Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Martin Bojowald (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 9, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0307272850 | ISBN-13: 978-0307272850 | Edition: 1

In 2000, Martin Bojowald, then a twenty-seven-year-old post-doc at Pennsylvania State University, used a relatively new theory called loop quantum gravity—a cunning combination of Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics—to create a simple model of the universe. Loop quantum cosmology was born, and with it, a theory that managed to do something even Einstein’s general theory of relativity had failed to do—illuminate the very birth of the universe.

Ever since, loop quantum cosmology, or LQC, has been tantalizing physicists with the idea that our universe could conceivably have emerged from the collapse of a previous one. Now the theory is poised to formulate hypotheses we can actually test. If they are verified, the big bang will give way to the big bounce. Instead of a universe that emerged from a point of infinite density, we will have one that recycles, possibly through an eternal series of expansions and contractions, with no beginning and no end.

Bojowald’s major realization was that unlike general relativity, the physics of LQC do not break down at the big bang. The greatest mystery surrounding the origin of the universe is what cosmologists call the big bang “singularity”—the point at the beginning of the universe, prior to the existence of space and time, when gravity, along with the temperature and density of the universe, becomes infinite. The equations of general relativity can’t cope with such infinities, and as a result big bang theory has never been able to give any explanation for the initial condition of our universe, succeeding only in describing and explaining the evolution of the universe from that instant onward. Bojowald’s theory takes us right up to the first moment of the universe—and then back, even before the big bang itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. If it's possible to write a literary treatment of cutting-edge cosmology, groundbreaking physicist Bojowald has done it, complete with illustrations of abstract sculpture and quotes from thinkers as diverse as Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Charles Dickens, and Joseph Heller. Bojowald, a professor of physics at Penn State, explores loop quantum theory, an idea he developed as a postdoctoral student in 2000, to fill in the gaps left by 20th-century physics. Despite advances like relativity theory, curved space, and quantum theory, physics falters when it comes to explaining what happened before the Big Bang, when time, space, matter, and energy were all shrunk into a bizarre entity called a singularity, where math and logic as we know them failed. Later, string theory, with its extra dimensions and elegant equations, offered promise, but only with loop quantum cosmology were physicists able to see the universe be born, expand, shrink, and be reborn, over and over again. Bojowald largely avoids mathematics for accessibility, but that can leave his writing dense with rigor as he strives to cover "the Whole Story." Readers willing to meet his challenge will find a fascinating new universe revealed by his enthusiastic firsthand approach. 37 illus. (Nov.) (c)
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From Booklist

In theoretical physics, gravity can be an intractable problem. At extreme values prevalent near the big bang or black holes, general relativity can’t accommodate it. String theory purports to be a solution, but not all physicists are on the string bandwagon. One such recalcitrant, Bojowald champions a rival theory called loop quantum gravity, which he here valiantly presents to the nonmathematical. If his explanation daunts some science readers, its implications will be sufficiently clear and exciting to pull them through his text, because those involve the start of the big bang and the interior of a black hole. Notionally, each one is a singularity as Bojowald describes the failure of mathematics when energy density goes to infinity and space collapses to zero volume. Loop quantum gravity offers an escape from these terrifying places by acting like a quantum-mechanical Atlas who holds space open just enough so that physics—the universe—can continue to exist. Complex but comprehensible, Bojowald’s treatment of loop quantum gravity should compete with popular string-theory titles such as Endless Universe (2007), by Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok. --Gilbert Taylor

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (November 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307272850
• ISBN-13: 978-0307272850
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing November 26, 2010

By Benjamin Crowell

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was a big disappointment. The style is really hard to plod through; every sentence reminds you that English isn't Bojowald's native language. The book starts by covering a lot of preliminaries about quantum mechanics and general relativity, and it doesn't do that very well. This first half of the book is in particularly in need of some diagrams. E.g., there is a description of the Bohr model of the atom in words, with no diagram of the circular orbits. Rather than useful scientific diagrams, most of the illustrations in the book are photos of abstract sculptures. Once he gets into the quantum gravity stuff, there are some descriptions of contact with observation, but these are already out of date. He discusses tests of dispersion of the vacuum, which the LQG community has already disowned as a prediction of the theory. He also devotes some space to Smolin's cosmological natural selection, which has recently been falsified by the observation of a high-mass neutron star. Amazingly for a book about LQG, there are absolutely no drawings of spin networks.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I Have Hit A Wall and It's Not Made of Loops December 3, 2010

By Keith H. Bray

Format:Hardcover

Considering that there is scant little published material on LQC (aside from the deplorable book published by Books, LLC which is a collection of Wikipedia articles), I was highly excited by the author, quality and the size of the 'Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe.' However, you do not judge a book by its cover--a lesson that is difficult for a self-professed bibliophile--and I have to somewhat agree with the above reviewer in that I was somewhat left waiting for the punch line. That is to say, I understand that many popular level books have to start out by stating the same foundational issues many physics books seem pressured to lay out the same foundation only this book lays it out in such a way as to presume that one would have some working knowledge of classical and non-classical physics. This book accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish; namely, teaches you everything you wanted to know about LQC regardless of some outdated scientific notions (that are irrelevant anyway). Moreover, it is organized enough so that the "patient" reader can get through this book without too much pain.

You will not find any chapter containing long descriptions of Einstein's light clock or the twin paradox. And, this is actually one of the good things one can state about the writing style and approach. Many of the chapters--at least at the beginning--are not torturously long. That is why I would give this book a 3+ star rating. Contrary to the reviewer above, the book is worth more than 1-star and I would not dismiss the author too quickly as there is a measure of subjectivity when reading. Some chapters are three pages in length and very readable. That is to say, you do not lose touch with where the author is going--at least during the first half of the book.

I have given this book 3 stars because it shares stories that you won't find in other books, such as stories regarding some heroes of physics such as Lee Smolin. Moreover, it delivers on what is promised by way of a description and process leading up to LQC. But, this does not say much as far as substance and after page 100--when the unfamiliar reader may find themselves in troubled waters. However, you are not going to find very many books written on LQC anywhere else (presently), and especially by someone that is credited for being the first to utilize QLG and Einstein's GTR to create LQC. For these reasons, and many others that are laid out throughout this 320 page book, I would recommend it simply because of its historic value and its content. It is definitely not a 1 star book.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Hawking's Grand Design February 6, 2011

By Fred Bortz "Dr. Fred"

Format:Hardcover

This review was published in slightly shorter form in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and I retained rights to republish it elsewhere.

Move over, Stephen Hawking. Make way for Penn State physics professor Martin Bojowald!

Bojowald's new book, Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe, describes what may turn out to be a definitive breakthrough toward solving the greatest problem in modern physics. Though no one expects the professorial Bojowald to outsell the charismatic Stephen Hawking, Once Before Time is a more worthy successor to Hawking's 1980s mega-seller, A Brief History of Time, than is Hawking's own new book, The Grand Design.

Bojowald's story begins in 2000 when he was a 27-year-old postdoctoral researcher in cosmology at Penn State. Understanding the behavior of the universe as a whole requires a solid grasp of two remarkably successful but apparently incompatible theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics.

General relativity runs counter to our intuitive distinctions between space and time and between mass and energy. It describes gravity as the result of the warping of spacetime due to the distribution of mass-energy within it.

Quantum mechanics describes the subatomic realm, again in counter-intuitive ways. Waves and particles become two faces of the same phenomenon, described mathematically as a wave function.

The two theories, as currently constituted, are incompatible in a significant way. General relativity assumes that space and time can take on any value along a continuum, while quantum mechanics gets its name because properties of mass and energy only take on discrete values-states described by a set of quantum numbers.

Unfortunately, these apparently mismatched theories must both apply in two extreme but important cosmological circumstances: the Big Bang "singularity," in which our universe of matter, energy, space, and time emerged from a timeless, infinitely dense state; and a similar singularity that exists in the heart of a black hole.

Singularity is a mathematical term for the infinity that arises in the continuous mathematics of general relativity, a point where physical interpretation breaks down. An infinite result is likewise incompatible with the discrete, finite mathematics of quantum theory.

Since all entities in the universe appear to be quantized, the resolution to this incompatibility seems to lie in finding a way to quantize general relativity. That is what Bojowald was trying to do when he ignored a piece of conventional wisdom, and, in what he describes as a fortunate accident, emerged with a mathematical description with surprising consequences.

That approach has come to be called "loop quantum cosmology." The name is a result of its connection to loop quantum gravity, a theoretical alternative to the family of approaches that are known collectively as string theory.

That's where Hawking's new book comes in. Like Hawking, Bolowold manages to describe these complicated ideas without bogging down in mathematical notation. And like Hawking, he manages to help readers over the difficult spots with entertaining and literate prose.

But unlike Hawking, he shows a way to turn the spacetime continuum into a fabric knitted together from discrete spacetime loops, making it possible to avoid the singularity. This leads to what he calls "The astonishing result: ...unflinchingly, the wave function of the universe wends its way before and behind the big bang, without even taking notice of the potential singularity."

The astonishment arises because the theory makes it possible to speak of, and even discover, some properties of a predecessor universe. It removes a philosophical sticking point that many physicists have had with existing theories. No longer do they have to say that there was no such thing as time or space before the Big Bang.

Loop quantum cosmology is also much more satisfying than Hawking's candidate for "The Grand Design," a version of string theory called M-theory, which postulates a multiplicity of universes far more numerous than the number of protons in this one. On the other hand, Bojowald's discovery, when fully developed, has the potential to be "the ultimate theory explaining not only the temporal course of the universe but also the fact that there is only a single universe."

Yet Bojowald never loses sight of the many open questions that could completely derail his work. His closing is a refreshing contrast to Hawking, who claims that M-Theory enables science to subsume philosophy and even theology by answering the ultimate question of why a universe such as ours exists.

Instead, Bojowald closes with humility about his own theory and science in general. Science's great strength is its ability to describe the practical "what" and "how" and leave the grand "why" to philosophy. "Despite the almost intoxicating progress in science," he writes, "one must always keep in mind its limitations, which become especially clear at its frontiers."

Fred Bortz is a physicist and author of the twentieth-century scientific history, Physics: Decade by Decade (Twentieth-Century Science), and eighteen other books for young readers.