"The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps 19:1). Can we still sing the words of the Psalmist in an age where scientists talk about an expanding cosmos, the Higgs boson, and the multiverse? In Signposts to God particle physicist Peter Bussey introduces readers to the mysteries of modern physics and astronomy. Written in clear, accessible prose, Bussey provides a primer on topics such as the laws of nature, quantum physics, fine-tuning, and current cosmological models. He shows that despite the remarkable achievements of science, the latest research in these fields does not lead to simple physicalism in which physical processes are able to explain everything that exists. Bussey argues that, far from ruling out a divine Creator, modern physics and astronomy present us with compelling signposts to God. The more we know about the cosmos and our presence in it, the more plausible belief in God becomes. We can be intellectually satisfied in both science and the Christian faith. Written by someone who has worked for years in scientific research, Signposts to God is a timely and winsome response to a cultural stalemate.

Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality. But that was just the beginning. In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza, one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in 2014," and leading astronomer Bob Berman, take the reader on an intellectual thrill-ride as they re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that the universe is 26.8 percent dark matter, 68.3 percent dark energy, and only 4.9 percent ordinary matter, but must confess that it doesn't really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science is increasingly pointing toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that really means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless. All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness but science hasn't the foggiest idea what consciousness is, and it can't explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers. Science describes life as a random occurrence in a dead universe but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life. The biocentrism theory isn't a rejection of science. Quite the opposite. Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness. By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

This book collates papers presented at two international conferences (held at the Australian National University in 2018 and Birkbeck College London in 2019) exploring the relationships between big history and astrobiology and their wider implications for society. These two relatively new academic disciplines aim to integrate human history with the wider history of the universe and the search for life elsewhere. The book will show that, despite differences in emphasis, big history and astrobiology share much in common, especially their interdisciplinary approaches and the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives that they both engender. Specifically, the book addresses the unified, all-embracing, nature of knowledge, the impact of big history on humanity and the world at large, the possible impact of SETI on astrobiology and big history, the cultural signature of Earth's inhabitants beyond our own planet, and the political implications of a planetary worldview. The principal readership is envisaged to comprise scholars working in the fields of astrobiology, big history and space exploration interested in forging interdisciplinary links between these diverse topics, together with educators, and a wider public, interested in the societal implications of the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives engendered by research in these fields.

Cosmology: The Science of the Universe is an introduction to past and present cosmological theory. For much of the world's history, cosmological thought was formulated in religious or philosophical language and was thus theological or metaphysical in nature. However, cosmological speculation and theory has now become a science in which the empirical discoveries of the astronomer, theoretical physicist, and biologist are woven into intricate models that attempt to account for the universe as a whole. Professor Harrison draws on the discoveries and speculations of these scientists to provide a comprehensive survey of man's current understanding of the universe and its history. Tracing the rise of the scientific method, the major aim of this book is to provide an elementary understanding of the physical universe of modern times. Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition extends the much acclaimed first edition taking into account the many developments that have occurred.

Clarity, readability, and rigor combine in the third edition of this widely used textbook to provide the first step into general relativity for advanced undergraduates with a minimal background in mathematics. Topics within relativity that fascinate astrophysics researchers and students alike are covered with Schutz's characteristic ease and authority, from black holes to relativistic objects, from pulsars to the study of the Universe as a whole. This third edition contains discoveries by astronomers that require general relativity for their explanation; two chapters on gravitational waves, including direct detections of gravitational waves and their observations' impact on cosmological measurements; new information on black holes and neutron stars; and greater insight into the expansion of the Universe. Over 300 exercises, many new to this edition, give students the confidence to work with general relativity and the necessary mathematics, while the informal writing style and worked examples make the subject matter easily accessible.

Following a long-term international collaboration between leaders in cosmology and the philosophy of science, this volume addresses foundational questions at the limit of science across these disciplines, questions raised by observational and theoretical progress in modern cosmology. Space missions have mapped the Universe up to its early instants, opening up questions on what came before the Big Bang, the nature of space and time, and the quantum origin of the Universe. As the foundational volume of an emerging academic discipline, experts from relevant fields lay out the fundamental problems of contemporary cosmology and explore the routes toward finding possible solutions. Written for graduates and researchers in physics and philosophy, particular efforts are made to inform academics from other fields, as well as the educated public, who wish to understand our modern vision of the Universe, related philosophical questions, and the significant impacts on scientific methodology.

Beschreiben die Begriffe der modernen Physik tatsachlich die Realitat oder sind sie nur Hilfsmittel und Rechenwerkzeuge? Wie koennen reale Objekte aus Atomen aufgebaut sein, wenn diese angeblich gar keine realen Eigenschaften vor deren Messung besitzen? In philosophischen und meist allgemein verstandlichen Aufsatzen setzt sich der Autor - Begrunder des Dekoharenzkonzepts in der Quantentheorie - mit den "faulen Ausreden" auseinander, die Physiker finden, um unerwarteten Konsequenzen, die sich aus ihren eigenen Theorien ergeben, aus dem Weg zu gehen.

Der Wunsch nach einem Verstandnis von Einsteins Theorien ist unter naturwissenschaftlich Interessierten weit verbreitet - und bleibt doch meist unerfullt. Dieses Buch bietet nun eine einzigartige neue Chance: Mit anschaulichen Gedankenexperimenten, exakten Abbildungen, treffenden Analogien und mit strikt auf Mittelschulmathematik beschrankten Rechenschritten werden Sie behutsam in die immer wieder faszinierende Welt der Relativitatstheorien gefuhrt. Sachlich, grundlich und dennoch faszinierend werden die Zeitdehnung, das Zwillingsparadoxon, Schwarze Locher oder die Rotverschiebung des Lichts dargestellt, daneben viele weitere relativistische Effekte, die Ihnen hier erstmals mit ganz einfachen mathematischen Werkzeugen zuganglich gemacht werden.

..". das Buch ist sehr empfehlenswert: Der gesamte Text ist klar, ausfuhrlich und verstandlich geschrieben."

"Ein ausserst gelungenes Buch also, das halt, was es im Untertitel verspricht ..."

Stephan Edinger, Sterne und Weltraum, Mai 2008"

This text gives an introduction to particle physics at a level accessible to advanced undergraduate students. It is based on lectures given to 4th year physics students over a number of years, and reflects the feedback from the students. The aim is to explain the theoretical and experimental basis of the Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics with the simplest mathematical treatment possible. All the experimental discoveries that led to the understanding of the SM relied on particle detectors and most of them required advanced particle accelerators. A unique feature of this book is that it gives a serious introduction to the fundamental accelerator and detector physics, which is currently only available in advanced graduate textbooks. The mathematical tools that are required such as group theory are covered in one chapter. A modern treatment of the Dirac equation is given in which the free particle Dirac equation is seen as being equivalent to the Lorentz transformation. The idea of generating the SM interactions from fundamental gauge symmetries is explained. The core of the book covers the SM. The tools developed are used to explain its theoretical basis and a clear discussion is given of the critical experimental evidence which underpins it. A thorough account is given of quark flavour and neutrino oscillations based on published experimental results, including some from running experiments. A simple introduction to the Higgs sector of the SM is given. This explains the key idea of how spontaneous symmetry breaking can generate particle masses without violating the underlying gauge symmetry. A key feature of this book is that it gives an accessible explanation of the discovery of the Higgs boson, including the advanced statistical techniques required. The final chapter gives an introduction to LHC physics beyond the standard model and the techniques used in searches for new physics. There is an outline of the shortcomings of the SM and a discussion of possible solutions and future experiments to resolve these outstanding questions. For updates, new results, useful links as well as corrections to errata in this book, please see the book website maintained by the authors: https://pplhcera.physics.ox.ac.uk/

Astrobiology not only investigates how early life took hold of our planet but also life on other planets - both in our Solar System and beyond - and their potential for habitability. The book take readers from the scars on planetary surfaces made by space rocks to the history of the Solar System narrated by those space rocks as well as exoplanets in other planetary systems. But the true question is how life arose here or elsewhere. Modern comparative genomics has revealed that Darwin was correct; a set of highly conserved genes and cellular functions indicate that all life is related by common ancestry. The Last Universal Common Ancestor or LUCA sits at the base of the Tree of Life. However, once that life took hold, it started to diversify and form complex microbial communities that are known as microbial mats and stromatolites. Due to their long evolutionary history and abundance on modern Earth, research on the biological, chemical and geological processes of stromatolite formation has provided important insights into the field of astrobiology. Many of these microbialite-containing ecosystems have been used as models for astrobiology, and NASA mission analogs including Shark Bay, Pavilion and Kelly Lakes. Modern microbialites represent natural laboratories to study primordial ecosystems and provide proxies for how life could evolve on other planets. However, few viral metagenomic studies (i.e., viromes) have been conducted in microbialites, which are not only an important part of the community but also mirror its biodiversity. This book focuses on particularly interesting sites such as Andean lake microbialites, a proxy of early life since they are characterized by very high UV light, while Alchichica and Bacalar lakes are characterized by high-salt and oligotrophic waters that nurture stromatolites. However, it is only the oasis of Cuatro Cienegas Basin in Mexico that stored past life in its marine sediments of the Sierra de San Marcos. This particular Sierra has a magmatic pouch that moves the deep aquifer to the surface in a cycle of sun drenched life and back to the depths of the magmatic life in an ancient cycle that now is broken by the overexploitation of the surface water as well as the deep aquifer in order to irrigate alfalfa in the desert. The anthropocene, the era of human folly, is killing this unique time machine and with it the memory of the planet.

In antiquity living beings are inextricably linked to the cosmos as a whole. Ancient biology and cosmology depend upon one another and therefore a complete understanding of one requires a full account of the other. This volume addresses many philosophical issues that arise from this double relation. Does the cosmos have a soul of its own? Why? Is either of these two disciplines more basic than the other, or are they at the same explanatory level? What is the relationship between living things and the cosmos as a whole? If the cosmos is an animate intelligent being, what is the nature of its thoughts and actions? How do these relate to our own thoughts and actions? Do they pose a threat to our autonomy as subjects and agents? And what is the place of zoogony in cosmogony? A distinguished international team of contributors provides original essays discussing these questions.

Cosmology has been transformed by dramatic progress in high-precision observations and theoretical modelling. This book surveys key developments and open issues for graduate students and researchers. Using a relativistic geometric approach, it focuses on the general concepts and relations that underpin the standard model of the Universe. Part I covers foundations of relativistic cosmology whilst Part II develops the dynamical and observational relations for all models of the Universe based on general relativity. Part III focuses on the standard model of cosmology, including inflation, dark matter, dark energy, perturbation theory, the cosmic microwave background, structure formation and gravitational lensing. It also examines modified gravity and inhomogeneity as possible alternatives to dark energy. Anisotropic and inhomogeneous models are described in Part IV, and Part V reviews deeper issues, such as quantum cosmology, the start of the universe and the multiverse proposal. Colour versions of some figures are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521381154.

Numerical relativity has emerged as the key tool to model gravitational waves - recently detected for the first time - that are emitted when black holes or neutron stars collide. This book provides a pedagogical, accessible, and concise introduction to the subject. Relying heavily on analogies with Newtonian gravity, scalar fields and electromagnetic fields, it introduces key concepts of numerical relativity in a context familiar to readers without prior expertise in general relativity. Readers can explore these concepts by working through numerous exercises, and can see them 'in action' by experimenting with the accompanying Python sample codes, and so develop familiarity with many techniques commonly employed by publicly available numerical relativity codes. This is an attractive, student-friendly resource for short courses on numerical relativity, as well as providing supplementary reading for courses on general relativity and computational physics.

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the radiation left over from the Big Bang, is arguably the most important topic in modern cosmology. Its theory and observation have revolutionized cosmology from an order-of-magnitude science to a precision science. This graduate textbook describes CMB physics from first principles in a detailed yet pedagogical way, assuming only that the reader has a working knowledge of General Relativity. Among the changes in this second edition are new chapters on non-Gaussianities in the CMB and on large-scale structure, and extended discussions on lensing and baryon acoustic oscillations, topics that have developed significantly in the last decade. Discussions of CMB experiments have been updated from WMAP data to the new Planck data. The CMB success story in estimating cosmological parameters is then treated in detail, conveying the beauty of the interplay of theoretical understanding and precise experimental measurements.

"Between Copernicus and Galileo" is the story of Christoph Clavius, the Jesuit astronomer and teacher whose work helped set the standards by which Galileo's famous claims appeared so radical, and whose teachings guided the intellectual and scientific agenda of the Church in the central years of the Scientific Revolution.
Though relatively unknown today, Clavius was enormously influential throughout Europe in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries through his astronomy books--the standard texts used in many colleges and universities, and the tools with which Descartes, Gassendi, and Mersenne, among many others, learned their astronomy. James Lattis uses Clavius's own publications as well as archival materials to trace the central role Clavius played in integrating traditional Ptolemaic astronomy and Aristotelian natural philosophy into an orthodox cosmology. Although Clavius strongly resisted the new cosmologies of Copernicus and Tycho, Galileo's invention of the telescope ultimately eroded the Ptolemaic world view.
By tracing Clavius's views from medieval cosmology the seventeenth century, Lattis illuminates the conceptual shift from Ptolemaic to Copernican astronomy and the social, intellectual, and theological impact of the Scientific Revolution.

The goal of IAU Symposium 359 on 'Galaxy Evolution and Feedback across Different Environments' (GALFEED) was to bring together the active galactic nuclei (AGN) and galaxy evolution scientific communities. The AGN phase occurs in most galaxies and critically influences their evolution, so it is important to study the two processes together and for researchers, in both topics, to learn from one another. They ask key questions such as: How do galaxies acquire their gas and how efficiently is it transformed into stars? How is the supermassive black hole in a galaxy center fuelled to become an AGN? What is the main physical mechanism that quenches star formation? How powerful are the stellar and AGN feedback processes in regulating galaxy evolution? And what is the role of the environment on galaxy evolution and AGN triggering? Astronomers engage in these discussions spanning from early galaxies to the present day.

Einstein's theory of general relativity is a cornerstone of modern physics. It also touches upon a wealth of topics that students find fascinating - black holes, warped spacetime, gravitational waves, and cosmology. Now reissued by Cambridge University Press, this ground-breaking text helped to bring general relativity into the undergraduate curriculum, making it accessible to virtually all physics majors. One of the pioneers of the 'physics-first' approach to the subject, renowned relativist James B. Hartle, recognized that there is typically not enough time in a short introductory course for the traditional, mathematics-first, approach. In this text, he provides a fluent and accessible physics-first introduction to general relativity that begins with the essential physical applications and uses a minimum of new mathematics. This market-leading text is ideal for a one-semester course for undergraduates, with only introductory mechanics as a prerequisite.

"It is said that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction, and nowhere is that more true than in the case of black holes. Black holes are stranger than anything dreamed up by science fiction writers." In 2016 Professor Stephen Hawking delivered the BBC Reith Lectures on a subject that fascinated him for decades - black holes. In these flagship lectures the legendary physicist argued that if we could only understand black holes and how they challenge the very nature of space and time, we could unlock the secrets of the universe.

These selections from "Le systeme du monde," the classic ten-volume history of the physical sciences written by the great French physicist Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), focus on cosmology, Duhem's greatest interest. By reconsidering the work of such Arab and Christian scholars as Averroes, Avicenna, Gregory of Rimini, Albert of Saxony, Nicole Oresme, Duns Scotus, and William of Occam, Duhem demonstrated the sophistication of medieval science and cosmology.

This monograph describes the different formulations of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Unlike traditional treatments, Cartan's geometry of fibre bundles and differential forms is placed at the forefront, and a detailed review of the relevant differential geometry is presented. Particular emphasis is given to general relativity in 4D space-time, in which the concepts of chirality and self-duality begin to play a key role. Associated chiral formulations are catalogued, and shown to lead to many practical simplifications. The book develops the chiral gravitational perturbation theory, in which the spinor formalism plays a central role. The book also presents in detail the twistor description of gravity, as well as its generalisation based on geometry of 3-forms in seven dimensions. Giving valuable insight into the very nature of gravity, this book joins our highly prestigious Cambridge Monographs in Mathematical Physics series. It will interest graduate students and researchers in the fields of theoretical physics and differential geometry.

This book describes how and why the early modern period witnessed the marginalisation of astrology in Western natural philosophy, and the re-adoption of the cosmological view of the existence of a plurality of worlds in the universe, allowing the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Founded in the mid-1990s, the discipline of astrobiology combines the search for extraterrestrial life with the study of terrestrial biology - especially its origins, its evolution and its presence in extreme environments. This book offers a history of astrobiology's attempts to understand the nature of life in a larger cosmological context. Specifically, it describes the shift of early modern cosmology from a paradigm of celestial influence to one of celestial inhabitation. Although these trends are regarded as consequences of Copernican cosmology, and hallmarks of a modern world view, they are usually addressed separately in the historical literature. Unlike others, this book takes a broad approach that examines the relationship of the two. From Influence to Inhabitation will benefit both historians of astrology and historians of the extraterrestrial life debate, an audience which includes researchers and advanced students studying the history and philosophy of astrobiology. It will also appeal to historians of natural philosophy, science, astronomy and theology in the early modern period.

In this clearly written work, Robert Wald provides the general reader with an elementary but scientifically sound introduction to such fascinating topics as the theory of the big-bang origin of the universe and the nature of black holes. Wald has now revised and updated the highly regarded first edition of Space, Time, and Gravity, taking into account recent developments in black hole physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.

If scientists can't touch the Sun, how do they know what it's made of? And if we can't see black holes, how can we be confident they exist? Gravitational physicist David Garfinkle and his brother, science fiction writer Richard Garfinkle, tackle these questions and more in "Three Steps to the Universe", a tour through some of the most complex phenomena in the cosmos and an accessible exploration of how scientists acquire knowledge about the universe through observation, indirect detection, and theory. From the Sun and black holes, the authors lead us further into the unknown, to the dark matter and energy that pervade our universe, where science teeters on the edge of theory and discovery. Returning from the depths of space, the final section of the book brings readers back down to Earth for a final look at the practice of science, ending with a practical guide to discerning real science from pseudoscience among the cacophony of print and online scientific sources. "Three Steps to the Universe" will reward anyone interested in learning more about the universe around us and shows how scientists uncover its mysteries.

Unlike most traditional introductory textbooks on relativity and cosmology that answer questions like "Does accelerated expansion pull our bodies apart?", "Does the presence of dark matter affect the classical tests of general relativity?" in a qualitative manner, the present text is intended as a foundation, enabling students to read and understand the textbooks and many of the scientific papers on the subject. And, above all, the readers are taught and encouraged to do their own calculations, check the numbers and answer the above and other questions regarding the most exciting discoveries and theoretical developments in general relativistic cosmology, which have occurred since the early 1980s. In comparison to these intellectual benefits the text is short. In fact, its brevity without neglect of scope or mathematical accessibility of key points is rather unique. The authors connect the necessary mathematical concepts and their reward, i.e. the understanding of an important piece of modern physics, along the shortest path. The unavoidable mathematical concepts and tools are presented in as straightforward manner as possible. Even though the mathematics is not very difficult, it certainly is beneficial to know some statistical thermodynamics as well as some quantum mechanics. Thus the text is suitable for the upper undergraduate curriculum.