{"title":"The Architecture of the Cosmos","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"In the first part of the book, I discuss the discovery of gravitational waves and the birth of multimessenger astronomy. Borrowing the structure of Dante’s Paradise and Inferno, I illustrate the biggest mysteries of modern cosmology and argue that multimessenger astronomy, and in particular gravitational waves, may hold the key to unlock these mysteries, and may thus help a bridge between the realm of gravity, and that of quantum physics. Stars. Black holes. Galaxies. Even the most well-known celestial objects are so removed from our daily experience that we might almost mistake them for abstract entities. Yet they are no less real than the objects that surround you as you read these lines.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122443586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The New Messengers","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"I present the momentous discovery of gravitational waves, announced in 2016, starting from a confused Einstein who in 1936 tries to convince the scientific community that gravitational waves cannot exist (!), and then illustrating the extraordinary insights and breakthroughs that led 2017 Nobel Prize winners B. Barish, K. Thorne and R. Weiss to open an entirely new window on the Universe. This achievement has marked the beginning of a new era in science, and upcoming experiments have the potential to truly revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. Accounts of the perception of extra-terrestrial reality with senses beyond sight, such as those offered by astronauts who have been on the Moon, are exceedingly rare. That is hardly unsurprising: touch and taste require direct contact, while hearing and smell operate only over short distances, and are in any case confined to the Earth’s thin shell of atmosphere. Sight, on the other hand, allows us to collect the electromagnetic waves emitted by extraordinarily remote celestial objects.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126503723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Black Holes","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"In the second part of the book, I argue that the four biggest mysteries of modern physics and astronomy—dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and the Big Bang—sink their roots into the physics of the infinitely small. And I argue that gravitational waves may shed new light on, and possibly solve, each of these four mysteries. I start here by introducing the problem of dark matter, the mysterious substance that permeates the Universe at all scales and describe the gravitational waves observations that might soon elucidate its nature. The next time you see the Sun shining in the sky, consider this: what blinds your eyes and warms your skin is an immense nuclear furnace, which transforms millions of tons of nuclear fuel into energy every second. And when you contemplate the night sky, try to visualize it for what it essentially is: an endless expanse of colossal natural reactors, forging the atoms that we, and everything that surrounds us, are made of.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124549378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dark Matter","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"I introduce here the problem of dark energy, a substance that appears to be pushing the Universe to expand ever faster and discuss the large effort currently in place to understand its origin. I describe the surprising recent discovery of a widening crack in the cathedral of modern cosmology arising from the measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe. And I argue that gravitational waves observations can help us to either repair that crack, or to bring down that magnificent building, in case it turns out to be fatally flawed. Before all women and all men. Before animals, plants, archaeans, bacteria. Before the Earth was formed and the stars were lit. Before everything we know, the Universe was immersed in an amorphous and oblivious darkness.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"174 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122993057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stories of a Certain Gravity","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Before delving into gravitational waves, I illustrate, with nine short stories, the fascinating history of gravity, shedding light on the actual lives and contributions of leading scientists and astronomers, from Tycho Brahe’s adventurous life and grotesque death, to Johannes Kepler’s intuitions and passionate prose. And from Newton’s resolution to cut the Gordian knot of the origin of gravity with his theory of universal gravitation, to Einstein’s heroic struggle to derive the equations of general relativity. Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces in nature, yet it subjugates us from the moment we are born. After nine months floating in the womb, suspended in the enveloping heat of the amniotic fluid, we are suddenly confronted with the gravitational pull of our planet. Gravity thus manifests itself as weight, and forces our helpless bodies to the ground, establishing a universal and defining aspect of the human condition.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121431523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantum Genesis","authors":"G. Bertone","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898159.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Finally, I tackle what is arguably the greatest mystery of all: the origin of the Universe. Paraphrasing J.L. Borges (‘How, then, can I translate into words the limitless Aleph, which my floundering mind can scarcely encompass?’), I will underline the extraordinary challenge of translating into words the mind-blowing theories proposed by physicists to explain the very first instants of the Universe. And I discuss the exhilarating possibility of identifying the origin of all there is in the Universe, by measuring the gravitational waves signal produced in the primordial Universe, right after the Big Bang. Telling stories is our way of understanding the world. We do it all the time: when we talk to others, when we are absorbed in our inner world. Even when we sleep, in our dreams.","PeriodicalId":251235,"journal":{"name":"A Tale of Two Infinities","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134058004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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