The Chaotic Universe

This unique volume is a collection of papers on various problems in astrophysics and cosmology — from planetary motion to the arrow of time — that are closely linked by the common spirit, technique and methodology of chaos.

This unique volume is a collection of papers on various problems in astrophysics and cosmology ? from planetary motion to the arrow of time ? that are closely linked by the common spirit, technique and methodology of chaos.

Have you ever thought of talking to the stars? Or have you already done it? Do you think that people around you would judge you if they catch you talking to celestial beings? Well, this book would be a non-judgmental space that will encourage you to continue your fantasy talks. Stories are all around us and some stories fly right over our head because we don’t pay any heed to it. Even the sun ray that falls on your face in the morning has travelled millions of kilometres to tell you some stories. The musings in the book are abstract thoughts that use the illustration as an aid to boost up your imagination. Dive into the book and wake up in another world of thoughts and imagination.

This book is based on some 50 outstanding papers published in international journals. The work emphasises the stochastic underpinning for space, time, interactions, and physical laws, and at the same time synthesises aspects of contemporary work, including the quark model and quantum superstrings. It covers general relativity, quantum mechanics, and other related disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography, and broad index are included.

At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat, the sound of cycles in sync. Along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate and flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the earth; our hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten thousand pacemaker cells. While the forces that synchronize the flashing of fireflies may seem to have nothing to do with our heart cells, there is in fact a deep connection. Synchrony is a science in its infancy, and Strogatz is a pioneer in this new frontier in which mathematicians and physicists attempt to pinpoint just how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. From underground caves in Texas where a French scientist spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the home of a Dutch physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks swinging in perfect time, this fascinating book spans disciplines, continents, and centuries. Engagingly written for readers of books such as Chaos and The Elegant Universe, Sync is a tour-de-force of nonfiction writing.

Written in Alwyn Scott’s inimitable style, one that readers will find both lucid and accessible, this masterwork elucidates the explosion of activity in nonlinear science in recent decades. The book explains the wide-ranging implications of nonlinear phenomena for future developments in many areas of modern science, including mathematics, physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and neuroscience. Arguably as important as quantum theory, modern nonlinear science is essential for understanding the scientific developments of the twenty-first century.

This book offers a study of the three evolutions in a circle (cosmos, life, and knowledge) with the aim of discussing human social behavior, a metaphor of the general behavior of nature (from which man derives) within the fluctuating equilibrium between the opposite tendencies to cohesion and shredding; a circularity revealing an indefinite and probably never conclusive run-up of human beings to the knowledge of nature; an analysis that demonstrates any theoretical/practical impossibility to formulate absolute certainties, since it depicts a situation in which man finds himself hovering between a rational way of living and the contradictory modus operandi of mythos. All that, within a society where the powerful communication and transportation technologies give rise to conflicts and fragmentations, where anyone’s will to self-distinguishing is enhanced by highlighting any small difference and obscuring any large similarity. The main difference between this book and existing ones stems from its interdisciplinary nature, particularly because it establishes a close connection between three, apparently so different disciplines—cosmology, life sciences, and sociology—compared with respect to their increasing complexity laws, giving rise to always more chaotic configurations.