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Paul J. Steinhardt
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Endless Universe: Beyond The Big Bang Paperback – December 11, 2008

by Paul J. Steinhardt (Author), Neil Turok (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 147 ratings
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A radical, yet accessible, new theory of the origins and future of the universe by two of the world's leading cosmologists

The first serious challenge to the widely accepted 'Big Bang' model of the universe. According to 'Big Bang' theory, space and time sprang into existence fifteen billion years ago: a super-heated fireball of near infinite density that expanded at phenomenal speed. As it continued to expand, it cooled and condensed to create the galaxies, stars and planets we see today.

But the theory has always had flaws and they have become increasingly difficult to reconcile. Why is the distribution of matter and radiation in the universe so uniform? Why is space flat rather than curved, as Einstein's theory of general relativity suggests? And where did the seeds for forming galaxies come from? To resolve these issues, Turok and Steinhardt propose a very different model of the universe. They argue that it is without beginning or end, truly an ENDLESS UNIVERSE.

This highly accessible book chronicles the last thirty years of cosmology; it explains the discovery of 'dark energy', 'dark matter' and addresses the question of when the next collision might occur between our worlds and the parallel dimensions in space.

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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W&N
  4. Publication date
    December 11, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.28 x 0.79 x 7.72 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0753824426
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0753824429
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W&N (December 11, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0753824426
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0753824429
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.28 x 0.79 x 7.72 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 147 ratings

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Paul J. Steinhardt

Paul J. Steinhardt

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4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
147 global ratings

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Jaume Puigbo Vila
5.0 out of 5 stars A rival theory to inflation
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2007
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Not too many people know that there is a theory which is a rival to the inflationary Big Bang and it is, for the time being, completely compatible also with the WAMP satellite findings. This theory is the Cyclic Universe cooked up by Steinhardt and Turok and derived from M theory.

Although the idea of a cyclic universe is already present in some of the ancient philosophies, this approach differs from previous ones in that it conjectures the existence of two disjoint parts of the universe, two so called "branes" which move to and fro each other along a fourth dimension. This new model avoids the problems Tolman's entropy problem with the classical models which leads to longer cycles.

One way to distinguish experimentally inflation and the cyclic universe is to detect primordial gravitational waves, directly (very difficult) or indirectly (effects of gravitational waves on the polarization of the cosmic background radiation pattern). The inflationary scenario predicts more waves. Some new satellites, already planned or in the drawing boards, may give us an answer to this question in the next ten to twenty years.

Although inflation is at present the standard cosmological paradigm, it has some weak points: creation of the universe about 13,7 billion years out of nothing, the strange inflation field, very strong and very short-lived, etc. The cyclic universe, by postulating an ethernal universe solves the problem of creation and only needs dark energy (no inglation field). In a few trillion years dark energy empties the universe and then the two branes collide and create a new cycle. The authors also claim that, although they did not create their model to solve the cosmological constant problem, an added benefit of the cyclic univers is a relaxing mechanism that very slowly decreases the value of this constant and, at each step, the number of cycles grows exponentially, so that most of the cycles are at a very low value such as the one found today.

The theory also avoids having to make use of the controversial anthropic principle since most of the regions of the cyclic universe can be conducive to life.

Although I learnt quite a few new things by reading this relatively easy to read book, I would have liked a more detailed analysis of the moment of the collision of the two branes. It would seem that at that moment a huge empty space already exists. Does the Big Bang occur locally or everywhere? How far apart can the branes be? It would seem they are very near, but they approach each other once every a few trillion years?

What about the brane we don't see? It seems it has some different properties. If this brane has matter , shouldn't we feel its influence? According to some recent results dark matter is real and is not only the gravitational effect of the other brane.

The book leaves us a little hungry for such answers.
74 people found this helpful
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Jerry Lisantti
4.0 out of 5 stars Competition to the inflationary model
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2014
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This book is about the ekpyrotic model for the evolution of our universe. It states that about every trillion years or so our universe recycles itself.As the authors say in their glossary "ekpyrosis: a collision between two branes that produces a flat, expanding universe filled with matter and radiation, with a nearly scale-invariant distribution of density inhomogeneities." It is a competing theory to the better known inflationary model of the universe. Both the authors are practicing cosmologists with Steinhardt at Princeton and Turok at the Perimeter Institute. Steinhardt made early contributions to the inflationary model in the early 1980's and is therefore well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the inflationary model. This is a well written book and was a pleasure to read. If you are interested in cosmology this book is a must for you. The level of this book is such that any interested high school student should have no trouble reading this book.

This book is written in a casual style and mentions how the authors first got the idea for their theory while they were both attending a lecture on the overview of string theory. They both went up to the speaker after his talk and asked him questions about strings and branes. Later the authors met at a small physics conference in Finland and started to work out the details their theory. The book describes the various questions that must be overcome such as flatness and thermodynamics. In the past various cyclic models of the universe have been proposed but they were later shown to have flaws. In careful precise wording they explain how they were able to overcome all the previous questions with their new model.

As expected they describe very well the inflationary model since the book compares the two models closely. One of the main differences being that their model has small if any primordial gravitational waves which have been in the news since March 2014 because of the BICEP2 cosmic microwave radiation data which initially claimed to have observed these gravitational waves to only latter say that their results could also be explained by galactic dust. The physics community awaits further data on this subject.

Steinhardt has been a public vocal critic of inflation going so far to say that it isn't even science since one can get just about any prediction from the theory since it is so general in nature. This is also discussed in the book.

My disagreement with the theory is that it is based on string theory and brane theory. There have been no experimental tests that have every shown that string and brane theory have anything to do with reality. There are two wonderful books that show the problems with string theory. They are Lee Smolin's "The Trouble with Physics" and Peter Woits "Not Even Wrong". If anything since this book was written string theory has lost some of the luster it had back in 2007. Nevertheless I would recommend this book since it is quite educational and very well written.
14 people found this helpful
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Paul C. Donohue
5.0 out of 5 stars Clearly written new theory
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2007
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As one who has read many of these popularized physics book, I would rate this one at the top. Without one equation, it is written in a semibiographical way that shows how physicists carry out their work. It captures the excitement of the development of the new "Cyclic Universe" theory that the authors cooperatively developed to counter the current favorite Big Bang- Inflation theory. The new theory incorporates the new theories in physics: M theory, extra dimensions, formation of matter and explains all data from the WMAP measurement of the background radiation as well as the Big Bang model. But, the new theory has the advantage of not requiring a beginning nor does it need to bring in the Anthropic principle to explain fine tuned constants. The new theory differs from previous cyclic models in that it doesn't rely on the amount of matter in the universe to shift the expansion to a contraction. It instead posits that dark energy changes over time and dominates the cycles and the bang is due to colliding branes from M theory. The authors emphasise that physicists don't just make these things up, but they come out of the mathematical theories. There is one prediction of the theory that will distinguish it from the Big Bang. They predict different amounts of gravity waves. Future satellite measurements will be able to prove one theory or the other. As with the authors, I hope the Cyclic theory wins.
10 people found this helpful
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NILORMI SARKAR
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
Reviewed in India on November 10, 2021
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History and latest developments of cosmology, are very nicely described. Many critical figures are analysed lucidly.
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Dr. T.
5.0 out of 5 stars Zyklisches Branen Universum vs. Inflation
Reviewed in Germany on September 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
Paul Steinhardt ist Professor für Physik an der Universität Princeton, er arbeitet hauptsächlich auf dem Gebiet der Kosmologie; Neil Turok stammt aus Südafrika und ist zur Zeit Direktor des Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.

Die Inflationstheorie war in der Lage einige der Rätsel des Standardmodells der Kosmologie zu lösen. Insbesondere nachdem die Auswertung der Daten von WMAP sich im Einklang mit den Vorhersagen aus dieser Theorie erklären ließen, sehen viele Kosmologen eine starke Evidenz für die kosmische Inflation gegeben. Nicht so Paul Steinhardt, selbst einer der Architekten dieser Theorie, mag er ihre Schwächen nicht herunterspielen: sie ist ein Patchwork von verschiedenen nicht zusammenhängenden 'Zutaten' aus sichtbarer Materie, Strahlung, Dunkler Materie und Dunkler Energie, jeweils angepasst, um mit den Beobachtungsdaten in Einklang zu bleiben. Derartiges Tuning raubt einer Theorie aber ihre Stringenz und Eleganz. Deswegen hat sich Steinhardt nach Alternativen umzusehen und stellt im vorliegenden Buch die Inflation dem Model eines zyklischen Universums gegenüber, das er gemeinsam mit Neil Turok entworfen hat.

Als Alan Guth 1980 im Rahmen eines Vortrags am MIT, seine Ideen zu einer Inflationsphase im frühen Kosmos vorstellt, mit denen sich u.a. die Probleme der Homogenität und der Flachheit des Urknall Modells ohne Feinabstimmung der Anfangsbedingungen lösen ließen, war Steinhardt unter den Zuhörern und sofort begeistert. Allerdings musste Guth gegen Ende seines Vortrags einräumen, dass seine Theorie noch eine Schwäche hätte, nach seinem Model würde sich der Raum so rasch ausdehnen, dass sich die Blasen, die beim Phasenübergang des Vakuums entstehen, nicht vereinen könnten, somit würde die Inflationsphase nie enden. Steinhardt konnte nicht glauben, dass eine Theorie, die soviel zur Kosmologie beizutragen schien, ein so frühes Ende finden sollte. Er beschäftigte sich in den folgenden Jahren mit diesem Problem, diskutierte mit Guth, und schließlich untersuchte er gemeinsam mit Andreas Albrecht verschiedene Potentialkurven für das Higgsfeld, das für den Phasenübergang zuständig ist; sie fanden endlich eine funktionierende Variante, die heute als neue Inflationstheorie bezeichnet wird. Unabhängig von ihnen kam Andrei Linde zu ähnlichen Ergebnissen.

Mitte der 1980iger Jahre erlebte die Stringtheorie einen Aufschwung, nachdem Michael Green und John Schwarz den anomaly cancelation Mechanismus gefunden hatten, wurden fünf konsistente Varianten der Theorie entdeckt. 1994 überraschte Edward Witten die Physiker mit seiner Entdeckung, dass diese fünf Theorien sich in einer noch umfassenderen Theorie in 10 Raum- Dimensionen vereinigen lassen, die er M- Theorie nennt; diese Theorie enthält neben String auch mehrdimensionale Branen. Das Newton Institut in Cambridge organisierte 1999 einen Workshop um Stringtheoretiker und Kosmologen zusammenzubringen. Burt Ovrut hielt eine Vortragsreihe, in der eine Übersicht der aktuellen Entwicklungen in String und M Theorie für Kosmologen aufbereitete, dabei ging er auch auf die heterotische M Theorie ein, einer sechsten Variante, die nur Branen aber keine Strings enthält, und von besonderem kosmologischen Interesse ist. Ovrut beschreibt ein vereinfachtes Horava- Witten Modell, in dem zwei neun dimensionale Branen die zehnte Extradimension als Ränder begrenzen, dabei sind sechs Dimensionen aufgerollt, so dass eine der Branen unseren drei dimensionalen Kosmos repräsentiert und die andere eine verborgene Parallelwelt, die sich aber in geringen Abstand zu unserer befindet; alle Naturkräfte sind auf die Branen beschränkt, bis auf die Gravitation, die sich in allen Richtungen ausbreiten kann.

Beide Autoren gehörten zu den Teilnehmern dieses Workshops und waren von Ovruts Ausführungen elektrisiert. Nach seinem Vortag, versuchen sie von ihm zu erfahren, ob sich die Branen bewegen könnten und wenn ja, ob ihre Kollision nicht – aus der Sicht der Branen Welten – einem Big Bang entsprechen könnten. Aus dieser rudimentären Anfangsidee entwickelten beide in den folgenden Jahren ihre Theorie eines ekpyrotischen Universums. Sie mussten dabei eine ganze Reihe Probleme lösen und dazu neue Methoden entwickeln, da der Horava- Witten Ansatz wesentlich auf der Konstanz des Abstands der Branen beruht. 2001 stellten sie ihre Ergebnisse erstmals auf einer Konferenz in Finnland vor – zunächst mit geringer Resonanz. Nach Modifikationen am Potential der Kraft zwischen den Branen, fanden sie, dass nach einem Zusammenstoß, die Branen wieder zurückprallen – ihr Modell beschreibt also ein zyklisches Universum. Es zeigte sich ferner, dass die erwähnte Kraft in den Branen als Dunkle Energie in Erscheinung tritt, diese lässt die Branen expandieren, wobei sie geglättet und parallelisiert werden, bevor sie ihren nächsten Zusammenprall erleiden. Somit tauchte in diesem Modell das Homogenitäts- und Flachheitsproblem gar nicht erst auf.

Nun gab es Entwürfe zyklischer Modelle in der Geschichte der Kosmologie schon etliche, alle scheiterten bisher an inneren Unstimmigkeiten. Deswegen gehen die Autoren ausführlich auf diese Fehler ein und zeigen, inwiefern ihr Modell diese Problem umgeht. Charles Misner zeigte etwa im Rahmen seines Mixmaster Modells, dass sich kleine Dichteschwankungen bei einem Big Crunch chaotisch verstärken; das würde aber der erwarteten Homogenität nach dem Durchgang durch den nächsten Big Bang widersprechen; während im vorgestellten Modell nur die Extradimension schrumpft, während die Branen weiter expandieren bzw. nur sanft kontrahieren.

Ausführlich vergleichen die Autoren ihr Modell mit der Inflationstheorie hinsichtlich ihrer Vorhersagen für die Entwicklung des Universums. Für eine große Zeitspanne – etwa eine Sekunde nach dem Urknall bis heute, stehen beide Modell in Einklang; hingegen weichen sie für die Zeit davor und danach in ihren Prognosen gänzlich ab. Auch im Rahmen der Auswertung der WMAP Daten hielten sich beide Modell Kopf an Kopf.

Es gibt allerdings ein Phänomen, bei dem beide Theorie zu unterschiedlichen Aussagen gelangen, dass somit geeignet ist, zwischen beiden zu entscheiden – sobald dazu genaue Messungen vorliegen. Die Inflationstheorie beschreibt die Erzeugung von primordialen Gravitationswellen, die zur Zeit der Entkopplung der Hintergrundstrahlung B- Mode Polarisationsmuster in diese eingeprägt. Da die Energiedichte beim zyklischen Model, während der Phase der Erzeugung langwelliger Gravitationswellen, deutlich geringer ist, sind auch die erzeugten Wellen schwächer, so dass es nicht Ausprägung von B- Modes kommt. Ferner unterscheiden sich beide Theorien deutlich hinsichtlich des Spektrum der erzeugten Gravitationswellen. WMAP konnte hier noch keine Entscheidung herbeiführen. Zu diesem Thema erschien in jüngster Zeit Brain Keatings Buch 'Losing the Nobel Prize' über seine Suche nach B- Modes mit Hilfe von BICEP – und deren beinah' Entdeckung.

Die beiden Autoren eröffnen mit ihrem Buch einen interessanten, gut verständlichen Einblick in ihren Entwurf eines kosmologischen Modells, das sich der Mittel der M- Theorie bedient. Sie geben dabei unumwunden zu, das der Rahmen dieser anspruchsvollen Basis – String und M Theorie erheben immerhin den Anspruch, der Vereinheitlichung aller Naturkräfte – noch nicht voll verstanden ist; sie entwickeln ihrer Theorie aber in stetem Vergleich mit anderen Modellen und vertrauen auf die erklärende Kraft eines Ansatzes, der die Dunkle Energie intrinsisch beinhaltet. Ihre Darstellung umfasst ganz natürlich einen Abriss der modernen Kosmologie, ihrer Probleme und Erfolge als exakte Wissenschaft, hauptsächlich Dank der präzisen Vermessung der kosmischen Hintergrundstrahlung durch Experimente wie COBE und WMAP. Dabei gehen sie auch kritisch auf die Multiversum- Interpretation, in Verbindung mit dem Anthropischen Prinzip, etwa der 'ewigen' Inflation ein.

In ihrem Buch beschränken sich die Autoren auf den einfachsten Fall einer Branen Kosmologie, viele kompliziertere Konstruktionen wurden untersucht. Lisa Randall und Raman Sundrum gelangten etwa zu Modellen mit großen Branen Abständen, davon berichtet Lisa Randall in 'Warped Passages'.

Das Buch ist für ein populärwissenschaftliches Werk exzellent ausgestattet mit einem Glossar, Index und einer Bibliographie mit Anregungen zur weiterführenden Lektüre; allerdings wurde auf alle Arten von Quellenangaben und Anmerkungen zum Text verzichtet.
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Susan D.
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2015
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Mildly entertaining.
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oceanade
5.0 out of 5 stars beezkneez in physicists
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2014
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This is a must for everyone interested in the origins of the universe
These guys are top physicists with great ideas
Highly readable and current
ps several physicists (Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking to name two megastarguys have supported its proofing etc)
Buy it you will not be disappointed
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Vivek Pal Singh
5.0 out of 5 stars Beginningless and endless 🙃
Reviewed in India on August 20, 2021
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Basics of Newtonian and Einstein’s theories along with nuisances of quantum theory are sufficient for diving deep into this book
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