Read The Universe Within Online
Authors: Neil Turok
CHAPTER FOUR: THE WORLD IN AN EQUATION
CHAPTER FIVE: THE OPPORTUNITY OF ALL TIME
FURTHER READING
Albert, David.
Quantum Mechanics and Experience
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.
Deutsch, David.
The Beginning of Infinity
. New York: Viking, 2011.
Diamandis, Peter H., and Steven Kotler.
Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think
. New York: Free Press, 2012.
Falk, Dan.
In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension.
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2008.
Gowers, Timothy.
Mathematics
. New York: Sterling, 2010.
Greene, Brian.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality.
New York: Vintage, 2005.
Guth, Alan.
The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins
. New York: Basic Books, 1998.
Hawking, Stephen.
A Brief History of Time
. New York: Bantam, 1998.
Penrose, Roger.
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
. New York: Vintage, 2007.
Sagan, Carl.
Cosmos
. New York: Ballantine, 1985.
Steinhardt, Paul J., and Neil Turok.
Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang â Rewriting Cosmic History.
New York: Broadway, 2008.
Weinberg, Steven.
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe
. New York: Basic Books, 1993.
Zeilinger
,
Anton.
Dance of the Photons: From Einstein to Quantum Teleportation
. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010.
PERMISSIONS
Permission is gratefully acknowledged to reprint the following images:
Glenlair © Courtesy of Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
Force Field © Neil Turok
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483â1520).
The School of Athens.
ca. 1510â1512. Fresco. © Scala/Art Resource, NY
Fifth Solvay Conference 1927 © Photograph by Benjamin Couprie, Institut International de Physique Solvay, courtesy
AIP
Emilio Segre Visual Archives
Double-Slit Experiment © Neil Turok
Big bang © Neil Turok
COBE
Temperature Fluctuations ©
NASA
Dark Matter ©
NASA
AIMS South Africa © African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
AIMS
South Africa Students © Neil Turok
All Known Physics Equation © Neil Turok
ATLAS
Experiment © 2012
CERN
“God Particle” ©
Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I WOULD LIKE TO
express my heartfelt thanks to my friends and colleagues at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, a place for quantum leaps in space and time. Their constant encouragement and steadfast support kept me going as I struggled to prepare this manuscript. Once again, they made me realize how fortunate I am to be a part of this unique community. A special thanks is due to Mike Lazaridis, Perimeter's founder and the most visionary supporter our field ever had, and to those who ensure the institute maintains the highest standards of management and communications, including Michael Duschenes and John Matlock.
Throughout this project, Alexandra Castell lent me continuous assistance. Natasha Waxman played a major role researching and helping to prepare early drafts, ably assisted by Erin Bow and Ross Diener. Daniel Gottesman, Lucien Hardy, Adrian Kent, Rob Myers, Lee Smolin, and Paul Steinhardt generously read drafts and provided invaluable comments. I have benefitted from discussions with many scientific colleagues on these topics, including Itzhak Bars, Laurent Freidel, Stephen Hawking, Ray Laflamme, Sandu Popescu, and Xiao-Gang Wen. Malcolm Longair very kindly shared with me the proofs of his fascinating new book on the historical origins of quantum mechanics,
Quantum Concepts in Physics.
Thank you for your enthusiasm and your wisdom. Naturally, whatever errors and misconceptions remain in this book are entirely my own. Many thanks to Chris Fach and Erick Schnetter for help preparing the illustrations.
A huge thank you to all my partners in the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (
AIMS
) project, and to all our wonderful students. Let me mention in particular Barry Green and Thierry Zomahoun. It is a constant pleasure to work with you and for you. I thank you for your patience and understanding during the writing of this book, and for your tireless commitment to our shared cause.
Philip Coulter at the
CBC
and Janie Yoon at House of Anansi Press deserve special gratitude for stepping in with inspirational advice at a critical time. Janie in particular found the right combination of praise and tough love to keep me on track. If this manuscript is at all readable, it is due to your heroic efforts.
And last but first, big hugs to Corinne and Ruby without whom I would be lost.
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INDEX
Â
Aberdeen, University of, 31, 36, 251
Africa, 7, 31; mathematics/science in, 8, 159; need for scientific education in, 156â67
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (
AIMS
), 160â67; success stories of, 163, 164â65
African National Congress (
ANC
), 160
Albert, David, 247
Aldini, Giovanni, 241
Alexander the Great, 55
algebra, 32, 197; complex numbers in, 74â77, 168â69, 170; and Euler's formula, 75â76, 170; and inclusion of
i
, 73â74, 93, 170; Noether's work in, 181; Renaissance books on, 73, 74
Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham):
Book of Optics
, 17
Alpher, Ralph, 127â28, 130
Amazon.com, 204
Ampère, André-Marie, 44â45
analog vs digital technology, 203, 230â33, 237â39
Anaximander, 9, 52â55, 153, 202, 205, 207
Anderson, Carl D., 173
Anderson, Philip, 174
Andromeda Galaxy, 105
apartheid, in South Africa, 1â3, 21â22, 157â58; end of, 3, 160
Apollo 11 mission, 22, 129
Apollo 13 mission, 23
Archimedes, 18, 98
Aristotle, 25, 52
arithmetic, 8, 10, 74, 269n9
Armstrong, Neil, 22
art: and geometry, 16, 17.
See also
Leonardo da Vinci; Raphael
Aspect, Alain, 90
astronomers, 25, 122, 126, 123â24, 134â35, 157, 245
astronomy, 8, 10, 98, 129; and discovery of dark matter, 134â35; and heliocentric universe, 20â21, 25, 100; Hubble's work in, 123â24; Maxwell's work and, 36; Newton's work and, 24â25, 29â30
AT&T
, 128, 214.
See also
Bell Labs
atomic bomb, 10, 116, 125â26
Australian National University, 137
Â
Babylon, 8, 18
background radiation.
See
radiation, cosmic microwave
Bardeen, John, 216â17
Bayes, Thomas, 32
Bell, Alexander Graham, 35, 213â14
Bell, John, 51.
See also
Bell's Theorem
Bell Labs (New Jersey), 128, 129, 214â16, 220, 234
Bell Rock Lighthouse (Scotland), 32
Bell's Theorem, 83â91, 233â34; illustration of, 85â90
Bible, 1â2, 24
big bang theory, 103â6, 136, 200â1, 228, 236; background radiation and, 127â30, 214; dark matter and, 134â35, 138; Lemaître's proposal of, 124â25, 228; singularity and, 97, 122â25, 142â50, 200, 207â9; theory of inflation and, 106â10, 136, 139â52; Weinberg's book on, 247â48.
See also
singularity, at moment of big bang
Biot-Savart law, 44
Bohm, David: hidden variable theory of, 83â84
Bohr, Niels, 58â59, 76, 126, 197, 199; on Dirac, 185; and quantization of atomic structure, 58, 70â72, 76, 124;
at Solvay Conference, 58â59, 80â81; and wave-particle duality, 80
Bolt, Usain, 49
Boltzmann, Ludwig: equipartition principle of, 65â66
Bombelli, Rafael:
Algebra
, 74
Borges, Jorge Luis, 223
Born, Max, 57, 58, 59, 180, 199; on general relativity, 119; and matrix mechanics, 58; on Planck, 61; on Schrödinger's wavefunction, 76â77
Brahe, Tycho, 25
Brattain, Walter, 216
Brin, Sergey, 166
Brout, Robert, 174
Bryn Mawr College, 180
Â
calculus, 26, 43, 101
California, University of: at Berkeley, 133, 137; at Santa Barbara, 219
Cambridge University, 31; author's tenure at, 96â97, 98, 143, 151â52, 160, 161; cosmology workshop at, 106, 136; Dirac at, 182; Gamow at, 126; Maxwell at, 35, 42, 251; Newton at, 24, 223.
See also
Hawking, Stephen
Cape Town: and
AIMS
, 160â67; University of, 160
Cardano, Gerolamo:
Ars Magna
(
The Great Art
), 73, 74
Carnie, Margaret, 22, 97â99
cellphones, 47, 160, 214.
See also
smartphones
CERN
(European Organization for Nuclear Research), 84, 192.
See also
Large Hadron Collider
Cicero:
On the Nature of the Gods
, 153
classical physics/universe: Newton and, 20, 25â26, 30, 48, 56â95, 112, 118â19, 206, 210; quantum theory and, 48, 56â95, 115â16, 168, 171, 179â80, 183â85, 196, 206, 210, 234â35, 256.
See also
quantum theory
communication/information technology, 5, 56, 91, 209â39; Bell/Bell Labs and, 35, 213â14, 215; and democratic movements, 203; and information overload, 68â69, 203, 209â11; McLuhan on, 225â27, 230; as problematic, 198, 203, 209; satellites and, 128â29, 151â52, 205, 236, 237; Teilhard de Chardin on, 227â28, 230; transistor and, 215â17, 218, 235; vacuum tubes and, 212â13, 215
complex numbers, 74â75, 168â71; and Euler's formula, 75â76, 170â71; and Schrödinger's wave equation, 76â77, 168â70, 171
computers, 68â69, 167â68, 170, 203, 209, 212, 213, 214; digital nature of, 230â33, 237â38; predictions about, 227â28, 230; quantum, 218â25, 233, 238â39; storage capacity of, 217â18.
See also
quantum computers
conserved quantities, Noether's theorem on, 176â78, 179â80
Copenhagen, University of, 59, 126
Copernicus, and concept of heliocentric universe, 20, 21, 25, 100
Cosmic Background Explorer (
COBE
), 130â36; and
DMR
experiment, 132â36; and
FIRAS
experiment, 131â32
“cosmological term” (Einstein), 120â21, 122; and vacuum energy, 136â37
cosmology, historical: of ancient Greece, 8â9, 20, 25, 52â53, 99â100, 102, 118, 152â53, 205; of Newtonian universe, 20, 25â26, 30, 48, 56â95, 112, 118â19, 206, 210; of Renaissance Italy, 18, 20â21, 25, 28â29, 100â1, 205
cosmology, modern, 96â155; background radiation and, 127â33, 214; complex numbers and, 75, 95; cyclic universe theory of, 149â54; dark matter and, 134â35, 138; Einstein and, 110â13, 118â22; Friedmann and, 121â23; Gamow and, 125â28; inflationary theory of, 106â10, 136, 139â54; Lemaître and, 123â25; vacuum energy and, 136â38.
See also
big bang theory; singularity, at moment of big bang
Cosmos
(television series), 157
Coulomb, Charles Augustin de, 44
Croton (southern Italy): Pythagoreans and, 9
Curie, Marie, 58, 59, 70, 91, 126
Curie, Pierre, 58, 70
cyclic universe, theory of, 149â52; precursors of, 153â54.
See also
inflation, theory of
Â
dark matter, 134â35, 138, 187, 200
Darwin, Charles: library of, 223; and theory of evolution, 228, 229, 246â47
Davy, Sir Humphrey: Bakerian Lecture by, 240â41; and Faraday, 36â37, 251
Dawkins, Richard, 246â47
Dicke, Robert, 130, 131
Differential Microwave Radiator (
DMR
), 132â36
digital vs analog technology, 203, 230â33, 237â39
diodes, 213, 215
Dirac, Paul, 58, 59, 60, 181â87, 197; “bra-ket” notation of, 181; education of, 181â82; and Feynman's formulation, 92, 183â84; on mathematics, 156, 183, 185â87; matter particle equation of, 92, 172â73, 174, 175â76, 182â83, 196, 199; and prediction of positron, 92, 173, 182; and quantum electrodynamics, 92, 183; and quantum theory, 182, 183â85; on Schrödinger's wave equation, 186; unassuming personality of, 182, 185, 187
Dirac field (
Ï
), 173, 174, 175â76
DNA
, 200, 201, 231â33, 239
“double-slit experiment,” 78â80, 93
Â
e
(Euler's number), 75, 92, 170â71
Echo 1 (balloon satellite), 128, 129
Eda, Abonnema (fictional character), 157, 167
Eddington, Arthur, 121, 124
Edinburgh, 31â32, 185
Edinburgh, University of, 11, 31, 32, 35, 213
education, scientific: in Africa, 156â67; in ancient Greece, 51â53, 211; of Dirac, 181â82; in internet age, 5, 203, 211â12, 255; of Maxwell, 34â35; in medieval universities, 10; Noether's contribution to, 178â81; of Scottish Enlightenment, 32, 34, 211, 213
Ehrenfest, Paul, 59
Einstein, Albert, 18, 21, 49, 51, 59, 99, 106, 109, 186, 197, 199, 204, 206, 210; and confirmation of Planck's work, 64â70, 72; “cosmological term” of, 120â21, 122, 136â39; Dirac on, 184; Hume's influence on, 14; and initial unease over quantum theory, 70, 77, 80â81, 91; as invoked by
AIMS
, 164â65; and mass-energy equivalence, 113â16; and Maxwell's theory, 47â48, 101â2, 110â12; on Noether, 180â81; and photoelectric effect, 58, 69; at Solvay Conference, 58, 59, 80â81; and theory of general relativity, 116â25, 133, 147, 165, 172, 174, 179, 189â90, 193, 195, 196, 199; and theory of special relativity, 47, 94, 101â2, 110â16, 138â39; and “ultraviolet catastrophe,” 68â69, 196
EinsteinâPoldolskyâRosen critique of quantum theory, 81â82, 233â34; and Bell's Theorem, 83â91, 234; Pauli
on, 82
ekpyrosis
(Stoic concept of cosmology), 153
electricity: Faraday's work on,
37â39; and modern electroÂnics, 212â18; and plot of
Frankenstein
, 37, 240â42; public experiments using, 37, 241; quantum theory and, 92, 214â18
electromagnetic waves: and background radiation, 127â30; and big bang theory, 103â6, 123â24, 127â30; and colour of light, 47, 61â62, 64, 68, 123â24; length of, 47, 61â62, 65â68, 71â72, 190, 210, 265n7; and mass-energy equivalence, 114â15; and quantum theory, 61â72; speed of, 45â46; types/applications of, 47, 111
electromagnetism, 39â40; and big bang theory, 103â6, 123â24, 127â30; and electroweak theory, 172, 174; Faraday's work on, 38, 40â42, 45, 84; Maxwell's work on, 34, 36, 39, 42â48, 56, 61, 63, 84, 92, 101, 110â12, 115, 172, 174, 175, 210; and Newton's theories, 33, 40â41, 43, 47; previous work related to, 44â45; and quantum theory, 46, 48, 61â72, 101â2
electroweak theory, 107, 172, 173, 174, 178, 188, 196
Englert, François, 174
Epicurus, 253
Erlangen, University of, 178
ethics: Hume on, 14â15; of reciprocity, 253
Euclid, 52, 269n9
Euler, Leonhard, 75, 170, 192; beta function formula of, 192
Euler's formula (complex analysis), 75, 170â71; Heisenberg's use of, 75â78; and number
e
, 75, 92, 170â71; and number
i
, 75, 170
European Space Agency, 151.
See also
Planck satellite
evolution, theory of (Darwin), 228, 229, 246â47
Â
Facebook, 204
Fairchild Semiconductor, 217
Faraday, Michael, 33, 36â42, 50, 101; and concept of force field, 39, 40â42, 43, 45, 84; and Davy, 36â37, 251; and electricity, 37â39; and electromagnetism, 38, 40â42, 45, 84; Maxwell's continuation of work by, 36, 39, 42â48, 84, 101, 111; and Newton's law of gravitation, 40â41, 116â17; as non-mathematician, 39, 42; as tireless experimenter, 38â39, 42
Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (
FIRAS
), 131â32
Fermat, Pierre de, 62
Ferro, Scipione del, 73â74
Feynman, Richard, 249, 250; on Euler's formula, 75; and formulation of quantum theory (“sum over histories”), 92â93, 169â70, 171, 179, 183â84, 196; on nuclear bomb, 10; on quantum computers, 219â20; and quantum electrodynamics, 92, 183
Fifth Solvay International Conference on Electrons and Photons (1927), 56â60, 76â77, 80â81
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 80
Fizeau, Hippolyte, 45
force fields: Faraday's concept of, 39, 40â42, 43, 45, 84; force-
carrier particles of, 148, 174â76; Maxwell's work on, 42â46, 80, 172, 174, 199.
See also
particle physics
formula for all known physics, 167â201; as analogy for society/humanity, 197â201; Dirac's equation and, 172â73, 174, 175â76, 182â83, 196, 199; Einstein's theory of gravity and, 172, 174, 189â90, 196, 199; Euler's number and, 170â71; Feynman's formulation and, 92â93, 169â71, 183â84, 196; and goal of scientific education/learning, 156â67, 199â200; Hamilton's action principle and, 171, 183; Higgs field and, 173, 174â75, 178, 189; Higgs mechanism and, 174; Higgs potential energy and, 175, 190; MaxwellâYangâMills force field theories and, 172, 174, 199; Noether's theorem and, 176â78, 179â80; as problematic, 187â91; Schrödinger's wavefunction and, 92â93, 168â71, 183; string theory as alternative to, 191â95; YukawaâKobayashiâMaskawa matter particle mass term and, 173
Fourier analysis in time, 72â73, 75
Franklin, Benjamin, 44, 177â78
Friedmann, Alexander, 121â23, 125, 127, 154
Â
Galileo, 18, 23, 28â29, 100â1, 117, 205, 253;
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
, 13; and heliocentric universe, 20â21, 25, 100;
Two New Sciences
, 21
gamma rays, 47, 111
Gamow, George, 125â28; and concept of background radiation, 127â28; and stellar energy conference, 126; as U.S. Navy consultant, 126
Gandhi, Mohandas, 6
Gates, Bill, 166
Gauss, Carl Friedrich, 44
general relativity.
See
theory of general relativity
geometry, 7, 20, 52; in academic curriculum, 10, 32, 197; Anaximander's use of, 53; and art, 16, 17; of curved space, 118; Einstein and, 51, 118, 184; Euler's formula and, 75, 170; of four-dimensional space, 143; Leonardo's use of, 17; Pythagorean theorem of, 8; and quantum theory, 76â77, 93, 170; of universe, 143, 210, 246, 256
Glasgow, University of, 31, 34
Glashow, Sheldon Lee, 172, 174, 188
Godwin, William, 240
Google, 204, 237
Göttingen, University of, 178â79, 180