Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions

by Lisa Randall

Book Overview

The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now.

Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060531096
• ISBN13: 9780060531096
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The best of all recent efforts to present contemporary ideas in Physics

Lisa Randall is one of the leading active particle physicists, and her contributions are making history in that field. Her "Warped Passages" is a very lucid description of the latest progress being made by the handful of physicists who can deal with the complexities of that branch of Physics. I have read several of the most recent "pop science" books that try to make very complex ideas accessible to the general public, and Lisa's is by far the best. Not only is the subject absolutely fascinating, her style for presenting it is superb. As an old retired physicist, her book made me wish I had concentrated more in Quantum Field Theory when I was active, but I plan to catch up on the subject as much as possible. Her contributions solved one of the greatest puzzles in contemporary Physics, the hierarchy problem. She also showed that her theory is consistent with unification of the basic forces. And she did so with a 5-dimension theory of the Universe that does not require supersymetry, and is simpler and more elegant than the supersymetric formalism. It uses the concept of branes, first originated in string theory. If when the Large Hadron Collider starts operating, the experimental results vindicate her theory - the right Kaluza-Klein particles or else events with missing energy are found - she is very likely to be awarded a Nobel Prize. However interesting all this may be, I was startled to read for the first time ever, that according to recent theoretical results about duality, space and time may have more fundamental descriptions! This goes far beyond anything any science-fiction writer ever imagined. I am again marveled that the human intellect has gone so far in elucidating some of the most incredibly complex and amazing features of the Universe. One last observation. Although she has made a great and successful effort to make the ideas understandable by the "average Joe", it stands to reason that you will get a lot more from the book, the larger your background in Physics. But whatever the case, my recommendation can only be, READ IT. It's well worth the effort if you have some interest in contemporary ideas in Physics.

An EXCELLENT journey into cutting-edge physics!

Prof. Lisa Randall's new book, Warped Passages, is a grand tour of some of the most important recent developments in high-energy physics. The book is intended for a popular audience, but is also a very interesting read for anybody with a background in theoretical physics (like myself). The first part contains an overview of modern physics - Einstein's theories of relativity, quantum mechanics and the Standard Model of particle physics. The last part concentrates on the idea of extra dimensions beyond the standard four we know about, which can be motivated by string theory and its discovery of the so-called D-branes. Specifically, she explains the work, pioneered by herself, Raman Sundrum and others, on the so-called "braneworld scenarios". Basically, this is the idea that our four dimensional space-time is embedded in some higher dimensional space, usually called the "bulk". You might think, that extra dimensions are just part of a set of crazy ideas? On the contrary. You should know, that the idea of extra dimensions is actually not at all new. Already in 1884, the original book, "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" (written by the English mathematician Edwin Abbott) described a world of two-dimensional beings, who only have indirect knowledge of the extra third space-dimension. But, from a mathematical point of view, one can imagine as many dimensions as one wants to. In physics, the story is somewhat different. In physics, there are basically two distinct ways in which one can add extra dimensions to our four-dimensional universe. Already in the 1920's, Klein suggested that our universe is five-dimensional, where the extra dimension is rolled up in a circle, which is so tiny, that the universe looks four-dimensional at long enough distance-scales. The motivation was to give a unified geometrical description of electromagnetism and gravitation using Einstein's general theory of relativity. However appealing, this theory was destined to fail. Today we know, that there are other forces which should be included in a unified theory: namely the weak and strong nuclear forces. Presently there is only one theory which can possibly do the work, and this is string theory. Perturbative string theory tells us, that our space-time is ten-dimensional, and that the extra six dimensions should be rolled up in a small but complicated shape (which is determined by some mathematical restrictions). Another way to achieve hidden extra dimensions of space is to suppose, that all normal matter, as well as the light by which we see the world, is confined to a four-dimensional "brane" embedded in a five-dimensional "bulk" - or larger universe. These so-called braneworld theories are the ones of Lisa Randall, Raman Sundrum and others. Warped Passages explains - in excellent style - the logic behind these seemingly fancy ideas. What I particularly liked about the first part of this book is how Prof. Randall makes people envision extra dimensions. As Randall

Exceptional, smart and entertaining reading for anyone

If you are an avid Sci-Fi reader, be ready for a surprise - because reality is much more entertaining and mystifying then anything imaginable! Lisa Randall's book is one of the best books in physics, along with books by B.Greene, S.Hawking, M.Kaku and other outstanding authors, who take their time to share perplexing complexity of fundamental physics with ordinary people in a simple, beautiful language. In her book she explains extraordinary things and ideas with grace and ease, providing you with deep understanding of the most complex and fascinating things imaginable. I highly recommend this book for anyone to read. Five stars. Alena

Why I liked Lisa Randall's new book

Lisa Randall is one of the most important and influential theoretical particle physicists working today and this book tells the story of how she came to her most important ideas. The book is full of detail and takes the reader into the minds of the author and her collaborators as they struggle towards the discovery of a new approach to the key problems in particle physics. What I really like is that she takes the time to tell the real story, and not just some oversimplified version. She is also refreshingly honest. She explains the motivation for her work, but unlike many of our colleagues, she does not oversell. You can think of her as a reliable climbing guide. With her help you can get to the top of a mountain you could not climb yourself. But you never forget about the difficultyies and the risks that both professionals and amateurs take when we try to advance our understanding of the laws of nature. As a theorist myself, I am aware of how far we are from solving the problems in elementary particle physics thyat Lisa Randall's work addresses. But I am sure we will get there and my optimism is due in no small part to the fact that Lisa and her colleagues are on the case.

A Bright Light in a Dark Passageway...

The popularization of Cosmology through recent television (PBS's "Elegant Universe") and cinema ("What the BLEEP Do We Know?")as well as an extant excellent press by actual Cosmologists such as Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking have "softened up" an avid readership for this book. Dr. Randall is "spherically exquisite", to paraphrase Fritz Zwicky: She is perfect from any angle;cutting edge benchwork researcher; top line theorist; most-quoted author; Harvard Professor....PLUS she's a HOTTIE (my son's words). As she walks you through the requisite historical and theoretical building blocks for armchair Cosmology, her clarity is best ever. Her expansion into extradimensional physics verges upon the philosophic, without straying into the "touchy/feely" quasi religious miasma of cult fiction. Elucidating the Multidimensional Brane Theory of Everything is a task she accomplishes with clarity, wit and a mere hint or Feminism (quite appropriate in her male-dominated field). This is a Great Book. I'm giving it to all my colleagues on our Medical Faculty as well as my friends who share my fascination with Physics, but lack the requisite Math. ( Dr. Randall even supplies much of that onerous mathematical work,unburdened in her unique style, which makes the most stygian topic clear as daylight). Brava, Dr. Randall! Dennis R. Meyer MD, FACP