Contents
xvii
7
General Relativity
119
7.1
Let’s Try It This Way
119
7.2
A 20th Century Cathedral
121
7.3
The Principle of Equivalence
122
7.4
Bending of Rays of Light Under Gravity
124
7.5
Einstein’s Field Equations
129
7.6
Further Observational Evidence for General
Relativity
133
7.7
Gravitational Waves
136
References
140
8 The Most Accurate Theory in Physics
143
8.1
The Storm
143
8.2
Particles
146
8.3
Fields and Relativistic QM
149
8.4
Quantum Electrodynamics (QED)
155
References
162
9 The Standard Model of Fundamental Particles
163
9.1
Alice in Nanoland
163
9.2
The Particle Zoo
166
9.3
The Four Forces
167
9.4
Sorting the Particle Zoo
172
9.5
Beyond the Standard Model
180
References
185
10 How the World Began
187
10.1 Cornetti for Breakfast
187
10.2 The Very Beginning
190
10.3 Why is the Sky Dark at Night?
192
10.4 The Expanding Universe—Theoretical Framework
197
10.5 The Expanding Universe—Observational Evidence
200
10.6 Cosmic Microwave Background
207
10.7 The Universe, as It Was Known at the End
of the 20 th Century
210
References
213
11 Modern Cosmology
215
11.1 Hyperspace and Wormholes
215
11.2 The First 380,000 Years
217
11.3 The Strange Case of the Missing Mass
219