Einstein’s Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe by Evalyn Gates (PDF)

Description

Cutting-edge astrophysics that builds on Einstein’s theories to find the unseen matter that fills the Universe. Dark energy. Dark matter. These strange and invisible substances don’t just sound mysterious: their unexpected appearance in the cosmic census is upending long-held notions about the nature of the Universe. Astronomers have long known that the Universe is expanding, but everything they could see indicated that gravity should be slowing this spread. Instead, it appears that the Universe is accelerating its expansion and that something stronger than gravity–dark energy–is at work. In Einstein’s Telescope Evalyn Gates, a University of Chicago astrophysicist, transports us to the edge of contemporary science to explore the revolutionary tool that unlocks the secrets of these little-understood cosmic constituents. Based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravitational lensing, or “Einstein’s Telescope,” is enabling new discoveries that are taking us toward the next revolution in scientific thinking–one that may change forever our notions of where the Universe came from and where it is going. 8 pages of color; 40 black-and-white illustrations

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly There is far more to the universe than meets the eye: invisible dark matter and dark energy constitute the vast bulk of the cosmos and are responsible for its accelerating expansion. Gates, assistant director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, explores the science of these invisible phenomena and the questions they raise about the universe’s origins, its present and its future. Gates explains how scientists discovered the existence of dark matter and their theories about the nature of the particles (with names like WIMPs) that form it. Astrophysicists have found tools to measure the invisible mass: the stars themselves. Drawing on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, scientists can see dark matter using gravitational lensing—by measuring the deflection of light around a cosmic object, they can measure the object’s mass. Presenting complicated topics concisely and clearly, Gates explains what we know about the universe, what scientists wish they knew, and what’s at stake—the fate of the universe itself. 8 pages of color and 40 b&w illus. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Cogent review of this intriguing topic. (Marcia Bartusiak -Washington Post )In this highly informative book, Gates offers clear, accessible explanations of how gravitational lensing can…solve the [universe’s] biggest mysteries. (Amanda Gefter -New Scientist ) About the Author Evalyn Gates is the assistant director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, a senior research associate at the University of Chicago, and the former astronomy director of the Adler Planetarium. Her writing has appeared in Physics Today and the Chicago Tribune. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Astrophysicist Evalyn Gates brings the world of gravitational lensing and the search for the unknown constituents of the Universe to the reader in her book Einstein’s Telescope. Gates has spent many years in this search, and this book is an excellent introduction and advanced discussion, laying the foundation for the work she (and others) will do over the next decade to unmask some of the great mysteries in cosmology and astrophysics.Gates introduces a brief history of how scientists came to understand that dark matter and dark energy had to be part of our Universe in order to explain a few basic observations. Once she has offered the reader a framework for why we need to look more deeply at the way our Universe appears, Gates explains just what causes the “Einstein’s Telescope” effect. This fascinating technique involves gravitational lensing of distant objects by massive objects sitting closer to the Earth. Often, the lenses are clusters of galaxies, and through the process of lensing more distant galaxies, we can learn how much mass is acting on the light of the distant sources, giving us insight into where dark matter may reside and exactly how it interacts with ordinary mass.The book explains various theories of dark matter, primarily MACHOs and WIMPs, offers glimpses at the even more mysterious dark energy, for which there are no shortage of wild theories, and eventually goes deep into the cosmic web that may hold clues to the earliest formation of galaxies.Later parts of the book, which may well be the strongest in what is a very solid presentation, describe the multiple experiments ongoing and various theories currently being formulated. Gates explains how these new techniques and new opportunities may shed light on our understanding of the Universe, its beginnings, and its evolution. Anyone who wants to understand the amazing findings that have begun to trickle out of this astrophysical work (and which will continue to become available over the next decade or two) will find strong explanations by Gates herein. This section alone makes the entire book worth reading for me.Gates is an excellent writer who refuses to waste the reader’s time. She has a solid grasp of her subject, and better, is highly successful at making the complex scientific concepts approachable by most any reader. Tons of great cutting-edge science is in store for a reader of this book, and those with a strong knowledge of cosmology and astronomy can still find much to learn and enjoy in Telescope. A handful of excellent images and illustrations are included in the hardback edition which offer the reader tantilizing, beautiful references to Gates’ material, including real photographs of some fantastic shots of gravitation lensing.For any science reader, and most especially those who enjoy space sciences, this book is highly recommended as a solid effort to update the reader’s understanding of current astrophysical efforts and approaches to this fascinating field. While much of the science is complex, the style makes it easy to digest, without watering down the concepts. Four stars.

⭐Theoretical physics and cosmology are daunting fields that frequently test common intuitions. As a layman, I approach the topic humbly and with a thirst for visual graphics and analogies that will break down the various conceptual barriers posed by current theories. This book was a satisfying journey through cosmology of the past 100 years with a particular focus on gravitational lensing as a key method that scientists employ today for their discoveries.Gravitational lensing derives from Einstein’s General Relativity. As we learn in detail, general relativity shows that spacetime itself is impacted by surrounding mass and energy. If spacetime were shaped like a trampoline, its shape would change if a massive object (stars, galaxies, planets, or in this analogy a bowling ball) were placed on it. Light follows this curvature, so the massive object serves almost like a lense between the light source and Earth. It’s a fascinating concept and described with lucid analogies from everyday experiences to help digest the concepts.Gravitational lensing has surprisingly versatility. Scientists are able to view light sources of much greater distances than thought possible and evaluate the masses of objects without the need to individually count each star. The mass of these objects proved to be far greater than expected by the amount of mass visualized in conventional telescopes. This indirectly detectable mass is termed dark matter and comprises about 23% of total mass/energy in the universe. The author shows how scientists confirmed its existence and current attempts thus far to understand it. After discussing the current science of dark matter, she explains the discovery of dark energy in 1998 and various attempts to explain the accelerating expansion of galaxies from one another. In both dark matter and dark energy, the reader knows from the introduction that these issues remain unresolved. In a similar vein, she discusses theories of supersymmetry, string theory, and the cosmological constant as promising theories with observational confirmation still pending ongoing experiments. The author doesn’t seem to mind if here book is woefully out of date in 10-15 years.I enjoyed the “incompleteness” of the book because I felt like an observer on an active journey of scientific discovery with the author and scientific community. There was even a chapter on inflation theory and the (continuing at time of book publication) search for gravitational waves in the cosmic background radiation that carried special resonance in light of the BICEP2 trial.I imagine a similar feeling will occur as further theories and discoveries are made about dark matter, dark energy, and the attempts to unite quantum mechanics with gravity. I recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the tools and theories of cosmologists today.

⭐For a while I’ve had a rotating galaxy on my Android, but never bothered to look at it. It was there to make the statement that I was interested in cosmology. Last night I spent a long time looking at it, paying attention to the motion of the dots representing the stars, and seeing it with my mind. It was as if I was seeing the real thing. It was this book that expanded this small galaxy on my phone into the massive, light bending galaxy that it should be.I’ve always seen the image of galaxies captured by the Hubble telescope. They seemed small and insignificant. This book brings galaxies, and the universe into perspective. It made them colossal again. I could see them through the detailed descriptions of the investigations of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Then there is the universe as a whole. I’ve seen images of the formation of the web of matter and dark matter within the universe. Dr. Gates breathes life into these images. She explains how they were made, and what effect they have on the shape of the universe. I want to emphasis that she turns them into a real universe rather than just a picture of a simulation of the universe.I read several articles, chapters from different books, webpages on Dark Matter and Dark Energy, but I couldn’t quite understand what these two things were or were-not. This book definitely makes things clear. I finally understand (though not technically) why scientist think there are these dark and unexplainable large portions of the universe.I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding Dark matter and Energy.

⭐A brilliant book. Evelyn Gates gets straight into the matter with very clear language and explanations. A terrific mind illuminating a dark subject for many.

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