On the Shores of the Unknown: A Short History

In this fascinating book, astronomer Joseph Silk explores the Universe from its beginnings to its ultimate fate. He shows how cosmologists study cosmic fossils and relics from the distant past to construct theories of the birth, evolution and future of the Universe. Stars, galaxies, dark matter and dark energy are described, as successive chapters detail the evolution of the Universe from a fraction of a microsecond after the Big Bang. Silk describes how physicists apply theories of subatomic particles to recreate the first moments of the Big Bang, and how astronomers chart the vast depths of space to glimpse how the most distant galaxies formed. He describes the search for dark matter and the dark energy that will determine the ultimate fate of the Universe. This highly readable account will appeal to all those with an interest in the story of the Universe.

Joseph Silk is Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Physics, University of Oxford.

Prologue

1

(169)

1 Building blocks of the cosmos

5

(21)

1.1 Cosmological principles

5

(4)

1.2 Orders of magnitude

9

(2)

1.3 Building blocks of the universe

11

(11)

1.4 The galaxies

22

(2)

1.5 The darkness of the night sky

24

(2)

2 Expansion of the universe

26

(21)

2.1 The Doppler shift

26

(2)

2.2 The distance to the nearest stars

28

(3)

2.3 The redshift-distance relation

31

(2)

2.4 Unlocking the extragalactic distance scale

33

(6)

2.5 What is the Hubble constant?

39

(2)

2.6 Steady state cosmology

41

(6)

3 Cosmic microwave background

47

(12)

3.1 The discovery

48

(2)

3.2 Blackbody radiation

50

(2)

3.3 The isotropy of the cosmic microwave background

52

(1)

3.4 The epoch of thermalisation

53

(1)

3.5 The last scattering epoch

54

(2)

3.6 Fluctuations

56

(3)

4 The first 10-43 second of the universe

59

(26)

4.1 Singularities

59

(2)

4.2 The quantum vacuum

61

(3)

4.3 Fundamental forces

64

(2)

4.4 Pair creation

66

(1)

4.5 Particles and waves

67

(2)

4.6 Mini-black holes

69

(1)

4.7 The Planck scale

70

(2)

4.8 Grand unification

72

(1)

4.9 Higher dimensions

73

(2)

4.10 Symmetry breaking and inflation

75

(5)

4.11 Why is the universe so uniform?

80

(2)

4.12 The flatness problem

82

(1)

4.13 Anthropic issues

82

(3)

5 Genesis of baryons and helium

85

(12)

5.1 The matter-antimatter puzzle

86

(3)

5.2 Generation of the baryon number

89

(2)

5.3 Proton decay experiments

91

(1)

5.4 The weak interaction freeze-out

92

(1)

5.5 Primordial nucleosynthesis

93

(2)

5.6 Helium synthesis

95

(2)

6 Testing the Big Bang

97

(16)

6.1 The density of the universe

97

(5)

6.2 Curved space and general relativity

102

(4)

6.3 Cosmological tests

106

(4)

6.4 Impediments to the tests

110

(3)

7 Dark matter

113

(19)

7.1 Local indicators of dark matter

114

(1)

7.2 Luminous regions of galaxies

115

(2)

7.3 Galaxy halos

117

(1)

7.4 Galaxy groups, clusters, and superclusters

118

(1)

7.5 Large-scale flows and dark matter

118

(2)

7.6 A universe at the critical density?

120

(2)

7.7 Deuterium and the baryon density

122

(2)

7.8 The lithium puzzle

124

(1)

7.9 WIMPs: exotic particle dark matter

125

(4)

7.10 Dark energy

129

(3)

8 Baryonic dark matter

132

(26)

8.1 Life after the main sequence: white dwarfs

133

(2)

8.2 The formation of a neutron star

135

(2)

8.3 Observing neutron stars

137

(2)

8.4 Brown dwarfs

139

(1)

8.5 Black holes

140

(12)

8.6 Are halos baryonic?

152

(2)

8.7 MACHOS: astrophysical dark matter?

154

(4)

9 Intergalactic matter

158

(12)

9.1 Recombination and decoupling

158

(1)

9.2 The search for the intergalactic medium

159

(2)

9.3 Intergalactic clouds

161

(3)

9.4 Intracluster gas

164

(1)

9.5 Dark baryons

165

(5)

10 Origin of structure

170

(23)

10.1 Small fluctuations

170

(2)

10.2 Cold dark matter and bottom-up formation

172

(4)

10.3 A radical view: from cosmic pancakes and filaments to galaxies

176

(5)

10.4 Origin of the fluctuations

181

(3)

10.5 A low density universe?

184

(3)

10.6 Detection of temperature fluctuations

187

(3)

10.7 The whispers of creation

190

(3)

11 Large-scale structure

193

(26)

11.1 The greatest structures: galaxy clusters

193

(3)

11.2 Voids and sheets

196

(2)

11.3 Large-scale flows revisited

198

(4)

11.4 The challenges of cold dark matter

202

(2)

11.5 Dark energy and cold dark matter

204

(4)

11.6 Problems with cold dark matter

208

(3)

11.7 Hot and cold, or merely warm

211

(1)

11.8 Defects and branes

212

(7)

12 Galaxy formation

219

(18)

12.1 Formation of the stars

219

(4)

12.2 Dying stars

223

(2)

12.3 Supernova remnants and enrichment

225

(2)

12.4 The first stars

227

(3)

12.5 Chemical evolution

230

(2)

12.6 Formation of elliptical and spiral galaxies

232

(1)

12.7 Galaxy mergers

233

(2)

12.8 The cosmological hierarchy

235

(2)

13 What lies ahead

237

(5)

Index

242

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On the Shores of the Unknown: A Short History of the Universe

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials