Customer Reviews

Shadowlands: Quest for Mirror Matter in the Universe

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In defense of my book (which this reviewer has NOT read),
let me simply quote from it. On page 148 (in the chapter
about the mirror matter interpretation of the Tunguska
event) it states:
"The mirror body may have some embedded amount of
ordinary matter, so a tiny amount of ordinary
extraterrestrial material is possible."
Thus, the discovery of a small amount of
extraterrestrial ordinary matter -- if correct --
does not disprove the mirror matter hypothesis
for the Tunguska event (perhaps the book description
needs a slight re-wording). Let me just add, that
the Tunguska event is only a small part of the evidence
for mirror matter, and comprises only about 10 percent
of the book. Nevertheless, it is perhaps the
most interesting because it suggests the
possibility that mirror matter could be extracted
from the ground at the Tunguska site.

R.Foot is one of the few physicists that seriously investigates the "Mirror Dark Matter" model today,in a field crowded by supersymmetric or quantum gravity models of the still 'dark' contents of our universe.His exposition is very clear and represents a good start for those interested in a different pathway of our quest for the understanding of our strange universe.

At last, a popular physics book that presents a bold far-reaching hypothesis that is actually experimentally testable. This makes a refreshing change from other books of this genre. Could mirror matter really be the "dark matter" whose existence is inferred from its gravitational effects on the visible Universe? We'll have to wait for further experimental and observational results before we know for sure.

While I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about antimatter (and it did explain anti-matter) it explained so much more. Antimatter was predicted to exist more than 70 years ago and subsequently discovered. Antimatter exists because of Einstein's theory requires it. Mirror matter is something else altogether, which is also predicted to exist if nature obey's mirror symmetry.

The book also explains dark matter, the discovery of new planets, isolated planets, supernova's, white dwarfs, gamma ray bursts,
neutrinos and even the Tunguska event. These topics are explained in a lively and entertaining way that even a novice like myself is able to understand! I was a little disappointed that there was not much discussin about black holes.

The book explains how these puzzles can easily be explained by the mirror matter theory. Along the way the book contains interesting historical info and is full of witty remarks. The book emphasises the distinction between the 'traditional' scientific approach whereby ideas are developed and compared with observations and experiments and the more recent 'popularist' approach embodied in superstring theory which seem to have no experimental support at all, but survive because of their popularity.

The book should be of interest to students, scientists and lay people, perhaps anyone interested in recent developments in science.

SHADOWLANDS: THE QUEST FOR MIRROR MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE; by Professor Robert Foot(University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010 Australia, 2002). Reviewed by Richard L. Gibbens.

The best kind of scientific theory, wrote Sir Karl Popper, the Oxford philosopher of science, is one which is easily in principle falsifiable, because even if one's hypothesis turns out to be wrong, one will find new unanticipated facts about nature. I believe,after sampling the work that I am now reviewing, that Robert Foot's theory of mirror matter fits testing in the best Popperian tradition of experimental science.

Near the beginning of this work, Professor Foot talks about the essential role that the concept of symmetry plays in predicting the possible nature of different physical phenomena. The only symmetry that does not seem to work in the discipline of physics at present is mirror reflection symmetry, a problem that showed up in the late fifties when three American physicists overthrew the "law of parity," by experiments with colbolt atoms. The ordinary matter that makes up our world and our bodies appears to be "left-handed." Foot has proposed that mirror reflection symmetry could be restored for the universe if we postulate that in addition to the ordinary matter that we are all familiar with, there is mirror matter which is in every respect like our own except that mirror matter and mirror photons only usually interact with our world of ordinary matter by means of the gravitational field and not by the electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear forces. A mirror object would pass right through our hands, and Foot has suggested that the so-called dark matter that is supposed to make up about ninety-six percent of our universe may be the mirror matter.

Robert Foot wants to emphasise that mirror matter is still an unproven hypothesis yet, but he gives up to seven reasonswhy it is the best candidate to explain some of the anomalies that particle physicists and astrophysicists have discovered in the last thirty years. One is the problem of the missing atmospheric neutrinos, another is the problem of the hot Jupiter like planets that orbit close in to their primaries, and the phenomenon of isolated planets that seem to be wandering through interstellar space. Professor Foot even suggests that the Tunguska impact on Siberia in 1908 was the result of a collision with the Earth by a mirror matter object. He reviews the evidence and suggests how we might prove this conjecture one way or the other.

Robert Foot explains in his book that observations and experiments to test his theory are relatively inexpensive compared with many physics experiments in elementary particle physics--for example, searching for the Higgs Boson using the multi-billion dollar Hadron Super Collider in Switzerland and France. He suggests where we should look remainsf mirror matter on Earth, and how we could carry out experiments with neutrinos both on our planet, and observing neutrinos coming from a mirror supernova where a star does not seem to exist. Foot goes on to say that the hypothesis of mirror matter could be decided within five years if the funding is forthcoming.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone going into a career in physics who is looking for an area of research, and who may want see resultsin his or her lifetime. I would also recommend to all book stores and libraries that they should carry this work as it may be the seed of a new revolution in our understanding of the Cosmos.

Dr. Foot's book "Mirror Matter" is an extremly convincing work about one of the sharpest cutting edges of science. Not only does his book make a great aurgumant for his proposed "Mirror Matter" (which shouldn't be confused with anti-matter) The practical uses of such a subtance boggles the mind. If the photon/mirror photon interaction proves to be strong enough mirror matter could be he answer for gaining real control of antimatter and using antimatter as a practical energy source. I would recoment anyone who has an interest in alternate energy sources to space flight to astronomy read this book.

Michael Hissom

Hi! I have not read this book. Just a comment, though. I see that he argues that no trace of the incoming body connected with the Tunguska event 1908 over Sibera has ever been recovered. Well, that is simply not true. Tiny particles assumed to be from the comet/asteroid has been recovered from the inside of chared trees by scienticif expeditions investigating the disaster area. I have a picture of these particles if anyone is interested. So they are not inviseble at all.

Regards

Jorgen Danielsson
Sweden