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The Science of Interstellar

Page 29

by Thorne, Kip


  Kip’s discussions with Christopher Nolan about what the equation should be, 9, 213

  and the Professor’s struggle to understand gravity, 213–220

  and controlling gravity’s strength, so as to lift colonies off Earth, 212, 221, 223, 263, 273–274

  specific form of the equation, 220

  explanation of equation, 220–221

  solving the equation—what that means, 221

  iterations in solving the equation, 221–222, 221

  quantum data, see quantum gravity data

  quantum fluctuations, 28–29, 155–156, 197, 223–225, 268, 273, 287

  quantum foam, 134–135, 224–225

  quantum gravity data

  what these data are, 224–225

  encoded in the singularities inside a black hole, 225–227

  extracting them from a singularity, 170, 223, 266

  quantum gravity, see laws of physics, quantum gravity laws

  quantum physics, see laws of physics, quantum laws

  quasars:

  discovery of, 88–89

  explanation by black-hole accretion disk, 89–91

  jets powered by whirling magnetic fields, 91–92

  revolutions that upend scientific truth, 24, 202

  rocket technology:

  twenty-first century, 68, 117

  far future, 117–120

  science:

  the power of, for humans, 275

  the importance of understanding science, its power and its limitations, 275

  truth, educated guess, and speculation in, 30–34

  science fiction:

  contrast with science fantasy, 62

  respectability in, 246–247

  singularities:

  what a singularity is, 225–226

  as the domain of quantum gravity, 49, 225–227

  naked singularities, 59, 227–230

  inside black holes, see singularities inside black holes

  singularities inside black holes:

  the chaotic, lethal BKL singularity, 230–231, 246

  the infalling (mass-inflation) singularity, 232–233, 246, 248–249

  the outflying (shock) singularity, 233–234, 246, 248–249

  “gentleness” of infalling and outflying singularities, 234, 246–247

  Cooper sandwiched between singularities in Interstellar, 248–249

  slingshots, see gravitational slingshots

  solar system, 20–21, 21, 71, 71

  solving gravity, see Professor Brand’s equation

  space colonies, 273–275, 290

  spacetime:

  unification (mixing) of space and time, 185–186

  causal structure of, 297–298

  warping of, see warped spacetime

  space warps, see warped spacetime

  stars:

  nearest, 115–117

  Tau Ceti, 115–117

  Proxima Centauri, 21, 116–117, 120

  torn apart by black holes, 93–94, 148–149

  Sun, 20–21, 20

  space warped around, 37–39, 47, 32, 39

  tidal forces of, 43

  temperature of, 94

  gravitational force of, and planetary orbits, 194–195, 202

  particles flying out from, 24–25

  superstring theory, 30, 187–188, 187, 284

  tendex lines, 41–44, 41, 151–153, 151, 152, 153, 164–165, 165, 209–211, 209, 210, 214–216, 214, 215; see also tidal gravity

  tesseract:

  as a hypercube in a space with four dimensions, 253, 253

  as a means of transport through the bulk, 34, 193, 196–197, 200–201

  in the novel A Wrinkle in Time, 289

  tesseract, in Interstellar:

  saves Cooper from singularity, 251, 252

  entrance to, 252

  transports Cooper to vicinity of Murph’s bedroom, 254–255

  Cooper sees six views into bedroom, 256–257

  Cooper sends signals backward in time to Murph, via the tesseract, 263–266, 270–271, 297–298

  see also tesseract, Nolan’s complexified

  tesseract, Nolan’s complexified

  images from Interstellar, 257, 261, 265

  Christopher Nolan’s hand drawing of, 259

  Kip’s explanation of, 256–261, 265–266, 270–271

  sending messages backward in bedroom time, 263–266, 270–271, 297–298

  Thorne, Kip, see Kip Thorne

  tidal bores, 166, 167

  tidal field, see tendex lines; tidal gravity

  tidal forces, see tendex lines; tidal gravity

  tidal gravity:

  instruments to measure, 209–211, 210

  Newton’s viewpoint, 42–43

  and straightest paths through warped spacetime, 41, 44, 278

  tendex viewpoint, 41–44

  and ocean tides on Earth, 42–43

  and gravitational waves, 151–153

  on Jupiter’s moon Io, 168

  on Miller’s planet, 58, 163–166, 284, 292

  tears stars apart, 93–94, 148–149, 280

  squeezes accretion disk, 98

  and design of the Endurance, 180–181

  pries Endurance apart from Mann’s planet, 237–238, 238

  and gravitational anomalies, 213–216

  near singularities, 231–233, 251

  see also tendex lines

  tides:

  on Earth’s oceans, 42–43

  on Miller’s planet, 163, 166

  time travel:

  what we know about, without a bulk, 266–269

  with a bulk, 269

  in Interstellar:

  Christopher Nolan’s rule set for, 263

  messaging Murph backward in time, 263–266, 265, 270–271, 270, 289–290, 297–298, 298

  time warps, see time warps, Einstein’s law of; warped spacetime

  time warps, Einstein’s law of, 35–37, 291

  applications of, 47, 139, 162, 267

  toxins, 108

  truth, educated guess, and speculation in science, 30–34

  tsunamis:

  on Earth, 167, 274–275

  on Miller’s planet, 166

  universe, our:

  overview of, 17–26, 277

  laws that control it, 27–34; see also laws of physics

  as a brane in a higher-dimensional bulk, 32, 187–188; see also branes

  Viking spacecraft, 38–39

  volcano’s rim, see critical orbit around a black hole

  Vulcan, 203, 285

  warped side of the universe, 154, 283; see also big-bang origin of our universe; black holes; geometrodynamics; gravitational waves; wormholes

  warped spacetime, 35–41

  space warps, 37–41

  time warps, 35–37

  underlies Einstein’s relativistic laws, 28–29

  and tidal gravity, 41

  whirling space, 48-49; see also black holes, whirl of space near

  warping begets warping, 46–47

  around black hole, precise depiction, 49

  white dwarfs, 21–22

  wormhole in Interstellar:

  visual appearance, 145

  visualization of, by Double Negative visual-effects team, 138–145

  gravitational pull and time warping, 138–139

  handles for its shape: radius, length, and lensing width, 139–140

  influence of handles on its appearance, 140–144

  gravitational lensing by, 142–145

  discov
ering the wormhole by gravitational waves: my extrapolation, 146–151

  bulk fields hold it open, in my interpretation, 218–219

  see also wormholes

  wormholes:

  how they got their name, 127

  mouths, 133

  some history of research on, 128–129, 130–132

  almost certainly do not occur naturally, 133–135

  perhaps forbidden by laws of physics, 136–137

  problem of holding them open, 129–130, 218, 218

  problem of making them artificially, 135–136

  in Contact (the movie), 130–132

  Flamm’s wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge), 128–130

  as seen from the bulk, 128, 129, 131

  visualizing via gravitational lensing, 138–144

  visual appearance, 132–133, 133, 141, 143, 145

  microscopic wormholes (quantum foam), 134–135, 134, 224–225, 225, 287

  see also wormhole in Interstellar

  ALSO BY KIP THORNE

  The Future of Spacetime (with Stephen W. Hawking, Igor Novikov, Timothy Ferris, Alan Lightman, and Richard H. Price)

  Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy

  Black Holes: The Membrane Paradigm (with Richard H. Price and Douglas A. MacDonald)

  Gravitation (with Charles W. Misner and John Archibald Wheeler)

  Gravitation Theory and Gravitational Collapse (with B. Kent Harrison, Masami Wakano, and John Archibald Wheeler)

  Copyright © 2014 Itzy

  Text © Kip Thorne

  Foreword copyright © 2014 by Christopher Nolan

  Film © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  INTERSTELLAR and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  WB SHIELD: TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  The following images from the book are included with permission from Warner Bros.: Figures 1.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 5.6, 8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.7, 9.9, 9.10, 9.11, 11.1, 14.9, 15.2, 15.4, 15.5, 17.5, 17.9, 18.1, 19.2, 19.3, 20.1, 20.2, 24.5, 25.1, 25.7, 25.8, 25.9, 27.8, 28.3, 29.8, 29.14, 30.1, and 31.1. Images © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  All rights reserved

  First Edition

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  Book design by Chris Welch

  Production managers: Julia Druskin and Joe Lops

  ISBN 978-0-393-35137-8

  ISBN 978-0-393-35138-5 (e-book)

  W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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  www.wwnorton.com

  W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.

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