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Farewell to Reality

Page 38

by Jim Baggott

anthropic multiverse 268—9, 278, 281—3

  carbon coincidence 262—5

  goldilocks enigma 265—7

  intelligent design, the

  argument from 270—7

  reality check 277—81

  strong anthropic principle 269—70, 272

  weak anthropic principle 267—8, 278, 283

  Anthropic Cosmological Principle,

  The (Barrow/Tipler) 270, 272—3, 275—6, 279

  anti-de Sitter space (AdS) 255—6

  anti-matter 58, 60, 167

  anti-neutrino 67, 160, 161

  anti-particles 66, 160, 161, 166, 175, 189

  anti-quark 74, 75, 77, 130, 136, 185, 185n

  Arkani-Hamed, Nima 200

  Arrhenius, Svante 184

  Aspect experiment 48, 135

  Aspect, Alain 48

  Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy) 13

  asymptotic freedom 76, 188

  ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC

  Apparatus) 10, 10n, 11, 72, 73, 74, 178

  atoms 56

  atomic spectrum 109

  Big Bang and 103, 109, 110, 111, 113, 128, 132, 133

  construction of mass and 77—8, 79

  primeval 110, 111

  properties of 56

  auxiliary assumptions or

  hypotheses 19, 20, 105

  axion 141—2

  Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX), University of Washington’s Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics 142

  Barnett, Lincoln 93

  Barrow, John 270, 272, 274, 275—6, 279

  baryonic matter 127, 127n, 141, 148

  baryons 65, 74, 76—7

  Bayes, Thomas 281—2, 283

  Bekenstein, Jacob 247, 248, 249

  Bell Laboratories, New Jersey 115, 244

  Bell, John 46—51, 50, 51, 53, 129, 134, 135, 210, 213

  Bell’s inequality 47—51, 53, 129, 135, 210

  Bellevue, Switzerland 49

  Berkeley, George 5

  Bernex, Switzerland 49

  beta function 185, 195

  beta-radioactivity 56—7, 67, 75

  Bethe, Hans 62

  Big Bang cosmology (ACDM) 111—12, 216, 221, 229

  COBE, WMAP and 121—3

  cosmic inflation and 117—19

  cosmic microwave

  background and 112—14

  cosmological constant and 104—6, 120, 124—6, 127, 143, 145, 261, 278

  dark energy and 124—7

  dark matter and 122—4

  expansion of universe and 104, 107—8, 125—7

  fine-tuning problem 222

  flatness and horizon problem 115—16, 221

  grand unification epoch and 118, 121

  hot 114, 227, 230

  Hubble’s law and 108—9

  inflation see inflation

  standard model of 102—28, 159

  symmetry/supersymmetry and 159, 168, 170, 171, 172

  why the standard model can’t be right 129, 130, 134, 139, 142, 143, 150, 229

  big splat 228

  black holes:

  complementarity 250—2

  dark matter and 142—3

  Hawking radiation and 142—3, 248—50, 251, 252, 257, 258

  ‘information paradox’ 250—1

  MACHOs and 124

  reality check 256—9

  second law of

  thermodynamics and 246—8

  war 250—2, 256, 260

  X-ray emission and 257

  blueshift 99, 109

  Bohm, David 210, 211

  Bohr, Niels 31, 39—40, 42, 43, 45, 50, 51, 55, 130, 182, 184, 215, 251

  Boltzmann, Ludwig 242, 243

  Bondi, Hermann 112

  bootstrap theory 180, 288

  ‘Bose condensation’ 34

  Bose, Satyendra Nath 34

  bosino 166, 167, 173

  boson 34, 65, 71, 72, 73, 77n, 117, 118, 130, 131, 136n, 139, 140 160, 161, 162, 163—5, 166, 167, 169, 173, 174, 178, 186, 187, 188, 194, 195, 204, 229, 282, 228, 298, 300 see also Higgs boson

  Bostrom, Nick 277—8, 281—2

  Bousso, Raphael 223—4

  Brahe, Tycho 13, 13n, 14

  branes and braneworlds 16, 198—202, 203, 204, 226—7, 228, 229, 230, 254—6, 261, 286

  British Association for the

  Advancement of Science 298

  Broglie, Louis de 39, 54, 210—11

  Brookhaven National

  Laboratory, New York 75

  Brooks, Michael xiii, xiiin, 16n

  Brout, Robert 69, 70

  brown dwarf stars 124

  Butterworth, Jon 11

  Calabi—Yau space 192—6, 200, 204, 224, 225, 226, 227, 229, 282, 230

  Calabi, Eugenio 193—4

  California, University of, Santa

  Barbara 194, 250

  California Institute of

  Technology (Caltech) 188—9

  Cambridge University 206, 219, 227, 247, 267

  Candelas, Philip 193, 194

  ‘canonical quantization’ 146

  carbon coincidence 262—5, 278, 279

  Cartan, Elié 60

  Carter, Brandon 247, 267, 268, 269, 270

  Cartwright, Nancy 296—7

  Casimir, Hendrik 41, 42, 143

  CERN 185, 190, 288

  Large Electron-Positron (LEP)

  Collider 176, 177

  Large Hadron Collider (LHC) 10, 10n, 12, 22, 59n, 72, 73, 117, 139, 163, 169, 177, 178, 180, 203—4, 208, 288, 299, 300

  Cerro Tololo Inter-American

  Observatory, Chile 126

  CFT/AdS duality 256

  Chadwick, James 56

  Chien Shiung Wu 66

  ‘Chinese room’ thought

  experiment 285—6

  Clarke, Arthur C. 40—1

  CMS (Compact Muon

  Solenoid) 10, 10n, 72, 73, 178

  coherence theory of truth 259—60

  collapsing universe 105—6

  colour force 76—7

  Columbia University, New York xiv, 74, 174

  Columbia, Space Shuttle 127

  Coma cluster 123

  compactification 184, 192, 193, 202, 226, 229, 230, 282

  Compton, Arthur 30

  computing, quantum 240—1

  conformal field theory (CFT) 256

  contraction of length 89—91

  Copenhagen interpretation 30—1, 32, 36, 39, 40, 42—5, 50, 184, 215, 216, 218

  Copernican Principle 22—4, 105n, 131, 148, 261, 267, 269, 272, 278, 281

  Copernicus, Nicolaus 13, 24, 217, 222, 267

  correspondence theory of truth 259—60

  Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) 121, 122, 124

  cosmic inflation 117—20, 124, 150, 221—4

  cosmic landscape 224—6, 229, 230—1, 261, 269, 281, 283, 293—4

  Cosmic Landscape, The (Susskind) 269, 281, 283, 293—4

  cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation 103, 112—15, 117, 120, 121, 127—8, 228, 230, 257, 286

  cosmological principle 105, 105n

  anthropic x, 261—83

  cosmology, quantum 216

  Cox, Brian xiii

  Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) 179

  D-brane 199—201, 203, 226, 254—6

  d’Espagnat, Bernard 6

  dark energy 104, 124—5, 127, 128, 143, 149, 218n, 228—9, 255, 261

  dark matter 104, 122—4, 127, 127n, 128, 141, 142, 143, 170 173, 174—5, 178—9, 203, 208, 218n, 228—9, 261

  David X. Li 289—90

  Davies, Paul 274, 275

  Dawkins, Richard 276—7

  de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave

  theory 210—11

  de Sitter, Willem 255

  Debye, Pieter 30

  decoherence 212—14, 217, 241

  Descartes, René 262

  Deutsch, David 217—18, 240

  DeWitt, Bruce 216, 217

  Dick, Philip K. 6

  Dicke, Robert 114, 115, 116—17

 
dimensions, hidden extra 55, 59, 94, 104, 146, 158, 159, 159n, 160, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 190, 191, 192—203, 205, 206, 211, 224—30, 253, 261, 265, 266, 282, 286

  Dimopoulos, Savas 165, 200

  Dirac, Paul 45, 59—60, 61, 63, 64, 79, 166, 167, 182, 206

  Discourse on Method (Descartes) 262

  Discover 237

  Discovery Institute, Seattle 270—1, 272

  Doppler effect 108—9, 109n

  Duff, Michael 196—7, 198

  Duhem, Pierre 12

  Dvali, Gita 200

  Dyson, Freeman 63

  E = mc2 59, 62, 91—3, 144, 248

  Eddington, Arthur 18, 18n, 97

  Edinburgh International Book

  Festival, 2011 xiii

  Edinburgh University 69

  Ehrenfest, Paul 184

  Einstein, Albert xiii, 1, 7, 15, 17, 27, 38, 54, 102, 116, 129, 136, 144, 155, 182, 192, 194, 208, 209, 211, 234, 255, 261, 262, 284

  challenges Bohr with series of

  ‘thought experiments’ 42—6, 50, 55

  contraction of length and 89—91

  cosmological constant and 104—6, 120, 125, 127, 143, 145, 261, 278

  criticism of quantum theory 38, 42—6, 49

  dilation of time and 87—9

  E = mc2 59, 62, 91—3, 144, 248

  Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen

  thought experiment and 43—6, 47, 50, 51

  ‘equivalence principle’ 96

  expansion of universe,

  attitude towards idea of 107, 108

  general theory of relativity 17—18, 30, 43, 55, 81, 95—101, 104—6, 107, 145—8, 182, 193, 235, 247, 258

  gravity and curvature of

  spacetime 94—7

  light quantum hypothesis 28—30, 31, 91, 130

  redshift and 98—9

  Schrödinger’s cat and 132—3

  search for way to unify

  gravity and

  electromagnetism 182—3, 184

  simultaneity and speed of light 84—7

  Spacetime and 93—101

  special theory of relativity 30, 34, 42, 55, 58—9, 59n, 70n, 81, 84—7, 91, 96, 99—100, 134

  ‘spooky action-at-a-distance’,

  calls collapse of the

  wavefunction 42, 46

  Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen

  thought experiment 43—6, 47, 50, 51

  Ekpyrotic universe 228

  electro-nuclear force 118, 139, 160, 170

  electro-weak epoch 118, 119, 139

  electro-weak force 67—8, 69, 70—1, 72, 73, 77, 117, 118, 130, 139, 140 158, 160, 169, 177, 200, 288, 298, 300

  electromagnetism 28, 55—6, 57, 61, 170

  Big Bang and 103

  fluctuations of field in a

  vacuum 41—2

  forces of nature and 55—6

  goldilocks enigma and 265—6

  quantum electrodynamics

  (QED), formal theory of 63—4, 77, 136, 145, 158, 159, 198

  radiation and light 3, 27, 28

  search for theory of

  unification with gravity 182—4, 185, 192, 200

  strong nuclear force and see

  strong nuclear force

  SUSY and 168, 169, 170 171, 172, 173

  theory of 28

  unifying weak nuclear force

  and 67—8, 139

  electrons:

  abstract nature of 16

  Big Bang and 103, 109, 111, 113

  bounced off each other 61—2

  collapse of wavefunction and 54—5

  exchange of photon between

  as experience of force 62

  field 61

  g-factor 63—4

  left hand of the 65—6

  light ‘bounced’ off 30

  matrix mechanics and 58

  scalar electron 166

  ‘self-energy’ of 62—3

  spinning 58—60

  two-slit interference patterns 54

  volt 10, 10n, 118, 137 139, 142, 169

  elements, formation of 263—5

  Ellis, George 274, 275

  End of Science, The (Horgan) 297—8, 299

  Englert, François 69, 70

  ensemble of universes 268

  ‘equivalence principle’ 96

  eternal inflation 221—4, 225, 227, 229

  Euclid 96—7, 116, 183, 255n

  Euler, Leonhard 185

  Everett III, Hugh 215, 216, 221

  External Reality Hypothesis (ERH) 236

  Fabric of the Cosmos, The (Greene) 94, 206

  Fact Principle 12, 130 Facts and Mysteries in Elementary

  Particle Physics (Veltman) 202

  fairy-tale physics ix—xi, xii—xiii, 1, 2, 24, 131, 135, 180, 181, 259

  end of physics and 297—9

  harm of 291—4

  it isn’t science, what is it? 284—7

  philosophy and 295—7

  what do you want me to do

  about it? 299—300

  falsifiability xii, 18—20, 21, 293—4

  Fermi Gamma-ray Space

  Telescope 143, 257

  Fermi, Enrico 33, 62, 64, 143, 257

  Fermilab x, 117

  Tevatron 176, 177

  fermions 33, 34, 65, 163—5, 166, 167, 169, 173, 187, 188, 194, 195, 229, 282

  Ferrara, Sergio 173

  Feynman, Richard 63, 64, 205, 293, 294

  ‘Feynman diagrams’ 63

  fine-tuning problem 139, 140 148—50, 163, 222, 262, 266, 268, 278, 281, 283

  FitzGerald, George 90

  flatness and horizon problems 115—17

  force carriers 67, 68, 72, 77, 78, 118, 146, 158—9, 170, 173

  force particles 65, 77, 78, 80, 136n, 158, 159, 160, 164, 167, 188, 234

  Ford, Kent 123

  frame-dragging 100, 101

  Frank, Adam 237

  Freedman, Daniel 173

  Friedman, Alexander 107, 108

  Frigg, Roman 296—7

  Fritzsch, Harald 76

  Galileo 55, 217, 237

  Galle, Johann 19

  Gamow, George 106, 111, 112—13, 114

  Gaussian copula function 289—90

  Gell-Mann, Murray 74, 76, 777

  general theory of relativity 17—18, 30, 43, 55, 81, 95—101, 104—6, 107, 145—8, 182, 193, 235, 247, 258

  Geneva, University of 49

  geodetic drift 101

  Georgi, Howard 118, 119, 121, 159, 160—1, 162, 165, 170

  Glashow, Sheldon 67, 68, 69, 119, 121, 159, 160—1, 162, 202

  Global Positioning System (GPS) 89

  gluinos 166, 167, 177, 178

  gluons 77, 79, 136n, 159, 166, 177, 254, 255

  God particle see Higgs boson

  Gold, Thomas 111—12

  Goldilocks enigma 265—7, 275

  Goldilocks Enigma, The (Davies) 275

  Graham, Neill 216

  Grand Delusion 289—90

  grand unification epoch 118, 120, 121, 139

  grand unified theory (GUT) 119, 119n, 120, 121, 159—64, 175

  gravitons 73, 146, 173, 189, 200

  gravity 15, 55—6, 57, 123, 125, 127, 128, 136

  Big Bang and 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 112, 119n, 123, 125, 127, 128

  black holes and 246

  curvature of spacetime and 94—7

  Goldilocks enigma and 265—6

  Gravity Probe B 100—1

  quantum 145—7, 182—207, 216, 222, 227, 246, 248, 258

  relativity and 94—101

  search for way to unify

  electromagnetism and 182—207

  supergravity 172—4, 190, 197, 206

  Green, Michael 190, 192

  Greene, Brian 94, 206, 207, 221, 224, 225—6, 229, 231, 232—3, 268—9

  Gross, David 190, 192, 231

  ground state 68, 69

  Grover, Leo 240

  Guralink, Gerald 69, 70

  Guth, Alan 116—17, 119, 120, 224, 225

  hadrons 65, 74, 77

>   Hagen, Carl 69, 70

  Harvard University 67, 76, 99

  Harvey, Jeffrey 192

  Hawking, Stephen xiii, 142

  black hole war and 256

  fairy-tale physics and xiii, 206

  radiation 142, 143, 247—50, 251, 252, 257, 258

  The Grand Design 206

  Heisenberg, Werner 7, 31, 38, 39, 40, 41, 58, 62, 79, 130, 143, 182, 248

  Herman, Robert 113, 114, 114n, 115

  Herschel, William 19

  Heuer, Rolf 72

  Hidden Reality, The (Greene) 221, 224, 229, 232—3, 257—8, 268—9, 291—4

  hidden variables, non-local 46—51, 210, 21 4

  ‘crypto’ non-local hidden

  variable theories 50—1, 210

  hierarchy problem 138—40, 163, 168—9, 173, 174, 176, 177, 178, 180, 200, 208, 261

  Higgs boson 10, 11, 11n, 12, 22, 32n, 71—3, 77, 77n, 130, 131, 136n, 139, 140 159, 166, 167, 169, 178, 204, 288, 298, 300

  Higgs doublet 175—6

  Higgs field 55, 70, 78, 80, 118, 120, 121, 137, 155

  Higgs mass 163, 165, 168, 169, 177

  Higgs mechanism 69—70, 71, 72, 73, 77, 117, 130, 188, 235, 288

  Higgs triplet 176

  Higgs, Peter 69, 288

  Higgsino 166, 167, 172

  High-z Supernova Search Team 126

  Higher-z Supernova Search

  Team 127

  holographic principle ix, x, 252—6, 259, 260

  and superstring theory 254—6

  Hooft, Gerard’t 71, 188, 250, 252, 253

  Hořava, Petr 199, 201, 226

  Horizon:‘What is Reality?’ x, 214—15

  Horowitz, Gary 194

  Hoyle, Fred 111—12, 113n, 114, 263, 264, 278, 279

  Hubble Space Telescope 126

  Advanced Camera for Surveys

  (ACS) 127

  Hubble, Edwin 108, 109—10, 111

  Hubble’s Law 108—10, 115

  Humason, Milton 108, 109—10, 111

  Hume, David 287

  Imperial College, London 69, 71

  inertia 14, 33, 55, 70, 91, 92, 96, 217

  inflation 103, 117—20, 122, 124, 126, 150, 221—4, 225—9, 266

  information, universe as ix, x

  entropy and 241—6

  quantum 238—41

  Institute for Quantum Optics

  and Quantum Information 51

  Institute for Theoretical Physics,

  University of California,

  Santa Barbara 250, 252

  interference 28, 35, 36

  two-slit 28, 31, 35—6, 37, 37, 38, 54, 55

  wave 28, 31, 35—6, 37, 37, 38, 54, 55

  integral of the first kind 185

  intelligent design 270—3

  International Astronomical

  Union 276

  symposium, Cracow, 10—12

  September 1973 267

  intuition, importance of 1, 15—16, 17, 130, 164

  invariant, laws of physics as 93, 94

  Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate,

  American Museum of

  National History, New

  York, 2011 206—7

  Israel, Werner 247

  Jaki, Stanley 274—5

 

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