At the Frontier of Spacetime

At the Frontier of Spacetime PDF

Author: Torsten Asselmeyer-Maluga

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-28

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 3319312995

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In this book, leading theorists present new contributions and reviews addressing longstanding challenges and ongoing progress in spacetime physics. In the anniversary year of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, developed 100 years ago, this collection reflects the subsequent and continuing fruitful development of spacetime theories. The volume is published in honour of Carl Brans on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Carl H. Brans, who also contributes personally, is a creative and independent researcher and one of the founders of the scalar-tensor theory, also known as Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. In the present book, much space is devoted to scalar-tensor theories. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Brans has worked on new models of spacetime, collectively known as exotic smoothness, a field largely established by him. In this Festschrift, one finds an outstanding and unique collection of articles about exotic smoothness. Also featured are Bell's inequality and Mach's principle. Personal memories and historical aspects round off the collection.

Relativity and the Nature of Spacetime

Relativity and the Nature of Spacetime PDF

Author: Vesselin Petkov

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-02-18

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 3540277005

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Puts the emphasis on conceptual questions: Why is there no such thing as absolute motion? What is the physical meaning of relativity of simultaneity? But, the most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" Develops answers to these questions via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. Discusses the implication of the result (this analysis clearly shows that if the world and the physical objects were three-dimensional, none of the kinematic relativistic effects and the experimental evidence supporting them would be possible) for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed.

Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier

Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier PDF

Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 0393082911

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

“A compelling appeal, at just the right time, for continuing to look up.”—Air & Space America’s space program is at a turning point. After decades of global primacy, NASA has ended the space-shuttle program, cutting off its access to space. No astronauts will be launched in an American craft, from American soil, until the 2020s, and NASA may soon find itself eclipsed by other countries’ space programs. With his signature wit and thought-provoking insights, Neil deGrasse Tyson—one of our foremost thinkers on all things space—illuminates the past, present, and future of space exploration and brilliantly reminds us why NASA matters now as much as ever. As Tyson reveals, exploring the space frontier can profoundly enrich many aspects of our daily lives, from education systems and the economy to national security and morale. For America to maintain its status as a global leader and a technological innovator, he explains, we must regain our enthusiasm and curiosity about what lies beyond our world. Provocative, humorous, and wonderfully readable, Space Chronicles represents the best of Tyson’s recent commentary, including a must-read prologue on NASA and partisan politics. Reflecting on topics that range from scientific literacy to space-travel missteps, Tyson gives us an urgent, clear-eyed, and ultimately inspiring vision for the future.

Ripples in Spacetime

Ripples in Spacetime PDF

Author: Govert Schilling

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2017-07-31

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0674971663

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A spacetime appetizer -- Relatively speaking -- Einstein on trial -- Wave talk and bar fights -- The lives of stars -- Clockwork precision -- Laser quest -- The path to perfection -- Creation stories -- Cold case -- Gotcha -- Black magic -- Nanoscience -- Follow-up questions -- Space invaders -- Surf's up for Einstein wave astronomy

Space-Time Colonialism

Space-Time Colonialism PDF

Author: Juliana Hu Pegues

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1469656191

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

As the enduring "last frontier," Alaska proves an indispensable context for examining the form and function of American colonialism, particularly in the shift from western continental expansion to global empire. In this richly theorized work, Juliana Hu Pegues evaluates four key historical periods in U.S.-Alaskan history: the Alaskan purchase, the Gold Rush, the emergence of salmon canneries, and the World War II era. In each, Hu Pegues recognizes colonial and racial entanglements between Alaska Native peoples and Asian immigrants. In the midst of this complex interplay, the American colonial project advanced by differentially racializing and gendering Indigenous and Asian peoples, constructing Asian immigrants as "out of place" and Alaska Natives as "out of time." Counter to this space-time colonialism, Native and Asian peoples created alternate modes of meaning and belonging through their literature, photography, political organizing, and sociality. Offering an intersectional approach to U.S. empire, Indigenous dispossession, and labor exploitation, Space-Time Colonialism makes clear that Alaska is essential to understanding both U.S. imperial expansion and the machinations of settler colonialism.

Information Theory Applied To Space-time Physics

Information Theory Applied To Space-time Physics PDF

Author: Henning F Harmuth

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 1993-01-31

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9814504572

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The success of Newton's mechanic, Maxwell's electrodynamic, Einstein's theories of relativity, and quantum mechanics is a strong argument for the space-time continuum. Nevertheless, doubts have been expressed about the use of a continuum in a science squarely based on observation and measurement. An exact science requires that qualitative arguments must be reduced to quantitative statements. The observability of a continuum can be reduced from qualitative arguments to quantitative statements by means of information theory.Information theory was developed during the last decades within electrical communications, but it is almost unknown in physics. The closest approach to information theory in physics is the calculus of propositions, which has been used in books on the frontier of quantum mechanics and the general theory of relativity. Principles of information theory are discussed in this book. The ability to think readily in terms of a finite number of discrete samples is developed over many years of using information theory and digital computers, just as the ability to think readily in terms of a continuum is developed by long use of differential calculus.

Space-Time Algebra

Space-Time Algebra PDF

Author: David Hestenes

Publisher: Birkhäuser

Published: 2015-04-25

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 331918413X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This small book started a profound revolution in the development of mathematical physics, one which has reached many working physicists already, and which stands poised to bring about far-reaching change in the future. At its heart is the use of Clifford algebra to unify otherwise disparate mathematical languages, particularly those of spinors, quaternions, tensors and differential forms. It provides a unified approach covering all these areas and thus leads to a very efficient ‘toolkit’ for use in physical problems including quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, electromagnetism and relativity (both special and general) – only one mathematical system needs to be learned and understood, and one can use it at levels which extend right through to current research topics in each of these areas. These same techniques, in the form of the ‘Geometric Algebra’, can be applied in many areas of engineering, robotics and computer science, with no changes necessary – it is the same underlying mathematics, and enables physicists to understand topics in engineering, and engineers to understand topics in physics (including aspects in frontier areas), in a way which no other single mathematical system could hope to make possible. There is another aspect to Geometric Algebra, which is less tangible, and goes beyond questions of mathematical power and range. This is the remarkable insight it gives to physical problems, and the way it constantly suggests new features of the physics itself, not just the mathematics. Examples of this are peppered throughout ‘Space-Time Algebra’, despite its short length, and some of them are effectively still research topics for the future. From the Foreward by Anthony Lasenby

The Bit and the Pendulum

The Bit and the Pendulum PDF

Author: Tom Siegfried

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2008-05-02

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0470354232

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Funny, clear, deep, and right on target. [Siegfried] lets us get a handle on ideas that are essential for understanding the evolving world." -K. C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup "An eager, ambitious book. A stimulating, accessible introduction to scientific theory." -Dallas Morning News An award-winning journalist surveys the horizon of a new revolution in science Everything in the universe, from the molecules in our bodies to the heart of a black hole, is made up of bits of information. This is the radical idea at the center of the new physics of information, and it is leading to exciting breakthroughs in a vast range of science, including the invention of a new kind of quantum computer, millions of times faster than any computer today. Acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried offers a lively introduction to the leading scientists and ideas responsible for this exciting new scientific paradigm.