The History of the Universe
This book gives an accessible account of the history of the Universe; not only what happened, but why it happened. An author of textbooks on the early Universe and inflation, David Lyth now explains both cosmology and the underlying physics to the general
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The History of the Universe
Astronomers’ Universe
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6960
David H. Lyth
The History of the Universe
123
David H. Lyth Physics Lancaster University Lancaster, United Kingdom
ISSN 1614-659X Astronomers’ Universe ISBN 978-3-319-22743-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22744-3
ISSN 2197-6651
(electronic)
ISBN 978-3-319-22744-3
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950857 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: Cosmic Timeline Illustration. Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss. Used with kind permission. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Foreword
The way we view our world is changing dramatically. In the beginning of the previous century, we did not even know that other galaxies exist; some prominent astronomers thought that the Milky Way galaxy is the whole Universe. Indeed, our galaxy is incredibly large. It consists of about a hundred billion stars, many of which have planetary systems. Can we imagine anything bigger than that? Well, now we know that there are about a hundred billion of galaxies in the observable part of the Universe. For a long time people believed that the Universe is static. Indeed, what else could it be? When we study physics at school, our teachers show us a three-dimensional reference frame with axes labeled by x, y, and z and explain how one can describe motion of particles with respect to it. This suggests that space and time are just a static set of coordinates. This picture was challenged by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity, but the consequences of this change were so dramatic that even Einstein could not fully appreciate it. When a mathematician Alexander Friedmann solved Einstein’s equations and found that they describe a
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