Dark Universe

The Dark Universe takes its title from Sonic Acts Festival 2013. The lectures, works, films, events and performances at the festival explored a variety of aspects of our unknown universe and the state of our planet, and this collection of essays, interviews and images complements and extends the festival theme. The book, through a series of critical essays follows a trajectory from the unknown universe as explored by physics and astronomy, to the outlook for humanity and human society on our planet. Along the way, conversations and interviews with artists reveal how they investigate phenomenological reality and the dark spots in our sensory apparatus. Interwoven throughout the book is a series of visual ‘data essays’ by Bitcaves on aspects of the dark world we inhabit.

You are Ayu Indah, a brilliant young girl with a thirst for knowledge, wandering the labyrinthine halls of a secret scientific research facility. Every turn unveils a wonder: robots with sentience, potions that shimmer with alien light, and machines that bend the laws of reality. But not all discoveries are rosy. Some innovations blur the lines between progress and peril, whispering unsettling secrets from the shadows. Dark Universe: Monster Montser is not just a book, it's an interactive portal to a world where your choices shape the narrative. Every decision you make for Anya unlocks a different path, leading you face-to-face with: Terrifying mutations: Experiments gone wrong, lurking in the shadows, their monstrous forms fueled by science's dark side. Mind-bending puzzles: Test your ingenuity with challenges that unlock secrets and advance your journey. But beware, young adventurer! With every choice, the lines between good and evil blur. Will you: 1. Embrace the power of technology and forge a partnership with AI, potentially unlocking its hidden potential… or unleashing its unforeseen danger? 2. Delve into the darkness, uncovering the science behind these monstrous creations, learning their strengths… and their weaknesses? Stick to the path of caution, navigating the labyrinth with wit and observation, avoiding the shadows and their secrets? The fate of the Dark Universe rests in your hands! Read Now!

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 book, the fascinating history of Olbers' Paradox is reviewed, and the intricate physics of the light/dark universe is examined in detail. The fact that the night sky is dark (a basic astronomical observation that anybody can make) turns out to be connected with the finite age of the universe, thereby confirming some event like the Big Bang. But the space between the galaxies is not perfectly black, and data on its murkiness at various wavelengths can be used to constrain and identify its unseen constituents.

This popular science book offers a glimpse into a plethora of extreme cosmic phenomena in which the theories of modern physics, particularly quantum mechanics and general relativity, play a key role. Despite their vastly different appearances, these cosmic phenomena have much in common: they are all powered by exotic stars -- black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs -- collectively called compact objects. The book describes, in accessible language, the physics underlying these phenomena, the historical background that led to their discovery, and the various observational techniques used by astronomers for their exposure. The book contains many spectacular photographs taken with modern telescopes around the world and satellites of different space agencies, as well as illustrations specially prepared by the author to enhance the reading experience. Contents: IntroductionFirst Episode: The Universe and All That Is In It: The History of the UniverseThe Genesis of Galaxies and the Birth of Giant Black HolesStellar Evolution -- From Dust Cloud to Black HoleSecond Episode: Physics and Astronomy in the 21st Century: Matter, Force, and Symmetry in NaturePrinciples of Modern AstronomyElectromagnetic Radiation: Kinds and ClassesThe Elusive NeutrinoGravitational Waves: Spacetime VibrationsCosmic Rays -- A Shower of Energetic Particles from the UniverseThird Episode: A Menagerie of Extreme Phenomena: White Dwarfs and the Quantum TheoryNeurton Stars -- The Largest Atomic Nuclei in the UniverseQuark Stars and Strange MatterLighthouses in the UniverseMagnetars -- The Universe's Largest MagnetsBlack Holes -- The Crown Jewel of Einstein's TheoryThe Black Holes' Magic ShowDeath and Birth -- The Tale of Cosmic ExplosionsMighty Bursts from Deep SpaceEpilogue Readership: Non-professional readers interested in science in general, and physics and astronomy in particular. Keywords: Astronomy;Black Holes;Gravitational Waves;Cosmic Rays;Popular ScienceReview:0

This book provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of particle physics in the early universe, in a logical way. It starts from the thermal history of the universe by investigating some of the main arguments such as Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the inflation, before treating in details the direct and indirect detection of dark matter and then some aspects of the physics of neutrino. Following, it describes possible candidates for dark matter and its interactions. The book is targeted at theoretical physicists who deal with particle physics in the universe, dark matter detection and astrophysical constraints, and at particle physicists who are interested in models of inflation or reheating. This book offers also material for astrophysicists who work with quantum field theory computations. All that is useful to compute any physical process is included: mathematical tables, all the needed functions for the thermodynamics of early universe and Feynman rules. In light of this, this book acts as a crossroad between astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology.

One of America's most talked-about science writers--and author of the award-winning book, Thursday's Universe--explores the phenomenon of "dark matter", the hypothesized, invisible substance that is changing our view of the universe. Photographs.