1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455046803321

Autore

Overduin J. M (James Martin), <1965->

Titolo

The light/dark universe [[electronic resource] ] : light from galaxies, dark matter and dark energy / / James M. Overduin, Paul S. Wesson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Singapore ; ; Hackensack, NJ, : World Scientific, c2008

ISBN

981-283-442-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (236 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

WessonPaul S

Disciplina

523

523.015

Soggetti

Olbers' paradox

Dark matter (Astronomy)

Dark energy (Astronomy)

Galaxies - Spectra

Cosmology

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-216) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface; Contents; 1. The Enigma of the Dark Night Sky; 1.1 Why is the sky dark at night?; 1.2 ""By reason of distance""; 1.3 Island Universe; 1.4 Non-uniform sources; 1.5 Tired light; 1.6 Absorption; 1.7 Fractal Universe; 1.8 Finite age; 1.9 Dark stars; 1.10 Curvature; 1.11 Ether voids; 1.12 Insufficient energy; 1.13 Light-matter interconversion; 1.14 Cosmic expansion; 1.15 Olbers' paradox today; 2. The Intensity of Cosmic Background Light; 2.1 Bolometric intensity; 2.2 Time and redshift; 2.3 Matter, energy and expansion; 2.4 How important is expansion?; 2.5 Simple at models

2.6 Curved and multi-uid models2.7 A bright sky at night?; 3. The Spectrum of Cosmic Background Light; 3.1 Spectral intensity; 3.2 Luminosity density; 3.3 The delta function .; 3.4 The normal distribution; 3.5 The thermal spectrum; 3.6 The spectra of galaxies; 3.7 The light of the night sky; 3.8 R.I.P. Olbers' paradox; 4. Dark Cosmology; 4.1 The four dark elements; 4.2 Baryons; 4.3 Dark matter; 4.4 Neutrinos; 4.5 Dark energy; 4.6 Cosmological concordance; 4.7 The coincidental Universe; 5. The Radio and Microwave Backgrounds; 5.1



The cosmological ""constant""; 5.2 The scalar field

5.3 Decaying dark energy5.4 Energy density; 5.5 Source luminosity; 5.6 Bolometric intensity; 5.7 Spectral energy distribution; 5.8 Dark energy and the background light; 6. The Infrared and Visible Backgrounds; 6.1 Decaying axions; 6.2 Axion halos; 6.3 Bolometric intensity; 6.4 Axions and the background light; 7. The Ultraviolet Background; 7.1 Decaying neutrinos; 7.2 Neutrino halos; 7.3 Halo luminosity; 7.4 Free-streaming neutrinos; 7.5 Extinction by gas and dust; 7.6 Neutrinos and the background light; 8. The X-ray and Gamma-ray Backgrounds; 8.1 Weakly interacting massive particles

8.2 Pair annihilation8.3 One-loop decay; 8.4 Tree-level decay; 8.5 Gravitinos; 8.6 WIMPs and the background light; 9. The High-Energy Gamma-ray Background; 9.1 Primordial black holes; 9.2 Evolution and density; 9.3 Spectral energy distribution; 9.4 Bolometric intensity; 9.5 Spectral intensity; 9.6 Higher dimensions; 10. The Universe Seen Darkly; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

To the eyes of the average person and the trained scientist, the night sky is dark, even though the universe is populated by myriads of bright galaxies. Why this happens is a question commonly called Olbers' Paradox, and dates from at least 1823. How dark is the night sky is a question which preoccupies astrophysicists at the present. The answer to both questions tells us about the origin of the universe and the nature of its contents - luminous galaxies like the Milky Way, plus the dark matter between them and the mysterious dark energy which appears to be pushing everything apart. In this bo