Cosmology: Understanding the Evolution of the Universe
63 65 CHAPTER 4 LOOKING FORWARD THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE Difficulties and Their Solutions Inflation Dark Matter WIMPs Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe 66 69 O 78 CONCLUSION GLOSSARY FOR MORE INFORMATION FOR FURTHER READING INDEX 82 85 86
INTRODUCTION SIPTI Rio POI CENO RE v T 1 CV SY STEMATIS PT OLE A ST I vus TRO P C vs A DA PT HYDER NVS TROP CVS CAPR TAR C v L vs MITH Ptolemaic diagram of a geocentric system from the star atlas Harmonia Macrocosmica by the cartographer Andreas Cellarius 1660 Photos com Thinkstock
INTRODUCTION GRAPHIA MVND ANI MAICI ave you ever thought about how our universe came to be Do you sup pose that it happened all at once Do you think that it evolved over time Was there a major event that was responsible for its existence What is the age of the universe How big is it What will the universe be like in the future The truth is we do not have definitive answers to any of these questions However these questions are so important that an entire branch of astronomy known as cosmol ogy is devoted to attempting to answer them The following pages will chronicle the devel opment of this fascinating field Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that specifically deals with the origin structure and space time relationships of the universe It is not the same thing as astronomy which deals with the evolution physics chemistry meteorology and motion of celestial objects as well as the formation and development of the universe Thus cosmology is only one seg ment of astronomy The basic assumptions of modern cosmology are that the universe is homogeneous in space on the average all places are alike at any time and that the laws of physics are the same everywhere Sal
