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This beautiful book on the possibility that our universe is a huge optical illusion will change the way you look at the sky;, --says Amanda Gefter --New Scientist July 2008
The first thing that impressed me about this book by Jean-Pierre Luminet is the way the text is organized. Although the author seems to suggest that the reader uses the references as a way to jump between different chapters - rather like hyperlinks on the web - what I really appreciated is that the book has 45 short chapters, just a few pages long. This allows the reader to taste and digest it bit by bit, following his own rhythm. Because Luminet has done his best to explain everything in a simple but never simplistic way, it may take different people a different amount of time and this structure makes it easier to adapt to each reader s needs. If you know a little of modern cosmology, you will read this book avidly from the first page to the last. I ). Hence I'm grateful to Luminet for having made the role of topology in modern cosmology very clear. For example, I learned that the finite or infinite character of space depends both on its curvature and on its topology, though the latter is often neglected, even in refereed papers published by important journals. In addition, I realized that Einstein's equations do not set constraints a priori on the universe s topology. Rather, they can be solved for different boundary conditions, which include the specification of the 3-dimensional space topology. Space may have positive, null or negative curvature a property of the metric that encodes the machinery to measure distances. We say that the geometry is spherical, Euclidean or hyperbolic in these three cases. The metric is the subject of Einstein's equations, which express it as a function of the total energy content of the universe through the energy-momentum tensor and the cosmological constant. On the other hand, the equations do not constrain the topology of the universe at all. The simplest topology is simply connected (i.e. we can shrink all closed loops down to points without exiting from the space), and this is often implicitly assumed in books and articles about cosmology. However, "multiply connected topologies are also possible (with any curvature), and if their volume is smaller than the visible universe they may leave distinct signatures on the cosmic microwave background radiation, which could be experimentally detectable. In general, a multiply-connected universe would produce several images of each galaxy, and different topologies would produce different patterns, although searching for them is not an easy task. Luminet shows that the most recent data about the cosmic background radiation from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisortopy Probe are fit better by well-proportioned spaces, among which the best seems to be the spherical dodecahedral Poincaré space , whose volume is 120 times smaller than the hypersphere (i.e. the simply-connected topology) with the same curvature. This conclusion has been criticized by many researchers, but cannot be falsified with the present data. However, the Planck satellite should be able to provide measurements precise enough to discard this possibility if wrong and, possibly, identify the actual topology of our universe. Luminet also considers the sociology of science. Comments about the impact of different ideas or even about the same ideas in different historic and geographic conditions are scattered throughout, especially at the end. In conclusion, the book is well within the reach of the general public, but still offers valuable insights to more eexpert people. It raises a number of questions and tries to provide a few answers in one of the most fascinating subjects of modern research. --CERN Courier Sept 2008
Product Description
What shape is the universe? Is it curved and closed in on itself? Is it expanding? Where is it headed? Could space be wrapped around itself, such that it produces ghost images of faraway galaxies?Such are the questions posed by Jean-Pierre Luminet in "The Wraparound Universe", which he then addresses in clear and accessible language. An expert in black holes and the big bang, he leads us on a voyage through the surprising byways of space-time, where possible topologies of the universe, explorations of the infinite, and cosmic mirages combine their mysterious traits and unlock the imagination."The Wraparound Universe" is a general-audience book about the overall topology or shape of the universe. The central question addressed is whether it is possible that the universe is wrapped around in an interesting way, and what impact this would have on astronomical observations and our understanding of cosmology. Along the way many of the general features and much of the history of the modern picture of cosmology are discussed.
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This beautiful book on the possibility that our universe is a huge optical illusion will change the way you look at the sky;, --says Amanda Gefter --New Scientist July 2008
The first thing that impressed me about this book by Jean-Pierre Luminet is the way the text is organized. Although the author seems to suggest that the reader uses the references as a way to jump between different chapters - rather like hyperlinks on the web - what I really appreciated is that the book has 45 short chapters, just a few pages long. This allows the reader to taste and digest it bit by bit, following his own rhythm. Because Luminet has done his best to explain everything in a simple but never simplistic way, it may take different people a different amount of time and this structure makes it easier to adapt to each reader s needs. If you know a little of modern cosmology, you will read this book avidly from the first page to the last. I ). Hence I'm grateful to Luminet for having made the role of topology in modern cosmology very clear. For example, I learned that the finite or infinite character of space depends both on its curvature and on its topology, though the latter is often neglected, even in refereed papers published by important journals. In addition, I realized that Einstein's equations do not set constraints a priori on the universe s topology. Rather, they can be solved for different boundary conditions, which include the specification of the 3-dimensional space topology. Space may have positive, null or negative curvature a property of the metric that encodes the machinery to measure distances. We say that the geometry is spherical, Euclidean or hyperbolic in these three cases. The metric is the subject of Einstein's equations, which express it as a function of the total energy content of the universe through the energy-momentum tensor and the cosmological constant. On the other hand, the equations do not constrain the topology of the universe at all. The simplest topology is simply connected (i.e. we can shrink all closed loops down to points without exiting from the space), and this is often implicitly assumed in books and articles about cosmology. However, "multiply connected topologies are also possible (with any curvature), and if their volume is smaller than the visible universe they may leave distinct signatures on the cosmic microwave background radiation, which could be experimentally detectable. In general, a multiply-connected universe would produce several images of each galaxy, and different topologies would produce different patterns, although searching for them is not an easy task. Luminet shows that the most recent data about the cosmic background radiation from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisortopy Probe are fit better by well-proportioned spaces, among which the best seems to be the spherical dodecahedral Poincaré space , whose volume is 120 times smaller than the hypersphere (i.e. the simply-connected topology) with the same curvature. This conclusion has been criticized by many researchers, but cannot be falsified with the present data. However, the Planck satellite should be able to provide measurements precise enough to discard this possibility if wrong and, possibly, identify the actual topology of our universe. Luminet also considers the sociology of science. Comments about the impact of different ideas or even about the same ideas in different historic and geographic conditions are scattered throughout, especially at the end. In conclusion, the book is well within the reach of the general public, but still offers valuable insights to more eexpert people. It raises a number of questions and tries to provide a few answers in one of the most fascinating subjects of modern research. --CERN Courier Sept 2008
Product Description
What shape is the universe? Is it curved and closed in on itself? Is it expanding? Where is it headed? Could space be wrapped around itself, such that it produces ghost images of faraway galaxies?Such are the questions posed by Jean-Pierre Luminet in "The Wraparound Universe", which he then addresses in clear and accessible language. An expert in black holes and the big bang, he leads us on a voyage through the surprising byways of space-time, where possible topologies of the universe, explorations of the infinite, and cosmic mirages combine their mysterious traits and unlock the imagination."The Wraparound Universe" is a general-audience book about the overall topology or shape of the universe. The central question addressed is whether it is possible that the universe is wrapped around in an interesting way, and what impact this would have on astronomical observations and our understanding of cosmology. Along the way many of the general features and much of the history of the modern picture of cosmology are discussed.
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