Dark Cosmos: In Search of Our Universe's Missing Mass and Energy
by Dan Hooper
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The twentieth century was astonishing in all regards, shaking the foundations of practically every aspect of human life and thought, physics not least of all. Beginning with the publication of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, through the wild revolution of quantum mechanics, and up until the physics of the modern day (including the astonishing revelation, in 1998, that the Universe is not only expanding, but doing so at an ever-quickening pace), much of what physicists have seen in show more our Universe suggests that much of our Universe is unseen--that we live in a dark cosmos.Everyone knows that there are things no one can see--the air you're breathing, for example, or, to be more exotic, a black hole. But what everyone does not know is that what we can see--a book, a cat, or our planet--makes up only 5 percent of the Universe. The rest--fully 95 percent--is totally invisible to us; its presence discernible only by the weak effects it has on visible matter around it.This invisible stuff comes in two varieties--dark matter and dark energy. One holds the Universe together, while the other tears it apart. What these forces really are has been a mystery for as long as anyone has suspected they were there, but the latest discoveries of experimental physics have brought us closer to that knowledge. Particle physicist Dan Hooper takes his readers, with wit, grace, and a keen knack for explaining the toughest ideas science has to offer, on a quest few would have ever expected: to discover what makes up our dark cosmos. show lessTags
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This is a very good book for somebody, just not for me. It is well written and Hooper conveys enthusiasm. But I was hoping for an up-to-date book that focused exclusively on dark matter and dark energy. Instead most of this book is devoted to necessarily superficial pop science review of general relativity, quantum mechanics, supersymmetry, string theory, and cosmology. As a result there wasn't much that was new to me. Although I did learn one interesting new fact: Ladbrokes was taking bets on the discovery of the Higgs Boson by 2010, putting the odds at six-to-one. If only there was an Intrade market.
I quite enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in learning about dark matter, as well as dark energy. The majority of the book deals with dark matter, and only the last couple chapters touch on dark energy, which is even less well known than dark matter. Hooper covers the candidates for dark matter, both those that have been proven not to be dark matter, as well as those current candidates that have yet to be proven as dark matter particles or not.
This is a very good book for somebody, just not for me. It is well written and Hooper conveys enthusiasm. But I was hoping for an up-to-date book that focused exclusively on dark matter and dark energy. Instead most of this book is devoted to necessarily superficial pop science review of general relativity, quantum mechanics, supersymmetry, string theory, and cosmology. As a result there wasn't much that was new to me. Although I did learn one interesting new fact: Ladbrokes was taking bets on the discovery of the Higgs Boson by 2010, putting the odds at six-to-one. If only there was an Intrade market.
An easy-reading account of current (non-) knowledge about dark matter and dark energy, and the relevant areas of fundamental physics and cosmology. The only serious botch-up I noticed was the explanation of the mechanism of type Ia supernovae.
An account of the state of what we don't know about what makes up 95% of the universe, rather than what we do. Clearly written.
Very good overview ( doesn't mention ' branes ' or ' holographic ' at all however ) Understnad KK-states better now
Very good overview ( doesn't mention ' branes ' or ' holographic ' at all however ) Understnad KK-states better now
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Dan Hooper is a senior scientist and the head of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Twitter @DanHooperAstro
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