The Science of Interstellar

Home > Other > The Science of Interstellar > Page 27
The Science of Interstellar Page 27

by Thorne, Kip


  Broderick, Avery, 281

  Brown, Julian R., 287, 306

  Caine, Michael, 12, 14, 213

  Carroll, Sean, 277, 289, 305

  Carter, Brandon, 84

  Chastain, Jessica, 12, 14, 213

  Chen, Yanbei, 147, 309

  Cherry, Amy, 300

  Choptuik, Matthew W., 227–229, 287, 305

  Davies, P. C. W., 287, 306

  Drasco, Steve, 72, 101

  Drever, Ronald, 151

  Druskin, Julia, 299

  Duez, Mathew D., 306

  Dyson, Freeman J., 118–120, 290, 306

  Ehlinger, Ladd, 285, 306

  Einstein, Albert, 27, 28, 35, 37, 42, 128, 129, 203, 204, 278, 283

  Emerson, S., 294, 306

  Escher, M. C., 271, 298

  Evans, Charles R., 228

  Everett, Allen, 132, 283, 289, 306

  Feldman, Todd, 3

  Feynman, Richard P., 278, 306

  Flamm, Ludwig, 128–130

  Ford, Kenneth, 287, 309

  Forward, Robert, 119, 120, 210, 306

  Foster, Jodie, 246

  Foucart, Francois, 149, 306

  Franklin, Paul, 10, 11, 31, 59, 76, 94, 139, 177, 182, 250, 252, 264, 280, 283, 288, 293, 299

  Freeze, Katherine, 286, 306

  Fuller, Robert, 129

  Gamow, George, 289, 306

  Gannon, Dennis, 131

  Garfinkle, David, 231

  Gezari, Suvi, 94

  Ghez, Andrea, 51, 52, 279

  Goldberg, Jordan, 299

  Gonzalez, Gabriella, 153

  Green, Michael, 187, 284

  Greene, Brian, 278, 284, 306

  Gregory, Ruth, 200, 285, 306

  Grishchuk, Leonid, 155

  Guillochon, James, 94, 280, 306

  Guth, Alan, 277, 306

  Halloran, Lia, 40, 41, 151, 230, 299

  Hamilton, Andrew, 84, 288

  Hartle, James, 278, 279, 284, 297, 306

  Hathaway, Anne, 12–14, 178

  Hawking, Stephen, 10, 51, 227, 229, 268, 269, 278, 279, 282, 289, 306, 307

  Hebbeln, Dierk, 305

  Hedges, John I., 293, 294, 304, 307

  Heisenberg, Werner, 28

  Holl, Pat, 299

  Hoyle, Fred, 17

  Huang, Leslie, 299

  Ingersoll, Andrew P., 292, 305

  Interrante, Mark, 133

  Isaacson, Walter, 278, 307

  Israel, Werner, 232, 233, 287, 308

  James, Oliver, 10–12, 83–86, 96, 138–141, 143, 293, 299

  Jemmison, Mae, 282

  Jennerjahn, Tim, 305

  Joy, Lisa, 10

  Kaehler, Ralf, 280, 281

  Kasen, Daniel, 93, 305

  Keil, Richard G., 293, 294, 307

  Kennefick, Daniel, 283, 307

  Kerr, Roy, 51, 132

  Khalatnikov, Isaac, 230, 231

  Kidder, Lawrence E., 306

  Kovac, John, 156

  Koyama, Kazuya, 286, 307

  Kremer, Ritchie, 171

  Kuo, Chao-Lin, 156

  L’Engle, Madeleine, 289, 307

  Lazzarini, Albert, 153

  Le Verrier, Urbain, 203, 285, 308

  Leadbetter, Jared, 105, 106, 108, 110, 111

  Lemonick, Michael, 282, 307

  Levin, Janna, 84, 293, 307

  Lewy, Eric, 299

  Lifshitz, Eugene, 231

  Lops, Joe, 299

  Lynden-Bell, Donald, 90, 92, 93, 307

  Maartens, Roy, 286, 307

  Macbride, Catherine, 133

  MacCormack, Ian, 302

  Marolf, Donald, 233, 287, 307

  Matthews, Keith, 212

  McConaughey, Matthew, 12–14

  McGehee, Robert, 302

  McFeely, Drake, 300

  McKinney, Jonathan C., 281, 307

  McMullen, Chris, 285, 289, 307

  Meier, David L., 280, 307

  Merritt, David, 281, 307

  Meyerowitz, Elliot, 105, 108–113, 281

  Misner, Charles W., 307

  Mlodinow, Leonard, 278, 306

  Mohtadi, Mahyar, 305

  Moore, Gordon, 10

  Morris, Mark, 132

  Murchikova, Elena, 212, 213

  Nahin, Paul J., 289, 307

  Newton, Isaac, 27, 28, 42, 43, 207

  Nikbin, Amin, 302

  Nichols, David, 41

  Nolan, Christopher (Chris), vii, ix, x, 3, 4, 7–10, 14, 30, 59, 61, 63, 69, 70, 76, 83, 86, 94, 96, 97, 100, 105, 138, 139, 144, 146, 150, 151, 163, 166, 168, 169, 171, 182, 189, 193, 196, 213, 233, 242, 246, 247, 249, 250, 252, 253, 256–259, 262–265, 271, 274, 289, 294, 299; see also Index of Subjects: Nolan, Christopher

  Nolan, Jonathan (Jonah), x, 3–5, 105, 150, 299

  Novikov, Igor, 266

  O’Neill, Gerard K., 290, 307

  Obst, Lynda, x, 1–10, 13, 14, 105, 110, 130, 150, 277, 299

  Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 51

  Ori, Amos, 233, 287, 307

  Ortelius, Abraham, 28

  Owen, Rob, 152

  Oyelowo, David, 178

  Paczynski, Bohdan, 295, 296, 307

  Pais, Abraham, 278, 308

  Panek, Richard, 286, 308

  Pasquero, Claudia, 293, 305

  Penrose, Roger, 91, 307, 308

  Perez-Giz, Gabe, 293, 307

  Perlmutter, Saul, 206

  Perryman, Michael, 282

  Pfeiffer, Harald, 155

  Picasso, Pablo, x

  Pineault, Serge, 85, 308

  Poisson, Eric, 232, 287, 308

  Pound, Robert (Bob), 36, 291

  Preskill, John, 227–229

  Press, William (Bill), 170, 171

  Pryke, Clem, 156

  Ramirez-Ruiz,Enrico, 93

  Randall, Lisa, 195–198, 200, 269, 285, 308

  Reasenberg, Robert, 38

  Rebca, Glen, 36, 291

  Rees, Martin, 277, 279, 280, 303, 308

  Reiss, Adam, 206

  Reitze, David, 153

  Riazuelo, Alain, 78, 79, 84, 280

  Rifkin, Don, 299

  Roeder, Rob C, 85, 293, 308

  Roman, Thomas, 132, 283, 289, 306

  Rose, Carol, 299

  Rosen, Nathan, 128

  Roseveare, N. T., 285

  Rosswog, Stephan, 93, 306

  Rubakov, Valery, 200, 285, 306

  Sagan, Carl, 1, 2, 130, 246, 266

  Saroff, David, 175

  Schmidt, Brian, 206

  Schmidt, Maarten, 88, 89

  Schrödinger, Erwin, 28

  Schutz, Bernard, 278, 308

  Schwarz, John, 187, 188, 284

  Schwarzschild, Karl, 51, 279, 288

  Shapiro, Irwin, 38

  Sheehan, William, 285, 305

  Sherman, Eric, 300

  Shostak, Seth, 282, 308

  Shreve, Jeff, 299, 300

  Sibiryakov, Sergei, 200, 285, 306

  Simon, Mel, 105, 108

  Singh, P. Simon, 277, 308

  Snyder, Hartland, 51

  Soloway, Keara, 302

  Spielberg, Arnold, 4

  Spielberg, Steven, x, 3, 4, 7, 299

  Stewart, Ian, 285, 308

  Sundrum, Raman, 196, 197, 269, 285

  Swanson, Erika, 178, 179

  Tchekhovskoy, Alexander, 281, 307

  Teo, Edward, 21, 279, 308

  Teukolsky, Saul, 154, 171, 172, 284, 306

  Thomas, Emma, x, 7, 13, 299

  Thompson, Andy, 8, 299

  Thorne, Kip, vii, x, 6
, 9, 47, 229, 278–280, 284, 287–289, 307, 308; see also Index of Subjects: Kip Thorne

  Toomey, David, 289, 308

  Vessot, Robert, 36

  Vilenkin, Alex, 277, 309

  Visser, Matt, 282, 309

  von Tunzelmann, Eugénie, 10, 11, 85, 96–98, 140, 141, 143, 299

  Waldseemuller, Martin, 28

  Wasserburg, Gerald, 112

  Weiss, Rainer, 151

  Wheeler, John Archibald, 29, 57, 127, 129, 130, 134, 154, 224, 226, 227, 230, 287, 307, 309

  Wiita, Paul, 295, 296, 307

  Will, Clifford M., 36, 278, 286, 309

  Winstein, Carolee, 2, 10, 300

  Witten, Edward, 200, 285, 309

  Yang, Huan, 171, 173, 284, 309

  Yung, Yuk, 112

  Yurtsever, Ulvi, 132

  Zenginoglu, Anil, 309

  Zhang, Fan, 309

  Ziffren, Kenneth, 300

  Zimmerman, Aaron, 171, 284, 309

  Znajek, Roman, 91, 92

  Zwicky, Fritz, 204, 205

  INDEX OF SUBJECTS

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book.

  You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

  accretion disks around black holes, 92, 97, 98, 99

  visually impressive to astronomers, 89

  creation by black hole tearing apart a star, 93–94, 148–149, 280

  how they work, 90–92

  spin black holes up or down, 61

  gravitational lensing of, 94–97, 96, 97

  astrophysicists’ simulations of, 280–281

  Gargantua’s disk, see Gargantua, Interstellar’s black hole

  AIDS virus, 108

  Andromeda galaxy, 19, 70

  anomalies, see gravitational anomalies

  Anti-deSitter (AdS) sandwich, 199–201, 199, 215, 219, 285; see also bulk

  Anti-deSitter (AdS) warp of space, 196–201; see also bulk

  Aurora Borealis, 24–25, 24

  Bicep2, 156–157, 156

  big-bang origin of our universe, 17–18, 29, 135, 155–157, 277

  gravitational waves from, 155–157

  black-hole flight simulator, Andrew Hamilton’s, 288

  black holes:

  introduced, 21–22

  observational evidence for, 51–53

  observed at the centers of galaxies, 19

  observed at center of Milky Way galaxy, 51–53

  observed at center of the Andromeda galaxy, 19–20, 70

  number in our Milky Way galaxy, 53

  how they are born, 22

  properties predicted by Einstein’s relativistic laws, 51

  all properties determined by mass and spin, 57

  maximum possible spin rate, 59–62

  made from warped spacetime, 22, 45–49

  warping of space around, 45–49

  slowing of time near, 35, 47–49; see also event horizon

  whirl of space near, 48–50, 60–61, 77, 80–82, 91–92, 97, 149, 163–164, 175, 193, 247, 284, 295

  circumference proportional to mass, 22

  radius of black hole, defined, 59

  appearance as seen from the bulk, 40–41, 46–49, 49

  appearance as seen inside our universe—shadow and gravitational lensing, 12, 50–51, 50, 75–84, 75, 79, 81; see also Gargantua, Interstellar’s black hole; gravitational lensing by black holes

  vibrations of, 170–173, 284

  typical orbits around, 72, 101, 280

  orbital navigation near, 71–72

  zoom-whirl orbit, 121

  tidal gravity of, 41–42, 44

  tidal gravity tears apart stars, 148–149

  environment near, is lethal, 100–102, 281

  intermediate-mass black hole, see IMBH

  small black hole spiraling into a large black hole, 186

  collision and merger of two black holes, 151–152, 154–155, 151, 155

  Schwarzschild and Kerr metrics for, 51

  Paczynski-Wiita approximate description of black hole’s gravity, 296–297

  some black-hole formulas, 292–293

  references on, 279

  see also accretion disks around black holes; critical orbit around a black hole; event horizon; Gargantua, Interstellar’s black hole; gravitational lensing by black holes; jets from black holes; singularities inside black holes

  blackboards, Professor Brand’s, 14, 32, 33, 192, 201, 212–213, 220, 221, 274, 286, 295–296

  Blandford-Znajek effect, 91–92

  blight in crops:

  nature of blight, 109–110

  specialist vs. generalist, 110–111

  Interstellar’s blight:

  burning blighted corn, 31

  possibility of occurrence, 31–32, 105–106, 109–111, 281

  branes:

  our universe as a brane in a higher-dimensional bulk, 32, 187–188

  predicted by superstring theory, 187–188, 227

  used to visualize the warping of space, 37–41

  humans, and all known nongravitational particles and fields, confined to our brane, 49–50, 192–193

  gravitational field lines bent parallel to our brane, see bulk, confining gravity in

  confining branes, 199–201, 285

  instability of confining branes: danger of brane collision and destruction of our universe, 219

  see also bulk; fifth dimension; Professor Brand’s equation; tesseract

  bulk:

  descriptions of, 32

  used to depict warping of space in our universe, 37–41, 39, 40, 46–49, 46, 47, 48, 49, 62, 128, 129, 131, 135, 139, 141, 142, 155, 186

  existence is an educated guess, 32–33

  evidence for existence from superstring theory, 186–188, 284

  number of dimensions in the bulk, 187–188

  confining gravity in, 194–199

  problem of, 194–195

  solution: curled-up dimensions, 195–196

  solution: the Anti-deSitter warp, 196–201

  for Interstellar: the Anti-deSitter sandwich and layer, 199–200

  buckling instability of the sandwich, 200–201, 219, 219

  Einstein’s relativistic laws in the bulk, 32, 224–225, 271

  determined by the quantum gravity laws, 225

  see also branes; bulk beings; bulk fields in Interstellar; fifth dimension; tesseract; time travel, with a bulk

  bulk beings (hypothetical), 189–193, 190, 191, 193

  motivated by Abbott’s Flatland, 190–193, 285

  their physical nature—made of bulk fields, 192–193

  appearance when they pass through our brane, 190–192

  gravity, space warp, and space whirl due to, 192–193, 193

  in Interstellar, 137, 193, 218, 247, 259, 261, 271

  bulk fields in Interstellar:

  defined and described, 215–216

  tidal gravity and gravitational anomalies due to, 215, 215

  Professor Brand’s suspicion that bulk fields control strength of gravity, 217, 286

  may hold Interstellar’s wormhole open, 218

  may protect our brane from collision with confining branes, 219

  embodied in Professor Brand’s equation, 220–222, 295–296

  see also Professor Brand’s equation

  carbon cycle, 281–282

  Cassini space mission (NASA), 72–74

  centrifugal forces:

  and angular momentum, 101

  protect objects from fall
ing into black holes, 67, 101

  and stability of orbits, 162, 162, 241–242, 241

  and the critical orbit (volcano’s rim), 121, 239–242, 244–245

  near a spinning black hole: influence of space whirl, 164

  confining gravity in the bulk, see bulk

  critical orbit around a black hole, 60, 62–64, 121–122, 239–245, 247, 249

  volcano analogy, 239–241, 239, 241, 296–297

  explanation in terms of gravitational energy, centrifugal energy, and radial kinetic energy, 240–241

  explanation in terms of centrifugal and gravitational forces, 241–242, 241

  instability of critical orbit, 242

  zoom-whirl orbit, relies on critical orbit, 121–122, 121

  black-hole binary for interstellar travel uses critical orbit, 121–122, 121

  in Interstellar:

  Cooper navigates onto, 237–238, 238

  Endurance’s near catastrophe on, 242–243

  ejection of TARS and Cooper into Gargantua from, 242–244, 243

  Endurance launch toward Edmunds’ planet from, 244–245, 244, 245

  disks, see accretion disks

  Disney movie The Black Hole, 50, 250

  Double Negative visual effects, 10, 31, 50, 75, 81, 83, 85, 96, 97, 98, 138, 139, 144, 145, 171, 288, 293

  dynamical friction, 70

  Earth:

  place in universe, Milky Way, and solar system, 19, 21, 21, 71

  mapping of by explorers, 27–28, 28

  magnetic field of, 23–24, 24

  Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), 24–25, 24

  gravitational force lines of, 26, 26

  gravitational force varies from location to location, 216–217, 217

  tidal gravity due to varying density of Earth’s crust, 209–211

  tides on Earth’s oceans, 42–43, 42, 43

  tidal bores, 166, 167

  tsunamis, 166, 167

  slowing of time on Earth, 35–37, 36, 224

  motion of stars on Earth’s sky, 81

  global warming, 108

  algae blooms, 108–109

  Earth’s atmosphere, 110–114, 293–294

  oxygen cycle, 281

  carbon cycle, 281–282

  ocean overturns, 293–294

  in Interstellar:

  possible catastrophes to create “Cooper’s world,” 105–111

  blight, see blight in crops

  gravitational anomalies, see gravitational anomalies on Earth

  reducing Earth’s gravity so as to lift colonies off Earth, 274–275

  Einstein ring, 79, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 145, 157

  electric fields, 25, 92

  Endurance:

  movie set of, 9, 13–14

  images of:

  inside the Endurance’s control module, 9

 

‹ Prev