Finding the Big BangCambridge University Press, 26. mar. 2009 - 571 síður Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, has become a precise physical science, the foundation of which is our understanding of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) left from the big bang. The story of the discovery and exploration of the CMBR in the 1960s is recalled for the first time in this collection of 44 essays by eminent scientists who pioneered the work. Two introductory chapters put the essays in context, explaining the general ideas behind the expanding universe and fossil remnants from the early stages of the expanding universe. The last chapter describes how the confusion of ideas and measurements in the 1960s grew into the present tight network of tests that demonstrate the accuracy of the big bang theory. This book is valuable to anyone interested in how science is done, and what it has taught us about the large-scale nature of the physical universe. |
Efni
Introduction | 1 |
A guide to modern cosmology | 9 |
Origins of the cosmology of the 1960s | 23 |
Recollections of the 1960s | 69 |
Cosmology and the CMBR since the 19605 | 408 |
Appendix | 478 |
Glossary | 510 |
References | 531 |
561 | |
Aðrar útgáfur - View all
Finding the Big Bang P. James E. Peebles,Lyman A. Page, Jr.,R. Bruce Partridge Engin sýnishorn í boði - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
abundance Alpher angular scales antenna temperature Astrophysical Journal atmosphere background radiation balloon baryons beam Bell Labs blackbody Bob Dicke bolometers calibration clusters of galaxies CMBR CMBR anisotropy CMBR spectrum CMBR temperature COBE cold load cosmic cosmological constant dark matter detection detector dipole discovery discussed distribution early universe effect Einstein’s electrons elements emission energy equation expanding universe expansion experiment field figure find first fit flight fluctuations flux Fred Fred Hoyle frequency galactic Gamow gravitational helium HEMTs horn hot big bang Hoyle hydrogen idea interstellar Jim Peebles Laboratory later limit mass density microwave background microwave radiation neutrinos neutrons noise nuclear observations Observatory paper parameter peak Peebles Penzias and Wilson photons physics plasma predicted Princeton radio astronomy radio sources radiometer redshift relativity satellite scientific significant Soviet space stars steady state cosmology steady state theory Sunyaev telescope tests theory thermal radiation tion wavelength WMAP Zel’dovich