quasars 48
2.6 The Heretical View on Cosmological Redshifts 59
2.7 Cosmological Nucleosynthesis 68
2.8 CMB Observations and Main Implications 82
2.9 Cosmological Information from X-Ray Astronomy 134
2.10 First Structures 140
2.11 Galaxy Clusters, The Largest Self-gravitating Structures of the Universe 150
2.12 A Multifrequency View of Galaxy Clusters 157
2.13 Dark Matter in Modern Cosmology 170
2.14 Lensing 178
2.15 Constraints on the Universe Age from Stellar Evolution 185
2.16 The Distance Scale, A Road Towards Modern Cosmology 197
Chapter 3 Astrophysical Cosmology 228
3.1 Outline of the Chapter 228
3.2 Inflation 230
3.3 Topological Defects 236
3.4 Adiabatic vs. Isocurvature Perturbations 247
3.5 CMB Theory 250
3.6 The Ionization History 270
3.7 Large Scale Structure 287
3.8 Neutrino Physics and Its Cosmological Implications 298
3.9 Cosmic Magnetism 303
Chapter 4 From Galileo to Modern Cosmology: Alternative Paradigms and Science Boundary Conditions 325
4.1 Outline of the Chapter 325
4.2 Remembering Galileo 327
4.3 Galileo’s Lesson Today 340
4.4 Tests of General Relativity 343
4.5 Cosmological Constant 347
4.6 Dark Energy Models 357
4.7 Alternatives to Standard Gravity Theories 367
4.8 Early Universe: Connecting Particle Physics and Cosmology 406
4.9 Constants in Physics? 410
4.10 On the Anthropic Principles 415
4.11 Many-Universes 423
4.12 Science and Society and Self-Organization of Astrophysical Community 425
4.13 Boundary Condition for Astrophysics Development: A Modern Example 437
Chapter 5 Next Challenges 453
5.1 Outline of the Chapter 453
5.2 New Perspectives from Radio Astronomy 455
5.3 New Perspectives in CMB Cosmology 459
5.4 Perspectives from New Galaxy Surveys 482
5.5 New Key Observations Dedicated to the First Structures 497
5.6 N-Body Simulations 498
5.7 Future Perspectives from SNe 502
5.8 New Perspectives in High Energy Astrophysics and Galaxy Clusters 504
5.9 Cosmological Expectations from Lensing 510
5.10 Future Tests for Topological Defects 513
5.11 New Perspectives for Neutrino from Astrophysical Cosmology 517
Chapter 6 Concluding Remarks 526
Web Pages 537
Further Reading 543
Index 547

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.7.2009
• Zusatzinfo: XXX, 530 p.
• Verlagsort: Berlin
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Theoretische Physik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Astronomy • Cosmic microwave background • Cosmology • dark energy • Dark Matter • Galileo • IYA 2009 • Quasar • standard model • Universe • Year of Astronomy
• ISBN-10: 3-642-00792-9 / 3642007929
• ISBN-13: 978-3-642-00792-7 / 9783642007927