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This book provides a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to one of the most exciting frontiers in astrophysics today: the quest to understand how the oldest and most distant galaxies in our universe first formed. Until now, most research on this question has been theoretical, but the next few years will bring about a new generation of large telescopes that promise to supply a flood of data about the infant universe during its first billion years after the big bang. This book bridges the gap between theory and observation. It is an invaluable reference for students and researchers on early galaxies. The First Galaxies in the Universestarts from basic physical principles before moving on to more advanced material. Topics include the gravitational growth of structure, the intergalactic medium, the formation and evolution of the first stars and black holes, feedback and galaxy evolution, reionization, 21-cm cosmology, and more. Provides a comprehensive introduction to this exciting frontier in astrophysicsBegins from first principlesCovers advanced topics such as the first stars and 21-cm cosmologyPrepares students for research using the next generation of large telescopesDiscusses many open questions to be explored in the coming decade

This book is a thorough and up‐to‐date introduction to black hole physics. It provides a modern and unified overview of all their aspects, physical, mathematical, astrophysical, classical, and quantum. Black holes are the most intriguing objects in the Universe. For many years they have been considered just as interesting solutions of the General Relativity with a number of amusing mathematical properties. But now, after discovery of astrophysical black holes, the Einstein gravity has become a practical tool for their study. In this book we present the theory of black holes in the form which might be useful for students and young scientists. This is a self‐contained textbook. It includes pedagogically presented `standard' material on black holes and also quite new subjects such as black holes in spacetimes with large extra dimensions and a role of hidden symmetries in black hole physics.

Cosmology has been transformed by dramatic progress in high-precision observations and theoretical modelling. This book surveys key developments and open issues for graduate students and researchers. Using a relativistic geometric approach, it focuses on the general concepts and relations that underpin the standard model of the Universe. Part I covers foundations of relativistic cosmology whilst Part II develops the dynamical and observational relations for all models of the Universe based on general relativity. Part III focuses on the standard model of cosmology, including inflation, dark matter, dark energy, perturbation theory, the cosmic microwave background, structure formation and gravitational lensing. It also examines modified gravity and inhomogeneity as possible alternatives to dark energy. Anisotropic and inhomogeneous models are described in Part IV, and Part V reviews deeper issues, such as quantum cosmology, the start of the universe and the multiverse proposal. Colour versions of some figures are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521381154.

Modern Cosmology begins with an introduction to the smooth, homogeneous universe described by a Friedman-Robertson-Walker metric, including careful treatments of dark energy, big bang nucleosynthesis, recombination, and dark matter. From this starting point, the reader is introduced to perturbations about an FRW universe: their evolution with the Einstein-Boltzmann equations, their generation by primordial inflation, and their observational consequences. These consequences include the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) featuring acoustic peaks and polarization, the matter power spectrum with baryonic wiggles, and their detection via photometric galaxy surveys, redshift distortions, cluster abundances, and weak lensing. The book concludes with a long chapter on data analysis. Modern Cosmology is the first book to explain in detail the structure of the acoustic peaks in the CMB, the E/B decomposition in polarization which may allow for detection of primordial gravity waves, and the modern analysis techniques used on increasingly large cosmological data sets. Readers will gain the tools needed to work in cosmology and learn how modern observations are rapidly revolutionizing our picture of the universe. * Provides foundations, calculations, and interpretations which illuminate current thinking in cosmology * Covers the major advances in cosmology over the past decade* Includes over 100 unique, pedagogical figures

Today we know what no previous generation knew: the history of the universe and of the unfolding of life on Earth. Through the astonishing combined achievements of natural scientists worldwide, we now have a detailed account of how galaxies and stars, planets and living organisms, human beings and human consciousness came to be. And yet . . . we thirst for answers to questions that have haunted humanity from the very beginning. What is our place in the 14-billion-year history of the universe? What roles do we play in Earth's history? How do we connect with the intricate web of life on Earth? InJourney of the UniverseBrian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on creativity, connection, and interdependence, and they envision an unprecedented opportunity for the world's people to address the daunting ecological and social challenges of our times. Journey of the Universetransforms how we understand our origins and envision our future. Though a little book, it tells a big story-one that inspires hope for a way in which Earth and its human civilizations could flourish together. This book is part of a larger project that includes a documentary film, an educational DVD series, and a website. The film and the DVD series will be released in 2011. For more information, please consult the website, journeyoftheuniverse.org.

Inanimationis the third book by author David Wills to analyze the technology of the human. InProsthesis,Wills traced our human attachment to external objects back to a necessitywithinthe body itself. InDorsality,he explored how technology is understood to function behind or before the human.Inanimationproceeds by taking literally the idea of inanimate or inorganic forms of life. Starting from a seemingly naïve question about what it means to say texts \"live on\" or have a \"life of their own,\"Inanimationdevelops a new theory of the inanimate. Inanimationoffers a fresh account of what life is and the ethical and political consequences that follow from this conception. Inspired by Walter Benjamin's observation that \"the idea of life and afterlife in works of art should be regarded with an entirely unmetaphorical objectivity,\" the book challenges the coherence and limitations of \"what lives,\" arguing that there is no clear opposition between a live animate and dead inanimate. Wills identifies three major forms of inorganic life: autobiography, translation, and resonance. Informed by Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze, he explores these forms through wide-ranging case studies. He brings his panoptic vision to bear on thinkers (Descartes, Freud, Derrida, Benjamin, Carl Schmitt, Jean-Luc Nancy, Roland Barthes), writers and poets (Hélène Cixous, Paul Celan, William Carlos Williams, Ernst Jünger, James Joyce, Georges Bataille), and visual artists (Jean-François Millet, Jean-Luc Godard, Paul Klee). With panache and gusto, Wills discovers life-forms well beyond textual remainders and translations, in such disparate \"places\" as the act of thinking, the death drive, poetic blank space, recorded bird songs, the technology of warfare, and the heart stopped by love.

The Philosophy of Living Nature is an English translation of Zdeněk Kratochvíl’s revised and updated book published in 1994 in Czech, a classical work on the natural world and ways of learning about it. It proceeds from the philosophical notion of \"nature,\" and includes individual types of nature as well as cosmos, space and time, evolution and living organisms, man’s place in nature and his depiction of human nature.

Go on an awe-inspiring journey, unraveling the secrets of our universe from the tiniest particles to the vastness of space In this thought-provoking exploration, physicists Chris Ferrie and Geraint F.Lewis delve into the fundamental questions that have puzzled humanity for centuries.What sparked the birth of the universe?.

After a four-century rupture between science and the questions of value and meaning, this groundbreaking book presents an explosive and potentially life-altering idea: if the world could agree on a shared creation story based on modern cosmology and biology-a story that has just become available-it would redefine our relationship with Planet Earth and benefit all of humanity, now and into the distant future. Written in eloquent, accessible prose and illustrated in magnificent color throughout, including images from innovative simulations of the evolving universe, this book brings the new scientific picture of the universe to life. It interprets what our human place in the cosmos may mean for us and our descendants. It offers unique insights into the potential use of this newfound knowledge to find solutions to seemingly intractable global problems such as climate change and unsustainable growth. And it explains why we need to \"think cosmically, act globally\" if we're going to have a long-term, prosperous future on Earth.

This book is a historical account of how natural philosophers and scientists have endeavoured to understand the universe at large, first in a mythical and later in a scientific context. Starting with the creation stories of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the book covers all the major events in theoretical and observational cosmology, from Aristotle's cosmos over the Copernican revolution to the discovery of the accelerating universe in the late 1990s. The kind of cosmology it describes and analyses focuses on the physical and astronomical aspects, but these cannot always be separated from aspects of a philosophical and theological nature. The book presents cosmology as a subject including scientific as well as non-scientific dimensions, and tells the story of how it developed into a true science of the heavens. Contrary to most other books on the history of cosmology, it offers an integrated account of the development with emphasis on the modern Einsteinian and post-Einsteinian period. In addition, it pays attention not only to mainstream developments, but also to theories of the universe that are today considered to be blind alleys. Starting in the pre-literary era, the book carries the story of mankind's quest of understanding the universe onwards to the early years of the 21st century.