Astrofysik

'David Christian's approach to understanding history can help all of us learn to prepare for the future' - Bill GatesA user's guide to the future: from the algorithms in DNA to why time is like a cocktail glass, interstellar migrations, transhumanism, the fate of the galaxy, and the last black hole...Every second of our lives - whether we're looking both ways before crossing the street, celebrating the birth of a baby, or moving to a new city - we must cope with an unknowable future by telling stories about what will happen next. Where is the future, the place where we set those stories? Can we trust our future stories? And what sort of futures do they show us?David Christian, historian and bestselling author of Origin Story, is renowned for pioneering the emerging discipline of Big History, which surveys the whole of the past. But with Future Stories, he casts his sharp analytical eye forward, offering an introduction to the strange world of the future, and a guide to what we think we know about it at all scales, from the predictive mechanisms of single-celled organisms and tomato plants to the merging of colossal galaxies billions of years from now.Drawing together science, history and philosophy from a huge range of places and times, Christian explores how we prepare for uncertain futures, including the future of human evolution, artificial intelligence, interstellar travel, and more. By linking the study of the past much more closely to the study of the future, we can begin to imagine what the world will look like in the next hundred years and consider solutions to the biggest challenges facing us all.

Die Autoren Claus Grupen und Marcus Niechciol geben in diesem essential einen Ausblick auf die Chancen, der durch Uberbevolkerung und Klimaveranderung belasteten Erde zu entkommen. Der Mars als nachstliegender Planet ist ein naturlicher Kandidat fur eine Besiedelung durch den Menschen. Aber der Mars ist od und leer, ohne rechte Luft zum Atmen. Dazu kommt eine ungemutlich hohe Strahlenbelastung. All das fuhrt zu groen Herausforderungen fur zukunftige Marsbewohner. Oder ist der Mars doch kein so gutes Ziel?

This book aims at providing a solid basis for the education of the next generation of researchers in hot, dense QCD (Quantum ChromoDynamics) matter. This is a rapidly growing field at the interface of the smallest, i.e. subnuclear physics, and the largest scales, namely astrophysics and cosmology. The extensive lectures presented here are based on the material used at the training school of the European COST action THOR (Theory of hot matter in relativistic heavy-ion collisions).The book is divided in three parts covering ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, several aspects related to QCD, and simulations of QCD and heavy-ion collisions. The scientific tools and methods discussed provide graduate students with the necessary skills to understand the structure of matter under extreme conditions of high densities, temperatures, and strong fields in the collapse of massive stars or a few microseconds after the big bang. In addition to the theory, the set of lectures presents hands-on material that includes an introduction to simulation programs for heavy-ion collisions, equations of state, and transport properties.

Unlocking the secrets of the Universe involves the critical application of the laws of physics to the observations. This Very Short Introduction describes how we are turning observations into knowledge and how theory, in turn, is inspiring new observations.

Embark on your own personal journey into the night sky. Stardate: Today!Ever catch yourself staring up at the night sky and wondering just what the heck is out there? While no one book can answer all your questions, Astronomy For Dummies will take you on a tour through the Milky Way (and beyond!) that describes some of the most fascinating objects in the universe.This book comes complete with online access to chapter quizzes and downloadable full-color astronomical photos of our universe, as well as easy-to-follow explanations of the eye-popping wonders and gorgeous interstellar objects that populate our solar system, galaxy, and universe. You'll find:* Brand-new star charts for the northern and southern hemispheres, as well as descriptions of the latest tech tools for amateur astronomers* Lists of the most recently discovered exoplanets, exomoons, and exocomets hurtling through the cosmos* The latest timelines for dazzling solar events and maps to the best places to see them live and in-personFilled with discussions of the biggest and greatest new breakthroughs and an 8-page color insert packed with unbelievable, full-color photographs, Astronomy For Dummies is a can't-miss book that will ignite a passion for understanding the mysteries of the universe in children and adults alike!

This book covers how Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are fueled by gas (or stars), how we can account for the wide variety of AGN observed, from Seyfert/Liners to quasars, and for the two types (AGN 1 and 2) either through dust obscuration, and geometrical orientation arguments, or through intrinsic activity difference, qualitative or quantitative.

Presolar Grains in Extra-Terrestrial Materials: Probing Stars with Stardust presents the latest research on presolar grains and their stellar sources in a cohesive resource for bringing researchers in cosmochemistry, astrophysics, and astronomy up to speed on the state-of-the-art developments, analysis, and future implications. Beginning with a historical perspective on the study of presolar grains, the book then reviews the properties and features of a variety of presolar grains, including sililcon carbide, graphite, diamonds, oxides, and silicates. It also includes techniques for analyzing presolar grains in the lab, and covers the stars that are considered sources of presolar grains, such as asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, supernovae, novae, and born-again AGB stars. Condensation calculations in various types of stars and minerals observed and/or expected in the stellar atmospheres and presolar grains are also presented.By providing the latest state in the study of of presolar grains and relevant fields of astronomy and astrophysics, Presolar Grains in Extra-Terrestrial Materials serves as an up-to-date summary of data, analysis, and implications of the study of presolar grains and their stellar sources.

The Rocket Zooms around the Globe Poster pocket journal features a vintage illustration of a space travel poster. This journal has full color decorative vintage art on the cover, and is the perfect companion for your next trip, writing project, to-do list, or any occasion where a handy notebook is needed. Found Image Press Vintage Journals feature vintage art that celebrates your favorite places, hobbies and interests. The front cover design features a classic piece of art from the Found Image Press collection of over 60,000 pictures. - 4 x 6 inches - 100 lined opaque pages - Soft matte finish

The study of dark matter, in both astrophysics and particle physics, has emerged as one of the most active and exciting topics of research in recent years. This book reviews the history behind the discovery of missing mass (or unseen mass) in the Universe, and ties this into the proposed extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics (such as Supersymmetry), which were being proposed within the same time frame. This book is written as an introduction to these problems at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics, with the goal of conveying the physics of dark matter to beginning undergraduate majors in scientific fields. The book goes onto describe existing and upcoming experiments and techniques, which will be used to detect dark matter either directly on indirectly.

Cosmology is the study of the origin, size, and evolution of the entire universe. Every culture has developed a cosmology, whether it be based on religious, philosophical, or scientific principles. In this book, the evolution of the scientific understanding of the Universe in Western tradition is traced from the early Greek philosophers to the most modern 21st century view. After a brief introduction to the concept of the scientific method, the first part of the book describes the way in which detailed observations of the Universe, first with the naked eye and later with increasingly complex modern instruments, ultimately led to the development of the "Big Bang" theory. The second part of the book traces the evolution of the Big Bang including the very recent observation that the expansion of the Universe is itself accelerating with time.

This is an in-depth look at baryon number violation in the Standard Model including the necessary background in finite temperature field theory, plasma dynamics and how to calculate the out of equilibrium evolution of particle number densities throughout a phase transition. It is a self-contained pedagogical review of the theoretical background to electroweak baryogenesis as well as a summary of the other prevailing mechanisms for producing the asymmetry between matter and antimatter using the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model as a pedagogical tool whenever appropriate.

This book is intended to be a course about the creation and evolution of the universe at large, including the basic macroscopic building blocks (galaxies) and the overall large-scale structure.This text covers a broad range of topics for a graduate-level class in a physics department where students' available credit hours for astrophysics classes are limited. The sections cover galactic structure, external galaxies, galaxy clustering, active galaxies, general relativity and cosmology.

How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book reviews the history behind the discovery of spiral galaxies and the problems faced when trying to explain the existence of spiral structure within them. In the book, subjects such as galaxy morphology and structure are addressed as well as several models for spiral structure. The evidence in favor or against these models is discussed. The book ends by discussing how spiral structure can be used as a proxy for other properties of spiral galaxies, such as their dark matter content and their central supermassive black hole masses, and why this is important.

Origins of Life: A Cosmic Perspective presents an overview of the concepts, methods, and theories of astrobiology and origins of life research while presenting a summary of the latest findings. The book provides insight into the environments and processes that gave birth to life on our planet, which naturally informs our assessment of the probability that has arisen (or will arise) elsewhere. In addition, the book encourages readers to go beyond basic concepts, to explore topics in greater depth, and to engage in lively discussions. The text is intended to be suitable for mid- and upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students and more generally as an introduction and overview for researchers and general readers seeking to follow current developments in this interdisciplinary field. Readers are assumed to have a basic grounding in the relevant sciences, but prior specialized knowledge is not required. Each chapter concludes with a list of questions and discussion topics as well as suggestions for further reading. Some questions can be answered with reference to material in the text, but others require further reading and some have no known answers. The intention is to encourage readers to go beyond basic concepts, to explore topics in greater depth, and, in a classroom setting, to engage in lively discussions with class members.

Searching for Dark Matter with Cosmic Gamma Rays summarizes the evidence for dark matter and what we can learn about its particle nature using cosmic gamma rays. It has almost been 100 years since Fritz Zwicky first detected hints that most of the matter in the Universe that doesn't directly emit or reflect light. Since then, the observational evidence for dark matter has continued to grow. Dark matter may be a new kind of particle that is governed by physics beyond our Standard Model of particle physics. In many models, dark matter annihilation or decay produces gamma rays. There are a variety of instruments observing the gamma-ray sky from tens of MeV to hundreds of TeV. Some make deep, focused observations of small regions, while others provide coverage of the entire sky. Each experiment offers complementary sensitivity to dark matter searches in a variety of target sizes, locations, and dark matter mass scales. We review results from recent gamma-ray experiments including anomalies some have attributed to dark matter. We also discuss how our gamma-ray observations complement other dark matter searches and the prospects for future experiments.

In The Secret Life of Stars, award-winning astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith takes us on a cosmic journey to meet some of the weirdest, most extreme, and enigmatic stars in the universe.

This book presents a history of cosmology, covering the scientific developments from the time of the early Greek philosophers until the present day. It introduces the most important discoveries in cosmology, and how they altered our perceptions of the origin, size, structure, and evolution of the universe.

The 100 Year Starship (100YSS) 2014 Public Symposium held in September 2014 in Houston, Texas, brought together over 200 scientists, engineers, officials, thought leaders, musicians, artists and enthusiasts from across the United States, as well as from England, South Africa, Turkey, Finland, Dubai, Russia, Argentina, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, Ireland and China. This year's theme, "Pathway to the Stars, Footprints on Earth," focused attendees on international aspirations, transdisciplinary thinking and how audacious goals for the future are the building blocks for transformation to a better society today.