Screen LibraryFine-tuning in the physical universe /
"The physical processes that determine the properties of our everyday world, and of the wider cosmos, are determined by some key numbers: the constants of micro-physics and the parameters that describe the expanding universe in which we have emerged. We identify various steps in the emergence o...
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| Group Author: | ; ; ; |
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| Published: |
Cambridge University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Cambridge, United Kingdom : |
| Publication Dates: | 2020. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
"The physical processes that determine the properties of our everyday world, and of the wider cosmos, are determined by some key numbers: the constants of micro-physics and the parameters that describe the expanding universe in which we have emerged. We identify various steps in the emergence of stars, planets and life that are dependent on these fundamental numbers, and explore how these steps might have been changed or completely prevented if the numbers were different. We then outline some cosmological models where physical reality is vastly more extensive than the universe that astronomers observe (perhaps even involving many big bangs) which could perhaps encompass domains governed by different physics. Although the concept of a multiverse is still speculative, we argue that attempts to determine whether it exists constitute a genuinely scientific endeavor. If we indeed inhabit a multiverse, then we may have to accept that there can be no explanation other than anthropic reasoning for some features our world" |
| Carrier Form: | xi, 557 pages : illustrations, forms ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781108484541 (hardback) : 1108484549 (hardback) |
| Index Number: | QB981 |
| CLC: | P159 |
| Call Number: | P159/F495 |
| Contents: | Fine-tuning, complexity, and life in the multiverse / Mario Livio and Martin Rees -- Hierarchy of fine-structure constants / Bernard Carr -- Naturalness, fine-tuning, and observer selection in cosmology / John A. Peacock -- Cosmic inflation : trick or treat? / Jerome Martin -- Is the universal matter- anti-matter asymmetry fine tuned? / Gary Steigman and Robert J. Scherrer -- Structure formation / Adrianne Slyz -- Nuclear physics and its impact on primordial and stellar nucleosynthesis / Jean-Philippe Uzan -- Fine-tunings at particle scales / Giulia Zanderighi -- Dark matter / Edward W. Kolb -- Fine-tuning : from stars to galaxies formation / Joseph Silk -- How special is the solar system? / Mario Livio -- On the temporal habitability of our universe / Abraham Loeb -- Climbing up the theories of nature : fine-tuning and biological molecules. |