Katie Mack
Professor of Cosmology and Science Communication, Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Katie Mack
“Carroll gives us a front-row seat to the development of a new vision of physics: one that connects our everyday experiences to a dizzying hall-of-mirrors universe in which our very sense of self is challenged. It's a fascinating idea, and one that just might hold clues to a deeper reality.” (from Amazon)
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As you read these words, copies of you are being created. Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: physics has been in crisis since 1927. Quantum mechanics has always had obvious gaps—which have come to be simply ignored. Science popularizers keep telling us how weird it is, how impossible it is to understand. Academics discourage students from working on the "dead end" of quantum foundations. Putting his professional reputation on the line with this audacious yet entirely reasonable book, Carroll says that the crisis can now come to an end. We just have to accept that there is more than one of us in the universe. There are many, many Sean Carrolls. Many of every one of us. Copies of you are generated thousands of times per second. The Many Worlds Theory of quantum behavior says that every time there is a quantum event, a world splits off with everything in it the same, except in that other world the quantum event didn't happen. Step-by-step in Carroll's uniquely lucid way, he tackles the major objections to this otherworldly revelation until his case is inescapably established. Rarely does a book so fully reorganize how we think about our place in the universe. We are on the threshold of a new understanding—of where we are in the cosmos, and what we are made of.
Recommended by Katie Mack
“Baumann’s writings and explanations are some of the clearest and best structured of any I’ve encountered in this field. I’ve been recommending his lecture notes to students for years, and this book will certainly be my first choice as an up-to-date text for those seeking to understand cosmology and its physical foundations.” (from Amazon)
The author a leading theoretical cosmologist expands on his widely acclaimed lecture notes in this self contained textbook, suitable for the advanced undergraduate or starting graduate level. Presenting the key theoretical foundations of cosmology and describing the observations that have turned the subject into a precision science, the author keeps the student in mind on every page by explaining concepts step by step, in an approachable manner. After describing the dynamics of the homogeneous universe, the book traces the evolution of small density fluctuations, which were created quantum mechanically during inflation and are today observed in the cosmic microwave background and the large scale structure of the universe. The book is ideally suited as a course companion or for self study. With all necessary background material covered, students have everything they need to establish an unrivalled understanding of the subject. Complete with many worked examples, figures. homework problems, this textbook is a definitive resource for advanced students in physics, astronomy and applied mathematics.