The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega--the Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe

367 Pages·2003·10.37 MB·English

by  John D. Barrow

THE CONSTANTS
OF NATURE
From Alpha to Omega-
the Numbers That Encode the
Deepest Secrets of the Universe
JOHN D. BARROW
PANTHEON BOOKS NEW YORK
Copyright ©2002 byJohn 0. Barrow
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the UnitedStates by Pantheon Books,
adivision of Random House, Inc., NewYork. Originally published
in Great Britain byJonathan Cape, an imprint of
Random House U.K., London, in 2002.
Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrow, John D., 1952-
The constants of nature: from Alpha to Omega-the numbers that
encode the deepest secrets of the universe / John 0. Barrow.
p. em.
ISBN 0-375-42221-8
I. Physical constants-Popular works. I.Title.
QC39.B37 2002 530.8'I-dc21 2002075975
www.pantheonbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
First American EditIon
2 4 6 8 9 753
To Carol

'Not the power to remember, but its very
opposite, the power to forget is a necessary
conditlOn for our eXlstence:
Sholem Ash

Contents
Preface X111
I Before the Beginning
Sameliness I
2 JourneyTowards Ultimate Reality
5
Mission to Mars
Measure for measure - parochial standards 7
Maintaining universal standards I3
Abrilliant ideal 16
23
Max Planck's natural units
28
Planck gets real
30
About time
3 Superhuman Standards
Einstein on constants 33
The deeper significance of Stoney-Planck units
42
the new Mappa Mundi
48
Otherworldliness
49
The super-Copernican Principle
4 Further, Deeper, Fewer:The Quest for aTheory
of Everything
53
Numbers you can count on
56
Cosmic Cubism
61
Newconstants involve new labour
67
Numerology
5 Eddington's Unfinished Symphony
Counting to 15.747.724.136.275.002.577.605.653.961.181,555,468.044,
717.914.527.116,709.366.231.425.076.185.631.031,296 77
Fundamentalism 84
Theatrical physics 90
6 The Mystery of the Very Large Numbers
Spooky numbers 97
Abold hypothesis 99
Of things to come at large 105
Big and old. dark and cold Il2
The biggest number of all Il6
7 Biology and the Stars
Is the universe old? Il9
The chance of a lifetime 121
Othertypes of life 127
Prepare to meet thy doom 129
From coincidence to consequence 132
Life in an Edwardian universe 134
8 The Anthropic Principle
Anthropic arguments 141
Adelicate balance 152
Brandon Carter's principles 160
Aclose-run thing? 165
Some other anthropic principles 169
9 Altering Constants and Rewriting History
Rigid worlds versus flexi worlds 177
Inflationary universes 182
Virtual history - a little digression 193
10 New DimenslOns
201
Living in a hundred dimensions
205
Walking with planisaurs
210
Polygons and polygamy
213
Why is life so easy for physicists?
217
The sad case of Paul Ehrenfest
220
The special case of Gerald Whitrow
224
The strange case of Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein
227
Varying constants on the brane
II Variations on a ConstantTheme
231
A prehistoric nuclear reactor
239
Alexander Shlyakhters insight
246
The Clock of Ages
247
Underground speculations
12 Reach for the Sky
251
Plenty of time
259
Inconstancyamong the constants?
263
What do we make of that?
268
Our place in history
13 OtherWorlds and Big Questions
275
Multiverses
281
The Great Universal Catalogue
285
Worlds without end
290
Journey's end
293
Notes
343
Index