Damn. s/expanson/inflation/ below re: Weinberg.
-- Owen
On Nov 10, 2008, at 11:09 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:
On Nov 10, 2008, at 10:46 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote:
Owen, two suggestions:
1) Stephen Weinberg's "The First Three Minutes", and
2) George Smoot's "Wrinkles in Time"
--Doug
Oddly enough, I've read both! I didn't connect Smoot with the
Nobel, thanks! I was amazed at his tenacity, patiently overcoming
constant, huge problems.
And Weinberg's book is an absolute gem as well; beautifully crafted
and wonderfully mature. I only wish it had been written after the
expansionary universe discoveries.
But as far as I can recall, neither book wrestled with the problem
of "time" in the early universe. We know both velocity and gravity/
mass distorts time. The description of time to the beginning of the
universe uses linear extrapolation as far as I can tell. This seems
at odds with relativity.
Possibly it is not an issue within cosmology because it is, after
all, the entire universe that is expanding, thus observational
problems cancel out, so to speak?
-- Owen
On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Owen Densmore
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Oops -- I miss-edited -- should read:
One question I've always had with cosmology is that the time
calculated to
the big bang (via backwards extrapolation) does not seem to take
relativistic effects into account. Certainly its been done but not
mentioned in the popular books.
-- Owen
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============================================================
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
