Cosmos, in general, relates to the structure and nature of the universe, and the nature of “the universe” relates to human systems of seeing, our ways of thinking and perception, and what can be seen, literally and figuratively, by humans in general. It is not only about the cosmos, it is about who we are and where we are going as a species.
The great challenges of today’s science require infrastructures and monstrous investments, among which are the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the particle accelerator that started on 10 Sept 2008, the most powerful in the world -, the Pierre Auger Observatory – the largest cosmic ray detector of the moment-, the Cassini Huygens probe – the …
There’s a lot of compelling evidence for the Big Bang, but what preceded it? The most accepted model is called Inflation, but it’s not the kind of inflation that Alan Greenspan needs to fear. Physicists define the boundaries of physics by trying to describe them theoretically and then testing that description against observation. Our observed …
Why can’t we just build an accelerator to test the predictions of string theory? Because the obstacles are much bigger than money or social commitment. This section uses units where (Planck’s constant)/2p and the speed of light = 1. This choice of units is called natural units. With this choice, mass has units of inverse …
Here’s a nice loophole: not all of the predictions from string theory take place at the unreachable Planck scale. Supersymmetry could give us a window on the Planck scale using currently available technology. One troubling aspect of spontaneously broken gauge field theories based on the Higgs mechanism of giving mass to gauge bosons is that …
The Special theory of Relativity (shortly, Special or Restricted Relativity, RE), first published by Albert Einstein in 1905, describes the physics of motion in the absence of gravitational fields. Before it, most physicists believed that Isaac Newton’s classical mechanics, based on the so-called relativity of Galileo (origin of the mathematical equations known as Galileo transformations), …
Introduction to Cosmology Cosmology is the study of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe. This science grew out of simple observations and evolved along with mathematical theories, technological advances and space exploration. Below is an attempt to describe the universe by one Arthur Dent (i.e., someone certified scientifically declined in space matters). Okay…the …
What is Cosmology? Cosmology Definition, Terms, Facts & Theories Read More »
The Standard Model of particle physics has been well measured from almost every angle. Here’s a scorecard of the results. The currently accepted and experimentally well-tested theory of electromagnetic and weak interactions is called the Standard Model. The Standard Model is based on relativistic quantum gauge field theory. When physicists in the 1920s tried to …
Relativistic quantum gauge field theory- Gauge bosons Read More »
There are certain aspects of science that simply cannot be denied, no matter how much some people might try to deny them. For example, there are some people today that deny the fact that the earth is round. Today, we’re going to take a look at the simplified version of the theory of relativity, a …
The Einstein equation predicts several possible ways for the Universe to evolve in time and space. What are these predictions, and how do they equate themselves to observation? The starting point of a theoretical exploration of cosmology is the Einstein equation with a metric of the form It is possible to divide the spacetime modelled by this equation conveniently …
What is the structure of the Universe? Geometry of spacetime Read More »
A Bible-based assumption of a few thousand years was made by Isaac Newton. Einstein believed in a World that was steady-state, ageless. Since then, somewhere in the centre, data obtained from the Universe places the probable response. First Ingredient: Quantum mechanics In the early 20th century, it was realized that the stability of atomic …
How Old is the Universe? (All Calculations so far) Read More »