In Search of the Multiverse: Parallel Worlds, Hidden Dimensions, and the Ultimate Quest for the Frontiers of Reality

239 Pages·2010·1.2 MB·English

by  John Gribbin

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Preface: The Search
Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Coming of the Quantum Cats

NEITHER WAVE NOR PARTICLE
A QUANTUM OF UNCERTAINTY
THE ONLY MYSTERY
INTERPRETING THE UNIMAGINABLE
THE MOTHER OF ALL QUANTUM CATS
THE MANY WORLDS OF HUGH EVERETT
THE BRANCHING TREE OF HISTORY
EVERETT COMES IN FROM THE COLD

Chapter 2 - Cosmic Coincidences Revisited

THE CARBON COINCIDENCE
WHY IS THE UNIVERSE SO BIG?
NUCLEAR EFFICIENCY
THE INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF GRAVITY
COSMOLOGY’S COINCIDENTAL CONSTANT
RIPPLES IN A SMOOTH COSMIC SEA
THREE DIMENSIONS GOOD, MORE DIMENSIONS BAD
THE LOTTERY OF LIFE

Chapter 3 - Quantum Bits and Time Slips

BEING IN TWO MINDS
IN SEARCH OF THE QUANTUM COMPUTER
THE KILLER APPLICATION
PRACTICALITIES
WHERE DOES IT ALL HAPPEN?
A METAPHOR FOR THE MULTIVERSE
WHEN DOES IT ALL HAPPEN?
TIMESLIPS
BROADER HORIZONS

Chapter 4 - Infinite in All Directions

ARROWS OF TIME
THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE
EVERY CONCEIVABLE ACCIDENT
TIME AND DISTANCE
TIME AND THERMODYNAMICS
THE COSMIC ARROW AND THE GRAVITATIONAL SINK
BOUNCING BACK?
BACK TO THE FUTURE

Chapter 5 - (Just Like) Starting Over

THE PARTICLE CONNECTION
NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING
INFLATING THE UNIVERSE
THE RETURN OF THE STEADY STATE?
BUBBLES ON THE RIVER OF TIME
ETERNAL INFLATION AND SIMPLE BEGINNINGS
BOLTZMANN’S BRAIN, THE ARROW OF TIME, AND CAUSAL
PATCH PHYSICS
TO INFINITY-AND BEYOND!

Chapter 6 - The String’s the Thing

GRAVITY GRABS ATTENTION
TWO APPROACHES PLUS A THIRD WAY
COMPACT BUT PERFECTLY FORMED
THE MAGIC OF M
REVISITING THE INCREDIBLE WEAKNESS OF GRAVITY
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
BY ITS BOOTSTRAPS
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
THERE’S LOTS OF PLACES LIKE HOME
EXPLORING THE COSMIC LANDSCAPE
THE RETURN OF SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT

Chapter 7 - Faking It? Or Making It?

IS IT SCIENCE?
INSIDE INFORMATION
THE FAKERS
BLACK HOLES AND BABY UNIVERSES
SELECTING UNIVERSES NATURALLY
A NEW PERSPECTIVE
MAKERS OF UNIVERSES
EVOLUTION IN DESIGNER UNIVERSES
UNIVERSES BY DESIGN

Further Reading
Glossary
Index

Copyright © 2009 by John and Mary Gribbin. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Penguin Books Ltd.

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ISBN 978-0-470-61352-8 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-47092656-7 (ebk);
ISBN 978-0-470-92657-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-92658-1 (ebk)
Many and strange are the universes that drift like bubbles in the foam upon the River of Time.
Arthur C. Clarke, ‘The Wall of Darkness’, in The Other Side of the Sky

If we dismiss theories because they seem weird, we risk missing true breakthroughs.
Max Tegmark, MIT physicist