Table Of ContentA D V A N C E S I N
COSMOLOGY
Editors
MARILENA STREIT-BIANCHI
PAOLA CATAPANO
CRISTIANO GALBIATI
ENRICO MAGNANI
Advances in Cosmology
· ·
Marilena Streit-Bianchi Paola Catapano
·
Cristiano Galbiati Enrico Magnani
Editors
Advances in Cosmology
Science - Art - Philosophy
Editors
MarilenaStreit-Bianchi PaolaCatapano
ARSCIENCIA CERN
Wien,Austria Geneva,Switzerland
CristianoGalbiati EnricoMagnani
PrincetonUniversity ReggioEmilia,Italy
Princeton,NJ,USA
GranSassoScienceInstitute
L’Aquila,Italy
ISBN 978-3-031-05624-6 ISBN 978-3-031-05625-3 (eBook)
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Philosophyiswritteninthatgreatbook
whicheverliesbeforeoureyes—Imeanthe
universe—butwecannotunderstanditifwe
donotfirstlearnthelanguageandgraspthe
symbols,inwhichitiswritten.Thisbookis
writteninthemathematicallanguage.
Galileo,IlSaggiatore(1623)
Foreword
Wheredowecomefrom?Howdideverythingbegin?Howdideverythingevolve?
These questions have interested humankind for thousands of years. People have
alwaysbeenintriguedbytheskyandthecelestialphenomenatheyobserved,leading
themtothescienceofastronomy,expandingtheirhorizonwaybeyondtheEarth’s
atmosphere.Later,withtheemergenceofnewtechnologiesandmethods,including
spectroscopy, a new field emerged: astrophysics. Whereas astronomy deals with
celestialobjects,spaceandthephysicaluniverseasawhole,astrophysicsfocusses
on the physical processes associated with the objects that form the universe. Both
areintimatelyconnected.
According to NASA, the definition of cosmology is “the scientific study of the
largescalepropertiesoftheUniverseasawhole”.Butyoucannotfullyunderstand
the large-scale properties without understanding the small scales. Observations of
phenomenasuchasthecosmicmicrowavebackground,togetherwiththeresultsof
theStandardModelofparticlephysics,placeconstraintsonthephysicalconditions
that must have prevailed in the early universe. In parallel, phenomena discovered
throughcosmologicalobservations,suchasdarkmatterandnon-zeroneutrinomass,
suggestthepresenceofnewphysics:physicsbeyondtheStandardModel.Answering
fundamentalquestionsonouruniverse,itsoriginanddevelopment,bringsresearchers
andscientistsfromdifferentfieldstogether.Byworkingtogether,notonlyintheir
respectivedomainsbutalsoacrossthedisciplines,scientistscantakegreatstepsin
understanding. Collaboration is the key to progress and this book emphasizes this
kindofscientificinterconnection.
Spreadingthenetfurtherweshouldnotforgettheimportantroleofphilosophy.
Theancientphilosopherswerethefirsttodevelopanunderstandingofnaturethrough
powerofmindalone,describedthroughmathematicalprinciples.Weclearlyseethe
interconnectedness of astronomy, astrophysics, astroparticle and particle physics,
and philosophy. From the last chapter of Werner Heisenberg’s book “Philosophy
andPhysics”,onecanconcludethatinthecourseofhistoryitrepeatedlyturnsout
thatfundamentalquestionsofphilosophyrelatedtonatureareinrealityquestionsof
physics.Philosophyandphysicsinspireeachother,learnfromeachother.
vii
viii Foreword
Art, too, has an important place in humankind’s contemplation of the universe.
Thereshouldbenotwocultures:intellectuallifeshouldbeunitedinasingleculture.
Why ? Because reality is very different from what we are able to grasp with our
minisculeawareness.Weneedtoolsthatcantakeusfurther.Thereisaslittleroom
inourabilitytograsprealityforaninfiniteUniversewithboundariesasthereisfor
aBigBang.Art,however,setsouttoexpandourawareness,tocreateroomfornew
conceptsthatarejustnowbeingresearchedinscience.Or,asPaulKleeoncesaid,
artdoesnotreproducethevisible;ratheritmakesthingsvisible.Thesameappliesto
science,especiallypureresearch:itgoesfarbeyondthevisible.Sometimes,itisthe
visionsofsciencethatopenupnewformstoart,andsometimesitistheotherway
around.ArtandsciencepursuesimilarvisionsandIliketheideaofEnricoMagnani
usingtheshoreasaofmergingartwithscience.Bothartandsciencedeviatefromthe
beatentrackofthoughtandperceptiontoconquersomethingnewwithgreatpurpose
andcreativity.Bothriskgoingdownthewrongpathwhenwantingtodiscovernew
territory. Neither has it easy, because they question the tried and tested and upend
thefamiliar.Themindsetsofartistsandscientistsareverysimilar.Oftentheymade
achoiceearlyintheircareersbetweenscienceandart.JuliusvonBismarck,thefirst
artist in residence at CERN, and Enrico Magnani are just two examples. It is art,
scienceandphilosophytogetherthatbestadvancehumankind.
Advancementisacomplexbeast,butitreliesonthewellspringofcuriosity.We
makeprogressinunderstandingourworld,areexploringothers,haveputourselves
inapositionnotonlytocontemplatethenatureofouruniverse,foundexoplanetsand
madethelivesofordinarypeopleunimaginablybetterthanbefore.Itisfundamental
research that forms the basis for all kinds of scientific research. If you had asked
Wilhelm Roentgen to invent a tool or a method to show illness or imperfections
inthebody,hewouldneverhavethoughtofX-rays.Innovationisavirtuouscircle
linkingbasictoappliedscience.Synergybetweenresearchandinnovationresultsnot
onlyinsocietalandeconomicimpactbutalso,andveryimportantly,inthecreation
of enhanced opportunities for further developments. This circle, its connection to,
andsynergieswith,otherdomainsofhumanenquiryneedstoremainstrong,tobe
unbroken.
Iamsurethisbookwillgiveyouafirstglimpsehowmuchthedifferentresearch
areasareinterconnectedandhowmucheachlearnsfromtheothersandtheirrespec-
tive technologies. It is so important to reach beyond the boundaries of our own
research.Doingsobringsusforwardandhelpsustobetterunderstandeachother,
andtobetterappreciatetheuniverseweshare.
Enjoyreading.
Foreword ix
February2022 Rolf-DieterHeuer
PresidentCouncilofSESAME,
DirectorGeneralCERN(2009-2015)
AlBalqa,Jordan
Preface
Anunprecedentedvarietyofapproachesisavailabletodaytoresearcherswhosejobis
toexploreandunderstandtheorigin,thestructure,thedestinyandthelawsgoverning
the Universe. This is the underlying reason for this book, whose main motivation
istopresentCosmologyinitsmulti-disciplinaryaspectsasascientific,philosoph-
icalandartisticquest.Sincethedawnoftime,humanshavelookedattheskyinan
attempt to understand their origins, and the laws governing and influencing them.
Inmostancientcivilizations,astronomersembodiedtheverypowerofknowledge.
Knowledge was not compartmentalized and their scientific quest often had philo-
sophicalimplicationsandvisualrepresentations.Naturalsciencesinthosetimeshad
noborders.ThejourneyfromAstronomytotoday’sCosmologyhasbeenalongone.
Scientiststodayformulatetheoriesthathavetobeprovenexperimentallyusingthe
available tools, and this is a very complex process involving the establishment of
internationalcollaborationsandglobalnetworks.
ContemporarycosmologyislookingattheUniverseasawholeandinthechapters
ofthisbook,researchersfromallfieldsexplaintheideas,instrumentsandtechnolo-
gies that are driving the search, what we know and what will be done, through
theeffortandcompetenceofthousandsofexperts,toexploreanddecipherwhatis
still obscure and unknown. Cosmology has been and is the realm of astronomers,
physicistsandphilosophersand,inthepast,itinspiredreligiousandmythological
cosmogonies.
In 1584, Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar and philosopher, published the
philosophical-cosmologicaldialoguesbetweenAlbertino,Burchio,Elpino,Filoteo
andFracastorioin“Del’infinitoUniversoetMondi”.Afterdemonstratingtheinfinity
oftheuniversefromalogicandtheologicalpointofview,Filoteosays“Questoèquel
che io dovevo aggiongere. Perché, dopo aver detto l’universo dover essereinfinito
per la capacità ed attitudine del spacio infinito, e per la possibilità e convenienza
dell’esserediinnumerabilimondi,comequesto;restaoraprovarlo...(Thisisindeed
whatIhavetoadd;for,havingpronouncedthattheuniversemustitselfbeinfinite
xi
xii Preface
becauseforthecapacityandaptnessofinfinitespace;onaccountalsoofthepossi-
bility and convenience of accepting the existence of innumerable worlds like our
own;thisnowstillremainstobeproven…”(https://www.faculty.umb.edu)).
ScientistsareguidedintheirinvestigationofNaturebyideasbroughtbyphiloso-
pherssaidin2013quantumphysicistFrancescaVidotto.Thecuriositytounderstand
wherewecomefromandwherewearegoingtoiswithoutdoubtastrongdriving
force.WhathappenedduringandaftertheBigBang,willtheacceleratedexpansion
oftheUniversecontinueortheultimatefateoftheUniverseistoendinaBigRip
insteadofaBigCrunch?Thesearesomeofthemanyquestionswithphilosophical
implicationsraisedbymoderncosmology.
Manytopicalresearchesareattheinterfacebetweenparticlephysics,astrophysics
and cosmology, offering challenges and opportunities to each of these fields in a
commonendeavour.Cosmologyhasbeenexploringtheearlyandthelateuniverse.
Particle physicists have been studying the fundamental elementary particles, the
smallest constituents of matter, and their interactions, the properties of antimatter
as well as trying to unveil the reasons for the observed matter-antimatter imbal-
ance. Astrophysicists have been studying the nature of astronomical objects and
phenomena. However, many still unresolved questions in cosmology are today of
commoninterest.Infact,understandingtheoriginandnatureofdarkmatter,eluci-
dating the baryon asymmetry, might provide insight into our understanding of the
earlyuniverse.WillabreakingofthestandardLambda–cold-dark-mattermodelof
cosmology help to elucidate dark matter, dark energy and gravity? Will answer to
suchquestionscomefromaccelerators,telescopesorgravitationalwaves?Orwillthe
answercomefromcombinedeffortsofinteractingdisciplines?Manyarethephysi-
cistsworkingtovalidateortoruleoutwithexperimentaldatasomeofthetheoretical
modelsproposed,tryingtofindthemodelthatunifiesallforcesofnature,describing
with a single theory all the phenomena in the Universe, from large to subatomic
scale.Thankstothenewtechnologies,instrumentsandnewprobes,aswellastheir
current analysis capability, scientists will provide answers to cosmological ques-
tionsrelatedtotheearlyuniverse,thusunveilingnewphysics.Thenextdecadewill
surelyseetheoreticalandexperimentalphysicistsandastrophysicistsanalysingand
combining the multi-messenger observations collected, thus contributing to a big
step forward in our understanding of the early and late Universe, a Universe that
theysayis13.7billionyearsold.Askingourselves“DoestheUniversehaveabegin-
ning?”“Dophysicallawsandcausalityapplytotheuniverseasawhole?”isasking
scientificquestionswithaphilosophicalmeaning.Thediscourseaboutthelawsof
natureunderlyingtheUniverseisexpressedinmathematicalterms,asGalileosaid,
andsciencewillcontinuouslypushtheboundaryofhumanknowledgeintheattempt
of providing a rational explanation of the world, whereas artists and philosophers
willcontributebyfacilitatingourunderstandingandbystimulatingourperception.
Clearly, any scientific truth is precarious, as it stays valid until it is not disproved,
andthismakesscientificknowledgeanendlessprocess.
Thefirstsectionofthebook“FromAstronomytoModernCosmology”iswritten
by renowned theoretical physicists and is divided into three parts, reviewing the
pastknowledgeandassumptionsaswellasthenewtheoriesandideas,mostofthem
