The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos

by Mario Livio

Book Overview

Advance Praise for The Accelerating Universe

"The Accelerating Universe is not only an informative book about modern cosmology. It is rich storytelling and, above all, a celebration of the human mind in its quest for beauty in all things."
-Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams

"This is a wonderfully lucid account of the extraordinary discoveries that have made the last years a golden period for observational cosmology. But Mario...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471399760
• ISBN13: 9780471399766
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Will the Beauty of the Final Theory Be Hold out?

A cosmologist and art fanatic, Mario Livio, elegantly tells the general reader about the recent observational finding that the expansion of the universe is speeding up contrary to the long-held belief of slowing-down expansion. He stresses the effect of this finding on the beauty of the fundamental theory of the universe; or rather the central theme of the book is that beauty.Livio clearly explains his requirements for the beauty in physical and cosmological theories: symmetry, simplicity, and the Copernican principle (we are nothing special). According to the author, the tentative discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe poses a frightening challenge to the beauty of the final theory by raising difficult questions about the non-zero value of the cosmological constant (or the energy of the vacuum). From the viewpoint of the Copernican principle Livio rejects resorting to the anthropic principle for giving a quick answer to those questions. The story told about the recent finding of extrasolar planets is intriguing and helps strengthen the basis of the expanding Copernican principle.The book is so good that I am tempted to write all of its minor deficiencies I have noticed: The explanation of the inflationary model is not very understandable as the author himself admits in the book. The author's bottom line for Carter's argument about the rarity of extraterrestrial intelligent civilization is rather confusing, because the latter's argument seems simply wrong due to the contradiction of his conclusion to his two-possibility reasoning, aside from the dubiousness of his crucial assumption at the start. In the last chapter Livio writes about Wheeler's view of the participatory universe, but its distinction from the anthropic principle, if any, is not made clear. The first name of the Japanese physicist and cosmologist Katsuhiko Sato is misprinted as Katsuoko. It would have been much better to include bibliography of the books cited and the photographs of many paintings referred to.

Is Mario Livio the Copernicus of the New Millennium?

In one of the most surprising and important discoveries in cosmology of the century, astronomers recently found that the universe may be expanding at an ever-increasing-rather than gradually decreasing-rate. This startling discovery has ignited a new revolution in cosmology in which scientists are wrestling anew with the most fundamental questions and revisiting ideas that were dismissed long ago.The discovery that the expansion of the universe appears in fact to be speeding up-and therefore that the universe will keep expanding faster and faster for infinity-is troubling as it threatens the long-cherished belief that the fundamental laws governing the cosmos are in themselves perfectly balanced and "beautiful."What can explain this accelerated expansion? Does the universe have much less mass than originally thought? Is there some exotic unknown force, or new kind of energy, causing acceleration? Was Einstein's "greatest blunder"-his idea of a Cosmological Constant-the right idea after all? What will the ultimate fate of the universe be?In an entertaining and lively exploration of the answers to all these questions, Mario Livio introduces readers to the "old cosmology" offering lucid explanations of all the key concepts and theoretical ideas pertaining to the Beauty of the Cosmos. He then presents all of the ideas now being explored by cosmologists in the "new cosmology" as they come to grips with the "ugly" discovery of acceleration. Mario Livio, PhD, is the head of the science programme at the Space Science Institute, which conducts the scientific program of the Hubble Space Telescope. A world-recognised expert on astrophysics, he has published over 300 scientific papers and has lectured to the public about discoveries in astronomy and cosmology all across the globe.

Harvest of the Quiet Eye

Within the last few years, tremendous progress have been made in the field of cosmology. The most notable of them is the determination of the non-zero lambda, which implies that the Universe will not only expand for ever, but it will do so with an ever-increasing speed. These results have mostly come from observations of supernovae in far-away galaxies, mainly using the Hubble Space Telescope. This concept of accelerating Universe is the central theme of Livio's book, and he has done an excellent job in conveying the sometimes esoteric ideas in a surprisingly simple and elegant manner. I very much enjoyed the book, and as a professional astronomer, I can attest to the fact that Livio has maintained all the rigor of correctness of the concepts, in all his attempts to simplify them. This book is a welcome contrast the numerous other similar books in the market in at least two significant respects. First, there is a constant underlying theme, namely, the beauty. The author is in constant search for beauty and elegance in ALL physical theories. Being an 'art-fanatic', he points out the eye-opening similarities between the beauty in the physical theories, and the beauty in the art. Even in the outwardly ugly theory of a cosmology with a positive lambda, which Eistein suggested as the 'greatest blunder of my life', the author does not give up his search for an underlying beauty, and paints a remarkable picture of beauty and splendor. Second, the book is up-to-date in its content and authoritative in its style. Although the book is written in a popular style, the author, being an active researcher in the field, takes the reader right into the most advanced current research topics in the field. And he does so with an inimitably lucid style, with umpteen every day examples, which brings even the difficult mathematical concepts within easy grasp of the reader. The book is very informative and a real pleasure to read.

The Accelerating Universe

"Beauty" is a term scientists regularly use talking about theory, conjectures, etc. For the layperson, however, the idea of beauty in science appears strange and often irrelevant. Mario Livio's The Accelerating Universe is the first book of popular cosmology to make "beauty" the center and the focus of its story. This book is engaging and clearly written. It introduces an important and, yes - beautiful topic in a way that is accessible to the non-specialist audience.

THE ACCELERATING UNIVERSE

The book is an exciting and clear account of today's most profound astronomical mysteries, and how they can be understood by demanding up front that aesthetics be an essential ingredient of any scientific theory. This is a book for art lovers, science lovers, and simply Fascinated laypersons. Livio takes readers on an engaging exploration of the most profound mysteries in modern astrophysics and cosmology, intertwining allusions to art, religion and philosophy. Along the journey readers quickly discover that science and humanities are much more closely related than one might think. The prose is kept lively with anecdotes and analogies to everyday experience. Livio ponders and succinctly explains such puzzles as the birth of the universe out of essentially "nothing", the ramifications of a runaway universe that balloons forever, whether the universe is custom made for us, and the meaning of life in the cosmos.