Author:
Calle, Carlos I.
Imprint:Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, c2009.
Description304 p. : ill. (some color); 24 cm.
Note:Designer universe. Photons from the sun -- Was the sun designed for life? -- Star stuff -- Other watches -- Models of the universe -- Newer models of the universe -- The problem of origins -- What about God? -- Building a theory of the universe. Explaining the universe -- A rational view -- An irrational view -- It's only a theory -- Experimenting -- Newton's clockwork universe -- Einstein's universe -- A new view of space and time -- A more general relativity -- Warping spacetime -- Einstein's system of the world. In the beginning. The geometry of the universe -- Reinventing Friedmann's Model -- The expansion of the universe -- Making the stuff of matter -- Echo of the big bang -- The cosmic background explorer -- How to make a universe. Three unexplained problems -- Breaking the symmetry -- The inflationary universe -- The new inflationary universe -- The fingerprint of the early universe -- "From speculation to precision science" -- Making the universe. Is God in the details? The hierarchy problem -- Supersymmetry -- Pulling strings -- M-theory -- The work is not done --v Are the laws of physics fine-tuned for life? -- The cosmological constant -- Is God in the details? -- A landscape of pocket universes. Fragile equilibrium -- Multiple universes -- Do other universes exist? -- Explaining the fine-tuning -- Cosmological natural selection -- Eternally oscillating universes. A very brief history of time -- Brane world -- The universe next door -- The cyclic model -- Eternal oscillation -- The cyclic model versus eternal inflation. A universe without origin. The problem of origins -- The road to quantum gravity -- Loop quantum gravity -- The holographic principle -- "Creation of universes from nothing" -- A universe with no boundaries -- Parallel universes -- The self-selecting universe. The no boundary proposal -- Delayed choice experiment -- A top-down approach to cosmology -- Explaining the fine-tuning -- An inflationary no boundary universe -- The observer-selected universe -- A self-organizing universe -- Order without design. Predicting the early universe -- The origin of complexity -- The problem of origins one more time -- A universe without a designer -- Powers of ten -- The fundamental constants of nature -- Big and small numbers.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p.287-288) and index.
