The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega--the Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe PDF
Preview The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega--the Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe
THE CONSTANTS OF NATURE From Alpha to Omega- the Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe JOHN D. BARROW PANTHEON BOOKS NEW YORK Copyright ©2002 byJohn 0. Barrow All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the UnitedStates by Pantheon Books, adivision of Random House, Inc., NewYork. Originally published in Great Britain byJonathan Cape, an imprint of Random House U.K., London, in 2002. Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barrow, John D., 1952- The constants of nature: from Alpha to Omega-the numbers that encode the deepest secrets of the universe / John 0. Barrow. p. em. ISBN 0-375-42221-8 I. Physical constants-Popular works. I.Title. QC39.B37 2002 530.8'I-dc21 2002075975 www.pantheonbooks.com Printed in the United States of America First American EditIon 2 4 6 8 9 753 To Carol 'Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget is a necessary conditlOn for our eXlstence: Sholem Ash Contents Preface X111 I Before the Beginning Sameliness I 2 JourneyTowards Ultimate Reality 5 Mission to Mars Measure for measure - parochial standards 7 Maintaining universal standards I3 Abrilliant ideal 16 23 Max Planck's natural units 28 Planck gets real 30 About time 3 Superhuman Standards Einstein on constants 33 The deeper significance of Stoney-Planck units 42 the new Mappa Mundi 48 Otherworldliness 49 The super-Copernican Principle 4 Further, Deeper, Fewer:The Quest for aTheory of Everything 53 Numbers you can count on 56 Cosmic Cubism 61 Newconstants involve new labour 67 Numerology 5 Eddington's Unfinished Symphony Counting to 15.747.724.136.275.002.577.605.653.961.181,555,468.044, 717.914.527.116,709.366.231.425.076.185.631.031,296 77 Fundamentalism 84 Theatrical physics 90 6 The Mystery of the Very Large Numbers Spooky numbers 97 Abold hypothesis 99 Of things to come at large 105 Big and old. dark and cold Il2 The biggest number of all Il6 7 Biology and the Stars Is the universe old? Il9 The chance of a lifetime 121 Othertypes of life 127 Prepare to meet thy doom 129 From coincidence to consequence 132 Life in an Edwardian universe 134 8 The Anthropic Principle Anthropic arguments 141 Adelicate balance 152 Brandon Carter's principles 160 Aclose-run thing? 165 Some other anthropic principles 169 9 Altering Constants and Rewriting History Rigid worlds versus flexi worlds 177 Inflationary universes 182 Virtual history - a little digression 193 10 New DimenslOns 201 Living in a hundred dimensions 205 Walking with planisaurs 210 Polygons and polygamy 213 Why is life so easy for physicists? 217 The sad case of Paul Ehrenfest 220 The special case of Gerald Whitrow 224 The strange case of Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein 227 Varying constants on the brane II Variations on a ConstantTheme 231 A prehistoric nuclear reactor 239 Alexander Shlyakhters insight 246 The Clock of Ages 247 Underground speculations 12 Reach for the Sky 251 Plenty of time 259 Inconstancyamong the constants? 263 What do we make of that? 268 Our place in history 13 OtherWorlds and Big Questions 275 Multiverses 281 The Great Universal Catalogue 285 Worlds without end 290 Journey's end 293 Notes 343 Index
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