The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of ForcesBasic Books, 25 mrt 2009 - 292 pagina's A Nobel-prize winning physicist takes on the essential question: what are we made of? Our understanding of nature's deepest reality has changed radically, but almost without our noticing, over the past twenty-five years. Transcending the clash of older ideas about matter and space, acclaimed physicist Frank Wilczek explains a remarkable new discovery: matter is built from almost weightless units, and pure energy is the ultimate source of mass. He calls it "The Lightness of Being." Space is no mere container, empty and passive. It is a dynamic Grid-a modern ether- and its spontaneous activity creates and destroys particles. This new understanding of mass explains the puzzling feebleness of gravity, and a gorgeous unification of all the forces comes sharply into focus.The Lightness of Being is the first book to explore the implications of these revolutionary ideas about mass, energy, and the nature of "empty space." In it, Wilczek masterfully presents new perspectives on our incredible universe and envisions a new golden age of fundamental physics. |
Inhoudsopgave
1 | |
3 | |
11 | |
3 Einsteins Second Law 18 | 18 |
4 What Matters for Matter 22 | 22 |
5 The Hydra Within 26 | 26 |
6 The Bits Within the Its 32 | 32 |
7 Symmetry Incarnate 58 | 58 |
PART III Is Beauty Truth? | 161 |
The Sirens Song 163 | 163 |
Through a Glass Darkly 177 | 177 |
19 Truthification 182 | 182 |
20 Unification SUSY 185 | 185 |
21 Anticipating a New Golden Age 192 | 192 |
A Smooth Pebble a Pretty Shell 199 | 199 |
Acknowledgments 205 | 205 |
8 The Grid Persistence of Ether 73 | 73 |
9 Computing Matter 112 | 112 |
10 The Origin of Mass 128 | 128 |
A Poem in Two Equations 133 | 133 |
12 Profound Simplicity 135 | 135 |
PART II The Feebleness of Gravity | 143 |
13 Is Gravity Feeble? Yes in Practice 145 | 145 |
14 Is Gravity Feeble? No in Theory 148 | 148 |
15 The Right Question 151 | 151 |
16 A Beautiful Answer 152 | 152 |
Overige edities - Alles bekijken
The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces Frank Wilczek Gedeeltelijke weergave - 2009 |
The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces Frank Wilczek Gedeeltelijke weergave - 2008 |
Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
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