The Universe Before the Big Bang Cosmology and String Theory
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
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Other titles in this series Origins: How the Planets, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe Began Steve Eales Calibrating the Cosmos: How Cosmology Explains Our Big Bang Universe Frank Levin The Future of the Universe A. J. Meadows It’s Only Rocket Science: An Introduction to Space Enthusiasts (forthcoming) Lucy Rogers Rejuvenating the Sun and Avoiding Other Global Catastrophes Martin Beech
Maurizio Gasperini
The Universe Before the Big Bang Cosmology and String Theory
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Prof. Maurizio Gasperini Universita` di Bari Dipartimento di Fisica Via G. Amendola, 173 70126 Bari Italy [email protected]
ISBN: 978-3-540-74419-1
e-ISBN: 978-3-540-74421-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008927472 c 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, 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. Cover design: deblik, Berlin Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
To Patrizia and Daniela
Preface
The idea of preparing this book grew out of a series of lectures and seminars held over several years in various Italian universities. The interest aroused in the students – and in colleagues not specialized in the field, who were also present at the talks – led me to the idea of writing a non-technical introduction to the newly-born field of string cosmology, aimed at a wider range of readers than just the professional community who usually attend the international conferences and read the specialized journals. The challenge with this book is to present new possible scenarios for the primordial Universe emerging from recent developments in theoretical physics, but without resorting to too many numbers and equations, and using instead a series of illustrative cartoons. The book is addressed, in particular, to all those readers with at least a basic (high-school) knowledge of physics, but not necessarily equipped with an academic scientific background. As a consequence, the discussion of many issues will be qualitative, often incomplete, and sometimes even grossly approximate. Nevertheless, I hope that the introductory picture provided by this book will be detailed enough to enable the reader to understand the most recent cosmological models, the key underlying ideas and, above all, how they can be tested using the experimen
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