Unit 9: Hawking
Wormholes: A wormhole is what Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen called "bridges". They said that these theoretical passages between distant regions of spacetime were permissable by General Relativity. (source: lecture) Hawking has theorized that wormholes might connect our universe with other universes. (source: lecture)
Baby Universes: In Hawking's No Boundary model, there's a way for our universe to become warped in a manner which would mimic the creation of the No Boundary universe and could potentially create a daughter universe.
Alan Guth: USA, astronomer, MIT, originator of inflationary universe theory. "Inflation is a modification of the conventional big bang theory, proposing that the expansion of the universe was propelled by a repulsive gravitational force generated by an exotic form of matter." (source: http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/alan_guth.html )
Martin Rees: (b. 1942), British astronomer, Cambridge; a long-time friend of Hawking, Rees has been involved in a wide range of work, including the application of anthropic reasoning in cosmology. (source: White & Gribbin, p. 216) His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IoA/staff/mjr . A concise definition of "anthropic principle" is available from the Journey Through the Galaxy website: "we see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to observe it."
Michael Green: Cambridge, Superstring theorist. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/mbg15/ . Superstring Theory combines String Theory with Supersymmetry (which is the theory that every fermion has a partner boson and vice versa).
Andre Linde: Russian, physicist, Stanford, associated with inflation theory. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.stanford.edu/~alinde/ .
Paul Steinhardt: In our reading, he is mentioned for his work on inflation theory and for a kerfuffle with Hawking over attribution. He also is known for his work on quasi-crystals - those cool things that resemble crystals but lack the repetitive patterns of crystal growth. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.phy.princeton.edu/~steinh/ and there's an interesting paper on quasi-crystals at: http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~steinh/quasi/ .
Kip Thorne: USA, physicist. He was the one who came up with a way to theoretically keep a wormhole open long enough to travel through it, after Carl Sagan asked him for help with this major plot device for his novel Contact.
Quantum Chromodynamics: See "quarks".
Strings: As I understand it, it's the idea that the things we think of as points (like electrons and quarks) are strings. (White & Gribbon, p. 257)
Quarks: Protons and neutrons are composed of smaller units called "quarks". The theory that describes their interaction is called "quantum chromodynamics" because the different types of quarks have been labeled with the names of colors. (White & Gribbin, p. 255)
Graviton: If there were a quantum theory of gravity, it would need to incorporate particles to carry the gravitational force (in line with the way in which photons relate to electromagnetism). The name for this proposed particle is a graviton. (White & Gribbin, p. 256)
Einstein-Rosen Bridge: From White & Gribbin, p. 294: "a wormhole that links two black holes" and a handy way to traverse the Universe - at least, that's the way it works in Contact .
Chronology Protection Conjecture: Hawking's term for the notion that the Universe might be set up so as to avoid the classic "time paradox" problem, just in case time travel were possible.
Baby Universes: In Hawking's No Boundary model, there's a way for our universe to become warped in a manner which would mimic the creation of the No Boundary universe and could potentially create a daughter universe.
Alan Guth: USA, astronomer, MIT, originator of inflationary universe theory. "Inflation is a modification of the conventional big bang theory, proposing that the expansion of the universe was propelled by a repulsive gravitational force generated by an exotic form of matter." (source: http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/alan_guth.html )
Martin Rees: (b. 1942), British astronomer, Cambridge; a long-time friend of Hawking, Rees has been involved in a wide range of work, including the application of anthropic reasoning in cosmology. (source: White & Gribbin, p. 216) His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IoA/staff/mjr . A concise definition of "anthropic principle" is available from the Journey Through the Galaxy website: "we see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to observe it."
Michael Green: Cambridge, Superstring theorist. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/mbg15/ . Superstring Theory combines String Theory with Supersymmetry (which is the theory that every fermion has a partner boson and vice versa).
Andre Linde: Russian, physicist, Stanford, associated with inflation theory. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.stanford.edu/~alinde/ .
Paul Steinhardt: In our reading, he is mentioned for his work on inflation theory and for a kerfuffle with Hawking over attribution. He also is known for his work on quasi-crystals - those cool things that resemble crystals but lack the repetitive patterns of crystal growth. His departmental homepage can be found at: http://www.phy.princeton.edu/~steinh/ and there's an interesting paper on quasi-crystals at: http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~steinh/quasi/ .
Kip Thorne: USA, physicist. He was the one who came up with a way to theoretically keep a wormhole open long enough to travel through it, after Carl Sagan asked him for help with this major plot device for his novel Contact.
Quantum Chromodynamics: See "quarks".
Strings: As I understand it, it's the idea that the things we think of as points (like electrons and quarks) are strings. (White & Gribbon, p. 257)
Quarks: Protons and neutrons are composed of smaller units called "quarks". The theory that describes their interaction is called "quantum chromodynamics" because the different types of quarks have been labeled with the names of colors. (White & Gribbin, p. 255)
Graviton: If there were a quantum theory of gravity, it would need to incorporate particles to carry the gravitational force (in line with the way in which photons relate to electromagnetism). The name for this proposed particle is a graviton. (White & Gribbin, p. 256)
Einstein-Rosen Bridge: From White & Gribbin, p. 294: "a wormhole that links two black holes" and a handy way to traverse the Universe - at least, that's the way it works in Contact .
Chronology Protection Conjecture: Hawking's term for the notion that the Universe might be set up so as to avoid the classic "time paradox" problem, just in case time travel were possible.
Photo above of Quark ( from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) from website: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/DS9/character/1112445.html
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