Dan Hooper

A graduate-level introduction to the interface between particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmologyThis book explores the exciting interface between the fields of cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, and particle physics, at a level suitable for advanced undergraduate- to graduate-level students as well as active researchers. Without assuming a strong background in particle physics or quantum field theory, the text is designed to be accessible to readers from a range of backgrounds and presents both fundamentals and modern topics in a modular style that allows for flexible use and easy reference. It offers coverage of general relativity and the Friedmann equations, early universe thermodynamics, recombination and the cosmic microwave background, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the origin and detection of dark matter, the formation of large-scale structure, baryogenesis and leptogenesis, inflation, dark energy, cosmic rays, neutrino and gamma-ray astrophysics, supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, sterile neutrinos, and axions. The book also includes numerous worked examples and homework problems, many with solutions. Particle Cosmology and Astrophysics provides readers with an invaluable entrée to this cross-disciplinary area of research and discovery. Accessible to advanced undergraduate to graduate students, as well as researchers in cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, and particle physicsDoes not assume a strong background in particle physics or quantum field theory and contains two chapters specifically for readers with no background in particle physicsBroad scope, covering many topics across particle physics, astrophysics, and particle cosmologyModular presentation for easy reference and flexible useProvides more than 200 homework problems, many with solutionsIdeal for course use or self-study and reference

A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang—and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universeScientists in recent decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But we still know little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have learned and are striving to understand about this mysterious period at the beginning of cosmic history. Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments re-create the conditions of the Big Bang, how we may finally discover the way dark matter was formed during our universe’s first moments, and how, with new telescopes, we are lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation. At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its birth.

Tutkijat ovat viime aikoina tehneet ratkaisevia löytöjä siitä, kuinka kosmoksemme on kehittynyt 13,8 miljardin vuoden ajan. Tietämyksessämme on kuitenkin edelleen kriittinen aukko. Emme tiedä juuri mitään siitä, mitä tapahtui maailmankaikkeuden ensimmäisten sekuntien aikana. Kaiken alku kertoo, miten yritämme ymmärtää tätä tärkeintä ja salaperäisintä ajanjaksoa kosmisen historian alussa. Dan Hooper vie lukijat kosmologian arkikokemukselle vieraaseen maailmaan ja kuvailee syvällisiä kysymyksiä, joita tutkijat esittävät maailmankaikkeuden alkuperästä ja luonteesta. Hooper kertoo, kuinka tutkijat koettavat luoda alkuräjähdyksen olosuhteet testatakseen lupaavia teorioita siitä, miten ja miksi universumimme sisältää niin paljon ainetta ja niin vähän antiainetta. Saatamme pian saada selville, kuinka pimeä aine muodostui maailmankaikkeutemme ensimmäisinä hetkinä. Uusilla kaukoputkilla voidaan kurkistaa kosmisen inflaation aikakaudelle, jonka tapahtumat loivat maailmankaikkeutemme sellaiseksi kuin se nyt on. Dan Hooper on Fermilabin teoreettisen astrofysiikan ryhmän johtaja ja Chicagon yliopiston tähtitieteen ja astrofysiikan professori. Tutkimuksissaan hän keskittyy pimeään aineeseen ja kosmiseen säteilyyn.

A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang—and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universeScientists in the past few decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history. Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe’s first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it. Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.

Everyone knows that there are things no one can see, for example, the air you're breathing or a black hole, to be more exotic. But not everyone knows that what we can see makes up only 5 percent of the Universe. The rest is totally invisible to us. The invisible stuff comes in two varieties--dark matter and dark energy. One holds the Universe together while the other tears it apart. What these forces really are has been a mystery for as long as anyone has suspected they were there, but the latest discoveries of experimental physics have brought us closer to that knowledge. Particle physicist Dan Hooper takes his readers, with wit, grace, and a keen knack for explaining the toughest ideas science has to offer, on a quest few would ever have expected: to discover what makes up our dark cosmos.