The Cosmic Microwave Background

Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-1-108-84460-4
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 180 mm x 251 mm, Gewicht: 515 g

This volume tells the untold story of how observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation were interpreted in the decades following its serendipitous discovery, before the Hot Big Bang model became the accepted orthodoxy. The authors guide the reader through this history, including the many false trails and blind alleys that occurred along the way. Readers will discover how the Big Bang theory was shaped by alternative theories that exposed its weaknesses – including some that persist even today. By looking carefully at what it takes to reject an incorrect theory and the assumptions and processes at each stage, the authors examine the epistemological factors at play between an emerging scientific orthodoxy and since discarded alternatives. Their analysis of the cosmic microwave background provides a uniquely well-documented case study of theory building for a wide readership spanning cosmology, the history of physics and astronomy, and the philosophy of science more broadly.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Perovic, Slobodan

Cirkovic, Milan M

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. Physical Cosmology: A Brief Introduction: 1. Physical cosmology from Einstein to 1965; 2. The 'great controversy' (1948–65) and epistemological issues it raised; 3. Hot big bang and CDM; Part II. Discovery of the CMB and Current Cosmological Orthodoxy: 4. Discovery of the CMB; 5. CMB phenomenology; 6. Standard 'textbook' history and its shortcomings; 7. Emergence of precision cosmology; Part III. What Constitutes an Unorthodoxy? Epistemological Framework of Cosmology: 8. Underdetermination of theories and models in cosmology; 9. Was the CMB a smoking gun?; 10. Classifying and analysing unorthodoxies; Part IV. Moderate Unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang: 11. Cold and tepid big bangs: population iii objects; 12. Models with unresolved sources; 13. Thermalization by grains, the first wave; 14. Primordial chaos; 15. Early intergalactic medium, massive population III objects and the large-numbers hypothesis; 16. Late thermalization of starlight; 17. 'An excess in moderation': high-baryon universe; Part V. Radical Unorthodoxies: The CMB Without the Big Bang: 18. Motivations: who's afraid of the big (bad) bang?; 19. Hoyle-narlikar theory and the changing masses origin of the CMB; 20. Revised steady state; 21. Closed steady-state models; 22. CMB in plasma cosmology; 23. CMB in non-expanding models; Part VI. Formation of the Orthodoxy and the Alternatives: Epistemological Lessons: 24. History and epistemology: the emergence of orthodoxy; 25. What about the alternatives?; 26. Pragmatic aspects of model-building and social epistemology of cosmology; 27. Large-scale numerical simulations in cosmology: beyond the theory-observations distinction?; Part VII. Other Philosophically Relevant Aspects of the CMB: 28. CMB and copernicanism: 'the axis of evil' and 'the fingers of god'; 29. The 'problem of other observers' and anthropic reasoning; 30. The nature of boundary conditions in cosmology, the CMB, and the 'laws of nature' debate; 31. CMB and the multiverse: limits of scientific realism?; Appendix 1: relativistic cosmological models; Appendix 2: dipole anisotropy; Notes; References; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Perovic, Slobodan
Slobodan Perovic is a professor of philosophy and history of science at the University of Belgrade. He earned his Ph.D. at York University, Toronto, in 2005, and held teaching and research positions at Carleton University and the University of Pittsburgh, before returning to join the faculty in Belgrade in 2010. He is the principal convener of the 'Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation' conference series, and is author of From Data to Quanta: Niels Bohr's Vision of Physics (University of Chicago Press, 2021).

Cirkovic, Milan M
Milan M. Cirkovic is a senior researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade. He also holds an adjunct position at the Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford. He has broad research interests in applying philosophical ideas to diverse areas including astrobiology and global catastrophic risks. His previous books include The Astrobiological Landscape: Philosophical Foundations of the Study of Cosmic Life (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and The Great Silence: Science and Philosophy of Fermi's Paradox (Oxford University Press, 2018).