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Fundamental ideas in cosmology : scientific, philosophical and sociological critical perspectives
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Online
- Summary
-
This book examines the world of cosmological research, providing an in-depth critical review of the research associated with challenges to the standard Big Bang scenario. It includes studies that a...
This book examines the world of cosmological research, providing an in-depth critical review of the research associated with challenges to the standard Big Bang scenario. It includes studies that are apparently at odds with the current standard Lambda-CDM model, providing examples of alternative theories, tests and problems with the standard model, and a discussion on the philosophy and sociology of cosmology.
Details
- Creator
- Martín López-Corredoira
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Contributors
- Publication
-
- Bristol [England] (Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6HG, UK) : IOP Publishing, [2022]
- Series
- Physical Details
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- 1 online resource (various pagings) : illustrations (some color)
- ISBNs
- 9780750337755, 0750337753, 9780750337748, 0750337745, 0750337737
- OCLC
- on1329974901
- "Version: 20220501"--Title page verso.
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Also available in print.
- Mode of access: World Wide Web.
- System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.
- Martín López-Corredoira is a permanent staff astrophysicist at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Tenerife, Spain. He has authored around a hundred papers (half of them as first author) on galaxies and cosmology in international refereed scientific journals.
- 1. Historical and conceptual introduction to the standard cosmological model -- 1.1. Fundamental ideas in cosmology -- 1.2. Cosmology in western culture before the twentieth century -- 1.3. Origin and evolution of the standard cosmological model -- 1.4. Pillars of the standard model -- 1.5. Towards a sceptical position on cosmology
- 2. Some examples of alternative cosmologies -- 2.1. Variations on the standard model -- 2.2. Quasi-steady state cosmology -- 2.3. Plasma cosmology -- 2.4. Universe as a hypersphere -- 2.5. Static models and/or non-cosmological redshifts -- 2.6. Caveats/problems in the alternative approaches
- 3. CP violation, inflation, dark matter, and dark energy -- 3.1. Antimatter and CP violation -- 3.2. Inflation -- 3.3. History of the idea of dark matter -- 3.4. Dark matter and inconsistencies of the theory on galactic scales -- 3.5. Dark matter particles -- 3.6. Scenarios without non-baryonic cold dark matter -- 3.7. Dark energy and the cosmological constant or quintessence -- 3.8. Grey ... neither dark nor luminous
- 4. Redshift and expansion -- 4.1. Does redshift mean expansion? -- 4.2. Conceptual problems of expansion -- 4.3. Expansion on small scales -- 4.4. Hubble-Lemaître constant -- 4.5. Observational tests for the expansion of the Universe -- 4.6. Anomalous redshifts -- 4.7. So ... is the Universe expanding or not?
- 5. The cosmic microwave background radiation -- 5.1. Early predictions and observations -- 5.2. Alternative explanations for the temperature of 2.7 K -- 5.3. Alternative origin of the CMBR -- 5.4. Microwave background radiation anisotropies -- 5.5. Some doubts on the validity of the foreground Galactic contribution subtraction from microwave anisotropies -- 5.6. Anomalies in the anisotropies -- 5.7. Other background radiations -- 5.8. How sure can we be of the standard interpretation of the CMBR?
- 6. The abundance of light elements -- 6.1. Basic aspects of primordial nucleosynthesis -- 6.2. Helium-4 -- 6.3. Lithium -- 6.4. Deuterium and helium-3 -- 6.5. Abundances of other elements -- 6.6. Baryon fraction -- 6.7. Light element abundance without primordial nucleosynthesis -- 6.8. Light elements, weighty problems
- 7. Large-scale-structure and the formation and evolution of galaxies -- 7.1. Reionization epoch -- 7.2. Formation and evolution of stars and galaxies in the early Universe -- 7.3. Large-scale structure -- 7.4. Large-scale problems for the standard model
- 8. Sociological factors that hinder the development of alternative cosmological models -- 8.1. Deduction and induction in modern cosmology -- 8.2. Cosmological models and free parameters : new epicycles? -- 8.3. Social dynamics of an N-cosmologist system -- 8.4. Optimism and conservatism -- 8.5. Pluralism
- 9. Cosmology and culture -- 9.1. The influence of religion -- 9.2. God, multiverse, or neither -- 9.3. Binggeli's Primum Mobile -- 9.4. Politics and the democratisation of cosmology -- 9.5. Anglo-Saxon cultural colonialism -- 9.6. Cosmology as cultural expression
- 10. Epilogue -- 10.1. Cosmology : science or myth? -- 10.2. Desiderata for broadened perspectives in cosmology -- 10.3. Some closing personal remarks