Our Universal Cycle

Our Universal Cycle

Giancarlo Varnier

Copyright: 2012 Ed Alvis

Published by Editions ALVIS at Smashwords

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Universe

Chapter 2: The Galaxies

Chapter 3: The Stars

Chapter 4: The Black Holes

Chapter 5: Quark, Gravastar, Fuzzball

Chapter 6: Quasar and Pulsar

Chapter 7: The Milky Way

Chapter 8: The Solar System

Chapter 9: The Planet Earth

Chapter 10: The Precambrian Era

Chapter 11: The Primary Era

Chapter 12: The Secondary Era

Chapter 13: The Tertiary Era

Chapter 14: The Quaternary Era

Chapter 15: The Fate of Earth

Chapter 16: The Future of Universe

INTRODUCTION

The Wonderful immensity of the Universe has always fascinated the human mind. The progress of knowledge around the bodies that fill the sky has marked the key stages of its evolution. Today, thanks to the valuable contribution of thinkers, scientists and researchers, we know much more than in the past, but at the same time this knowledge has helped to open even larger mysteries that seem to outweigh the limits of human understanding. In front of incommensurability of the Universe, man perceives in all its magnitude, the inexorable bound of his limitation. If parameterized to the breath of the universe, in fact, the entire evolution of man, from the origin until its, more or less distant, but inevitable extinction, is but a short blink of an eye. To this must be added the knowledge that every possible understanding of the universe, even the most rigorously scientific, is not that an interpretation of human thought, with all the limitations and relativity involved the functions and structures of knowledge.

This text path will try to stay as far as possible, in keeping with the findings of scientific thought. We will look at the theories of the origin of the universe and the celestial bodies that comprise it, then move on to our galaxy, the solar system and the Earth. Came to our planet, we focus on its formation and transformation through the various geologic eras to arrive, then, at the onset and evolution of life in its many forms, with particular reference to the human species. Finally will try to understand what events could lead to the end of life on Earth and the possible end of our Universal Cycle. In the last part allow me to mention a personal intuition that I hope will be further developed by the readers, whom offer my heartfelt thanks.

Chapter 1

THE UNIVERSE

Life the Universe began, therefore, 13.7 billion years ago during the period known as the Big Bang. This period is initially characterized by a very high energy density and therefore to be exceptionally high temperatures in excess of 1032 K. The physical conditions in this period cannot be explained by physical knowledge that we have now, this difficulty is due in particular to the fact that the four forces that govern today's nature - gravitational force, electromagnetic force and the strong and weak nuclear forces - were not independent but unified in one fundamental force. The current physics can `or be used to describe what happened from 10-43 s after the Big Bang, when, being decreased density, the universe reached a temperature that allowed the gravitational force to dissociate from the other three interactions. We get thus two forces equal, and it is for this reason that the universe is called symmetric. From this point the gravitational force can be described by general relativity, while the other three forces by quantum mechanics. During the era of Planck matter does not exist yet, the universe, apparently empty, populated by thousands of particles and antiparticles, called virtual, that are created from nothing by stealing a small amount of energy to the universe and to disintegrate about 10-22 s after, returning to the universe the little energy they had stolen is this extremely short period of life that distinguishes them from normal matter particles. This particular phenomenon can be explained by a principle of quantum mechanics known as the Heisenberg inequality E ≥ ~ t / 2. (2.1).

When the universe takes 10-35 s the temperature reaches 10-27 K, allowing the strong nuclear force (which binds protons and neutrons together inside atomic nuclei) to dissociate the weak nuclear force (responsible for radioactivity ) and the electromagnetic force, the unified electroweak force, breaking the symmetry of the situation in which we found; forces are therefore more equivalent. This transition from one stage symmetrical to one asymmetric is defined as a phase transition which, however, will not take place in an immediate way. The universe will rise by an intermediate stage called false vacuum characterized by a large energy density, according to the laws of general relativity, will result in a strong repulsion force that will cause an expansion is very fast and brutal (the size of 'universe will be multiplied by a factor of 1050). This is the phenomenon of inflation, which will end only when the phase transition and the universe finally acquire a stable configuration. The end of the inflationary will be characterized by the birth of matter. In fact, during the phase transition will be released significant amounts of energy will be captured by the virtual particles allowing them to become real. E 'in this way that the vacuum will be created matter as we know it today. Another important phenomenon, made possible by the dissociation of the strong nuclear force by the electroweak forces, is the matter-antimatter asymmetry. During this time the subject takes it over, for a billion and a quark there are only a billion antiquark. This difference will then be still present at the level of protons and neutrons determine the development of the universe as we know it today.

After inflation the universe continues to expand in a much more slow and regular, nothing special is produced up to 10-12 s. E 'at this point that the temperature has in fact reached the 1015 K, temperature which makes possible the last transition phase which consists of the dissociation of electromagnetic interactions by weak interactions. From this moment the universe is controlled by four distinct forces that can be observed today in the universe.

After the last phase transition the universe continues to expand, causing a decrease in temperature. When this reaches 1013 K, approximately 6.10 s after the Big Bang, will take place on quark confinement. When the temperature is higher than 1013 K, in fact, the particles are too agitated and the strong nuclear force is not strong enough to bind the quarks. When it drops below 1013 K the agitation of the particles decreases allowing the strong nuclear force to dominate. Quarks come together therefore into groups of two and three forming two types of hadrons: mesons (consisting of a quark and an antiquark) and baryons (made of three quarks), examples of which are protons and neutrons. The period that begins now, and will continue until at the age of 10-5`s is the hadronic era. The reactions that characterize this period are those that transform into photons hadrons (reaction of annihilation) and vice versa. This balance system is possible, because when the temperature at a value of 1013 K, the mass of the pair hadron-anti-hadron is equivalent to the energy of two photons. This means that you can create a two-photon-hadron pair anti-hadron. This reaction will stop, however, as soon as the mean energy of the photons will decrease and will therefore not be more than sufficient to trigger the reverse reaction. This reduction of energy is directly related to the decrease of temperature, in fact, if the temperature is lowered and drops below 1013 K, the average energy of the photon decreases and the reverse reaction is blocked. At this point only the reactions of annihilation, which do not require energy, will take place leading to an almost total disappearance of baryons. This almost total disappearance occurs because the asymmetry observed in the quark at the end of inflation is also found in hadrons, we therefore per billion anti-hadrons a billion and a hadron. These particles surplus will not find any partner and therefore can not annihilate. The end of the hadrons cause so the final disappearance of antimatter particles but not of matter, in particular a billionth of protons and neutrons have survived.

This period, called was leptonic, is characterized by the reactions of production and annihilation of pairs of leptons (3 different types of neutrinos, electrons, muons and tau particles). These particles have a mass less than the hadrons, the energy required to create a two-photon lepton is therefore less (for example, the electron has a mass 2000 times smaller than a proton, therefore requires a photon of a quantity to 2000 times less than to create an electron).

The era lepton is characterized by two key events:

The first is the decoupling of neutrinos. When the temperature is higher than 104 K, neutrinos react with the rest of the matter and, thanks to the forces of weak interaction, are in a situation of equilibrium with the rest of the matter. The strength of the weak interaction, however, has a range of action relatively small and therefore as soon as the distance between particles increases, due to the expansion of the universe, this force does not permit any reaction between neutrinos and the rest of the matter. During the formation of the universe the distance between particles which does not permit any interaction is reached when the temperature value corresponds to 104 K, at this point the neutrinos will behave, therefore, as if all the other particles did not exist, it is said that these particles are decoupled from matter. Given that no longer interact with any kind of matter these particles are still present in the universe.

The second important event is the annihilation of electrons. When the temperature falls below the threshold that makes it possible the reactions that allow the birth of an electron and a antielectron by two photons, in the same way in which this takes place in the hadronic era, will take place the progressive destruction of the electron pairs antielectron . Matter-antimatter asymmetry but has enjoyed at the end of the era of Planck, a fraction of electrons will not find the particle complementary and therefore does not disintegrate. From this moment the antimatter disappeared completely from the universe and the universe contains only matter composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. This almost complete disappearance of the electrons has a very important consequence on the balance between protons and neutrons up to this moment. The proton can be considered a stable particle, its half-life is approximately 1030 years. The neutron is a particle rather unstable when isolated halves in about fifteen minutes, producing a proton, an electron and an antineutrino. In this way, starting from a situation in which protons and neutrons are in equal proportions, the tendency will be an increase in the number of protons simultaneously with the decrease in the number of neutrons. Before annihilation of the electrons, when these were still very abundant, the number of baryons was regulated by a reaction that, thanks to the forces of weak interactions, allowed to create neutrons from the collision of an electron and a proton. In this way, the two types of baryons maintain the proportions similar. With the disappearance of most of the electrons that balance is broken, and gradually turn into neutrons and electrons, the ratio between the two types of particles changes in a progressive way. By this time, the matter will be dominated by protons.

At a time when the temperature reaches 1010 K, and the universe has existed for a hundred seconds is the primordial nucleus-synthesis, i.e. begin to create the first atomic nuclei from protons and neutrons, which until then were independent of each from the other. We must, however, wait until the temperature decreases again to finally have stable atomic nuclei. In fact, as long as the universe has a temperature equal to or slightly greater than 1010 K the photons have an energy sufficient to break the bonds that exist between protons and neutrons disintegrating the atomic nucleus. As soon as we descend below this critical threshold the photons are no longer enough energy to break the bonds and the structures that are formed are stable, so you can create increasingly complex structures: Deuterium, consisting of a proton and a neutron, helium -3, consisting of two protons and one neutron and helium-4 (the element present in greater quantities, consisting of two protons and two neutrons). Nucleus-synthesis will not, however, more complex elements than those listed above. In fact, even if the collision between two nuclei can create other heavier, containing from 5 to 8 constituents, the latter are very unstable and disintegrate very rapidly. The instability of these nuclei of elements will therefore a brake to the creation of more and more complex atoms preventing the birth of heavier nuclei such as oxygen and carbon; in fact be necessary to wait to see the birth of the stars appear more complex atoms in the universe . Moreover, as the expanding universe, the conditions favorable to the union between protons and neutrons will be present during a very short period. The two main elements in the universe at the end of nucleus-synthesis are therefore the proton-hydrogen-and helium-4 in a ratio of approximately 4:1. When the temperature drops below 3000 K, cease the interactions between matter and radiation, electrons bind to nuclei and the universe becomes transparent. The first atoms were born. The synthesis of most heavy atoms such as oxygen (O2) and carbon (C) and then continue later when you create galaxies and stars in what is called stellar nucleus-synthesis. There are two matters that determine the mass of the Universe: the visible matter and dark matter. The visible matter is known and observed by astronomers and consists of galaxies, stars, planets and all the celestial objects that can be observed through telescopes and measuring instruments at our disposal. These visible objects made of baryonic matter, i.e. He4 of H and De (7% He4, 92% H, 1% de), constitute only 10% of the matter that makes up our universe. Also referring to cosmological models, which assume a flat universe model as more likely for our universe, and taking into account the results of Einstein's equations that assume a parameter for the material equal to m = 0. 3, we can obtain the parameter visible ≤ 0. 01 m, which corresponds to the density of visible matter, which means that we do not have a lot of dark matter = 0. 29. We must therefore assume the presence of matter that we can not observe with currently available technologies for their comments, and that is called dark matter.

The mass density of galaxies or more precisely of the visible matter can be estimated by calculating the average value hM. L where M is the mass and L is the luminosity of the nearest galaxies. Multiplying the brightness of a galaxy to hM L we obtain its mass. The true brightness of a galaxy is deduced from the apparent brightness FL = 4πFd2 where F is measured experimentally but d2 is derived from a measure of redshift and depends on H0, known as the Hubble constant.

The first evidence of the existence of dark matter dates back to 1930 when the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky was studying the motion of distant clusters of galaxies and massive. Zwicky estimated the mass of each galaxy based on its brightness and summed all galactic masses to obtain the total mass of the cluster. He then decided to perform a second estimate based this time on the velocity dispersion of galaxies, which is directly related to the mass of the cluster, and obtained, as a result, that the dynamic mass was 400 times greater than the luminous mass. Despite the experimental evidence already present at the time of Zwicky, had to wait until 1970 so that scholars take seriously the problem of dark matter. In the 70 to verify that the observations made by Zwicky were correct we analyzed the spectra of spiral galaxies from which it is possible to derive the rotation curve, which describes the speed of rotation of the galaxy as a function of distance from its center. Usually, according to the laws of universal gravitation, the maximum speed is a few kiloparsecs from the center and decreases as the distance from the center increases. It would, excusing the pun of words, of a curve of rotation curve Instead, what is observed as regards the galaxies is a curve of horizontal rotation, this means that the speed remains constant and does not decrease. One way to explain this is to assume the existence of a halo of matter dimly lit, and therefore not observable, encompassing the galaxy in a gravitational grip and could be up to 90% of the mass of the galaxy itself. In addition, the movement of galaxies within clusters revealed the same problem with the motion of stars in galaxies and a recent study estimated the density of dark matter in a third of the critical density, the rest being made up of dark energy (empty). There are several hypotheses to explain the nature of dark matter. It is assumed that the galactic dark matter, which is that of which the halo that surrounds the galaxy, is made up of baryonic matter in the form of brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, blacks holes and super-massive stars of neutrinos, objects that astronomers summarize the acronym MACHO (Massive Compact Halo Object) that is compact halo objects with mass. Through the theory of the Big Bang, however, estimated that the baryonic matter can represent a maximum of 4% of the material present in our universe, the remaining 26% must therefore be non-baryonic. This means that the cosmological dark matter cannot be baryonic. The nature of this non-baryonic matter have developed two theories: the first assumes a dark matter consists of a particle with almost no mass, traveling at nearly the speed of light, hence the name of hot dark matter, and weakly interacting with the rest of the matter: the neutrino; the second supposes a dark matter consists of particles with mass, with a speed much lower than that of light, from which the name of cold dark matter, and weakly interacting, called WIMPs's ( Weakly Interactive Massive Particles), and today it is thought that the particle that makes up the WIMP's both a particle supersimmetrica2 called neutralinus (we are not sure yet because their weak interaction with the rest of the matter makes the particles extremely difficult to detect, in fact, yet been observed). Currently it is the theory of cold dark matter that seems to be the most likely. In fact, if it is the cold dark matter dominated, the scenario of formation of the universe would be called from the bottom up. The theory of super-symmetry is assumed that each particle has a particle that we observe shadow (in English, shadow), massive. For example, for every quark there should be a corresponding quark (shadow-quark) that follows him everywhere. If, instead, was that warm to dominate the scenario would be called from top to bottom, that is to say that would be formed before the more massive structures such as clusters that would, at a later time, crushed creating galaxies. Now from the observations is that the galaxies are all in dynamic equilibrium as opposed to the masses and therefore should probably be formed first, hence the preference for the cold dark matter model. It should be noted that it is necessary that a very small part of hot dark matter is, however, otherwise this would not have been possible the creation of clusters of galaxies in such a short time. This model assumes that dark matter consists predominantly of cold dark matter, a small fraction of hot dark matter and baryonic dark matter model is called mixed.

The radiation in the universe, composed of photons, neutrinos, gravitational waves and discovered in 1964 by A. Penzias and R. Wilson, involves the same characteristics of the radiation of a black body. During the first observations it was realized that the graph of the spectral energy density u (ν, T) as a function of ν for each value T of the temperature was very similar to that of a black body. This radiation is originated about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe had a temperature of about 3000 K. As we know it is precisely at this moment that took place on the separation between matter and radiation. Up to this time the matter was in fact fully ionized (the electrons were therefore free) and photons interact with matter particles continuously achieving a proper balance. There was, that is, an interaction between photons and electrons that made up this ionized gas, and then the photons could not propagate freely. This means that the gas did not allow the radiation to pass and was therefore opaque and not transparent. From the moment the universe reached this fateful temperature matter and radiation were separated: the electrons bound to the atoms protons creating the cosmic gas, neutral, becomes transparent and the radiation could spread within the universe no longer meet barriers coming down to us. This particular type of radiation called the cosmic microwave background (CMB, which stands for Cosmic Microwave Backround) or cosmic radiation at 3 K, whose name derives from its temperature, thanks to the observations of past decades is estimated at 2 . 725 ± 0. 0001 K. The CMB has several characteristics that distinguish it:

- Belonging to microwave radio therefore has a

wavelength λ of only a few millimeters;

- Diffuse radiation extremely homogeneous;

- Its thermal character;

- Its extreme isotropy;

Order to better define the history of the universe, it is first necessary to know what type, what model should be examined so that we can close as possible to reality, the truth of the events that were the basis of the past, present, and form the tomorrow will represent the future. In recent years many theories have come and gone and each of them has been the basis of those that we have followed. Today it is true that the most likely is that the Big Bang, but it is also true that taking so alone can not provide all the answers they need.

The history of the universe is composed of the origins and evolution that is an integral part of cosmology. Before they develop into a science, cosmology was considered a sub-branch of philosophy. Even religions, with their cosmogonies tried to give an answer to the great question of the origin of the cosmos, working out major construction of mythological fantastic. In the twentieth century were formulated three model types:

Three types of universe: closed, open and flat

- That the closed universe that evolves towards a destiny of collapse of matter that will end with a huge event, the Big Crunch.

- That stationary implies that a static universe, which does not change.

- That which provides an open universe that tends to expand indefinitely.

Einstein in 1917 proposed a model based on the theory of general relativity, a static model where gravity created a curvature in space-time, and to validate its better this concept introduced the cosmological constant, a force than compensated the force of gravitational attraction. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Fridman said that the universe is expanding, and how this expansion depend on the average density of matter in it: if it is too small the mutual attraction of galaxies would cause a slowdown in the expansion itself but not enough to stop it, then we speak of an open universe. Conversely, if the density of matter was higher than the critical value (5 x 10-3 g/cm3), the expansion would be designed to stop and there would be a contraction up to the collapse (Big Crunch), is referred to as universe closed theory also says that it could again explode and again collapse to expand again in an endless loop, it is called Universe button.

- Expanding Universe

George Gamow strong Fridman's theory and that of Georges Lemaître on the primeval atom, suggested the idea of a big explosion (Big Bang), where the matter being under conditions of extreme temperature and density, caused the Big Bang that led to 'expansion and the creation of today's universe.

Interesting is also the theory of Andrei Linde he wants after the fateful Big Bang, the formation of many universes, each enclosed in himself into a kind of bubble, each of which has its own internal laws of physics different, this theory is called the multiverse.

Today cosmologists are led to consider the theory of Inflation, as expressed by Alan Guth that is more suited to reality, considering it in the light of today's discoveries and knowledge, starting from the theory of Gamow that puts concepts of physics of elementary particles, is arrive at a hypothesis, never done before, about what would happen during the first second of the universe, because little was known about the properties of matter at such extreme conditions, but Guth, starting from the research done by Stephen Hawking, concepts a process of expanding very fast, using the theory of gravitational fields thought that a region of the chaotic state began to swell (to inflate, swell, thus the term inflation), so fast as to give rise to our universe.

Ultimately currently accepted theory is that inflation, which sees a singularity at the origin, which causes an explosion in a preuniverse chaotic, with rapidly expanding in the first second, and then continue growing, not slowed down enough by the gravitational force of galaxies and the massive presence of dark matter.

Saul Perlmutter announced that the data in its possession, based on observations of type Ia supernovae in distant galaxies, they saw an expanding universe with accelerated motion, as if there were an anti-gravitational force to act as a motor, this force was dubbed dark energy and leads eventually to an increase in the values of the volume of the universe and a disruption of galaxies in the so-called Big Rip.

- It was Plank.

As mentioned above, none of the current physical theories can properly describe what happened in the era of Planck, which is named after the German physicist Max Planck. This was the four fundamental forces - electromagnetic, weak nuclear, strong nuclear force and gravity - have the same intensity, and are possibly unified into one fundamental force.

- It was grand unification.

Time after the Big Bang: 10-43 seconds, also called Era of Good. The fundamental forces except gravity, were merged into one super strength formed by the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force and strong. According to present knowledge it is precisely at this moment that you can trace the emergence of space-time as we know it.

- It was inflation.

Time after the Big Bang:10-35 seconds. In the era of inflation, fluctuations of inflaton gave rise to a swift but drastic expansion of the Universe. The energy form of radiation released from this particular Higgs field gave rise to particle-antiparticle pairs.

- It was electroweak.

Time after the Big Bang:10-32 seconds to 1 nanosecond, or 10-9 seconds (one billionth of a second).

In this era, the Higgs field strong had already separated from the electroweak interaction strong, resulting in the formation of gluons and quark-antiquark pairs from the radiation freed as a result of inflation. It is assumed that X and Y bosons (if they ever existed) have appeared in this era. The electroweak had lasted about 10-27 seconds. Its end was marked by the separation of the electroweak force in weak interaction and electromagnetic phenomenon determined by the fluctuations of the electroweak Higgs field.

- Age of hadrons.

Time after the Big Bang: 1 microsecond (10-6 second, a millionth of a second)

During the era of hadrons, the thermal energy became low enough to allow the interaction between quarks via the strong force. The quark and antiquark bound so to form the first hadrons.

- Age of leptons. Time after the Big Bang: 4.10 seconds.

At this point in the history of the universe, the temperature is approximately 1 trillion degrees. 1 second after the Big Bang: the temperature is 10 million degrees Celsius. 100 seconds after the Big Bang the temperature of one billion degrees.

- Age of nucleus-synthesis.

Diameter of the Universe: more than 1000 billion kilometers temperature: 1010 K.

Time after the Big Bang: 100 seconds. In this era, most of the neutrons decayed into protons. The energy is lowered so as to allow the nucleons to bind through pions forming the first nuclei of helium-4 and deuterium.

- Was opacity.

Diameter of the Universe: between 10 and 10,000 light-years Temperature: 108 K.

Time after the Big Bang: 200 seconds.

In this era, the energy dropped enough to allow the manifestation of the electromagnetic interaction. The charged particles interact with each other and with the photons remaining inflation and annihilation of the particle-antiparticle pairs. In this era there was the formation of the first atoms, especially hydrogen, helium, lithium and hydrogen isotopes. At the end of the opacity, the temperature dropped enough to reduce the production of quark-antiquark pairs or lepton-antilepton generations of massive (see Standard Model).

After the Big Bang.

- Was the subject (current Universe) Diameter of the Universe: 100 million light-years Temperature: 3000 Kelvin

Time after the Big Bang: 300 000 years.

In the age of the material, the photons remaining from the era of inflation spread throughout the universe, forming the cosmic background radiation also present in the Universe today. The whole matter was mostly made up of atoms and leptons of the first generation. All massive particles that, at high temperatures, continuously formed in particle-antiparticle pairs from the radiation had already expired in the first generation of light particles, such as electrons and neutrinos, and among the hadrons, neutrons and protons. The matter was still lasts from about 13.7 billion years. 1 million years after the Big Bang the temperature is 300000-400000 ° C. It forms the first atom, the hydrogen atom consists of 1 proton and 1 electron. - The formation of the first stars.

Irregularities in the distribution of matter by inflaton were caused by quantum fluctuations in this particular Higgs field. Towards the beginning of the subject, the irregularities were manifested mainly in the areas of condensed matter more than others. The gravitational force acted on these irregularities forming clumps of matter increasing: this led to the formation of the first stars, 200 million years after the Big Bang, and the first active galaxies (mostly quasars). Astrophysicists speculate that the first stars formed in the Universe were much more massive than the present ones. The processes of nuclear fusion in the core of these stars led to the formation of heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon, neon, iron, and nitrogen, which spread in interstellar space following the explosion of stars in supernovae, leading to the formation of holes blacks.

- 13.2 billion years ago (500 million years after the Big Bang) was HE 1523-0901, the oldest star known to us. With their explosion, massive stars formed 13.5 billion years ago, called megastars gave rise to a particularly intense electromagnetic radiation, responsible, probably, the ionization of hydrogen atoms that occurs between clusters of galaxies in ' current universe.

- 12.7 billion years ago, used to produce the condensation of galaxies (proto-galaxies) and start the formation of stars.

Albert Einstein devoted the last thirty years of his life in pursuit of so-called unified field theory, i.e. the theory that would unify the laws of gravity and electromagnetism in order to allow a uniform description of natural phenomena. His plan failed, but in no case could be successful because at that time there were many gaps in knowledge relating to the physical world. When Einstein took his attempt to unify knew only three such elementary particles (the electron, the proton and the photon) and only two were known fundamental interactions (electromagnetism and gravitation). Currently the elementary particles are more than a hundred, a number even in excess of what is necessary to explain the cosmic order so that when it was discovered the muon, a particle similar to the electron but 200 times heavier than it, the Nobel Prize winner Isaac Rabi greeted the new discovery with an annoyed: Who ordered that? The fundamental forces meanwhile have become four, and their union has become the central objective of the research of the century. The methods of investigation that are taken are original and currently there seems to be a vast improvement in this field of research, even if in reality the unification of gravity with the other three forces has not yet been realized. Physicists, however, believe that you have chosen the right path that leads to the formulation of that one theory can explain all that exists in the Universe. The new theory on which you are working is called superstring.

As is well known, there are two pillars on which modern physics: general relativity founded by Albert Einstein and quantum mechanics founded by Max Planck. The first place to wonder the task of explaining the behavior of large objects (stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, etc..) In the Universe, and the second allows us to understand the world of atoms and subatomic (molecules, atoms, electrons , quarks, etc..). These two theories, which led to an extraordinary progress of physics in the last century, but has a defect unsurpassed: they are not comparable. This incompatibility physicists have not taken into account because the field of investigation of the two theories is very different and when there was a need to study the small and light objects are made use of quantum mechanics without worrying about what relativity says while when there was a need to study large and heavy objects, we used the laws of general relativity without concern of the sentences of the other theory: it never happened in the past that it was necessary to appeal to both theories simultaneously. Lately, however, things have changed: the holes blacks such heavy objects are very small but at the same time and the same universe would emerge from an infinitely small particle and yet extremely heavy and warm. Of these objects would then the simultaneous application of the two theories. Today, as we mentioned, there is a theory called superstring able to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It would explain the behavior of matter, the forces that hold together the material objects, and perhaps even space and time. According to this theory all that exists in the universe is nothing more than the manifestation of vibrational energy. We try to explain what it is. The new theory took the start in 1968 from an observation of the Italian physicist Gabriele Veneziano, then a researcher at CERN in Geneva. He was analyzing a series of experimental data on the strong nuclear force when he noticed that a formula is used to describe a class of geometric curves, the so-called beta function, invented 200 years earlier by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (better known by the Latinized name Euler), provided a useful arrangement of the subject he was studying mathematics. The intuition of Veneziano was later enlarged and it was discovered that if the elementary particles were treated as vibrating wires (called strings or cords, in English string) instead point to entities without internal structure as suggested by the so-called Standard Model (the instrument concept that has been used in the course of the twentieth century to explain the behavior of elementary particles) the beta function would describe with as much consistency interactions between particles. Strings (do not let the name fool you) wires are infinitely short and thin so that would be invisible even if they were examined by means billions of times more powerful than those currently available: they are long a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter ( billion of billion times smaller than an atomic nucleus) and zero thickness. These are structures whose dimensions are close to the so-called Planck length (10-33 cm) the smallest conceivable in physics, but which are tensioned with a force incredibly large: up to 1039 tons. It would be just this huge voltage to determine the frequency of vibration: the more it is, the greater is the mass of the particle associated and consequently the greater the force of gravity that this particle exerts on the other. This would be the clue for which the superstring theory would connect the gravity described by general relativity with the structure of elementary particles described by quantum mechanics. There is a substantial difference between the theories of gravity of Newton and Einstein and that which comes from superstring theory. With their theories explain Newton and Einstein simply a phenomenon of which we already had experience in the case of string theory gravity is instead directly incorporated into its theoretical core so that even if there had been no previous experience of this force, it would emerge as a consequence of the theory itself. In other words, the superstring theory predicts the existence of gravity because it spontaneously emerge all four particles mediators (or messenger) of the fundamental interactions and their unification takes place in a natural way. The modes of vibration of these often very short and thin wires looped generate all the elementary particles that make up our universe a bit 'like a violin string more or less tight (but never to it applying forces such as those provided by the superstring theory ) generates an infinite number of musical tones. The prefix was added to the super string theory when it was discovered that the theory had a super-symmetry, that is when we realized that every particle of matter corresponded to a particle of strength and vice versa. To understand what it is you should know that elementary particles are divided into two main groups: fermions (named after the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi) and bosons (named after the Indian physicist Satyendra Bose). Are part of the first family matter particles such as electrons and quarks, the particles of the second mediating forces such as photons and gravitons. Well, super-symmetry says that every known particle it is another aspect of unknown but similar behavior; these particles, although no one has ever seen, was also given a name: for example, symmetrical to the photon (the particle mediator of the electromagnetic force) is the photinus (material particle), the partners of the symmetric quark (a fermion) is the Higgs s-quarks, and so on.

The superstring theory includes five variants known as type I, type IIA, type IIB, heterotic O and heterotic E, all theories are very similar to each other but not identical. Like have for instance the fact that all of them require nine dimensions of the space (in addition to that time) within which he can act and not only the three of which have direct perception. A total of six of these ten dimensions are invisible, being tightly rolled up on themselves (the technical term is compactified say, a reproach lexical) because strangled by the strings that wrap around them (as if they were rubber bands that hold the tube a bicycle) preventing them from expanding. The addition of hidden dimensions to those observed may seem an odd thing and improvable, but in reality it is a good guess: you do not need it to experimental observations confirm a hypothesis if it can be useful to provide a clear description of the physical world . Something similar had already happened in the past when an unknown Polish mathematician named Theodor Kaluza sent to Einstein an article advancing the belief that the universe could have had a fourth spatial dimension in addition to the time already inserted in his theory of relativity. Kaluza noticed that the presence of an extra dimension gave rise to a series of equations in addition to those indicated by Einstein that were nothing but the equations formulated by Maxwell to describe the electromagnetic theory. In other words, in a five-dimensional space is unified gravitation and electricity. The five subtypes of superstring theory but also show some differences. Differ, inter alia, for the way in which incorporate super-symmetry or to the shape of strings: the theory of type I for example, unlike the other, provides for the presence of open strings, that is, with the free ends, as well as closed strings ring. In 1995, the theoretical physicist Edward Witten discovered that the five superstring theories were intimately connected to one another so that they can be grouped into a single conceptual framework to which was given the name of M-theory, where M would be for mother then it would be the mother of all theories. This new discovery could lead to the long-awaited Theory of Everything (Toe, as they call the Anglo-Saxons, Theory of everything), but many of its properties have not been well understood. The M-theory exhibits some additional features compared to those present in superstrings. First, it postulates that the size shift from ten to eleven at nine spatial dimensions and one temporal present in superstring theories it then adds another whose presence can carry not only approximate and exact calculations as were those who obtained previously. A second characteristic of the M-theory is that they contain, in addition to one-dimensional structures of which it is said, also other elements that can be extended in several dimensions: overall these objects are defined branes (term derived from mem-branes). Using a unique new terminology strings are called 1-branes, the 2-branes are two-dimensional surfaces or membranes, but there are also small masses dimensional (tribranes) and other objects in multi-dimensional all frantic and incessant vibration. Due to the presence of objects larger strings, M-theory is also called theory of membranes, but at this point the most malicious assign the letter M theory the meaning of mystery. One of the problems that have always plagued the human mind is relative to the origin of the Universe. The currently most widely accepted scientific theory, the big bang, says that the Universe, in the first moments of her life was incredibly small in size but at the same time extremely dense and hot. To analyze scientific terms such extreme conditions would need a quantum theory of gravity, but, as we have seen, such a theory does not exist. For this reason, the so-called Model standard cosmological is forced to describe the evolution of the Universe from an elementary particle size of this minimum at time t = 10-43 seconds from the beginning (said Planck time). In fact, extrapolating backwards the equations of general relativity can be observed that the universe is getting smaller and at the same time getting hotter and denser until it disappears completely when the time reaches zero, while temperature and density at the same moment take infinite values. Obviously, these conclusions do not fundamentally dissatisfied and puzzled astrophysicists. Now, the superstring theory seems to be able to resolve these contradictions and give a more precise and convincing to the problem of the origin of the universe even though the reality is the way to go is not only long, but also uneven. The most substantial amendment that the new theory brings to the standard cosmological model is that concerning the size of the universe that would take the beginning of time: they could not be reduced below a minimum value. The superstring theory in other words, it involves the so-called Singularity that is the fact that the universe can be reduced by up to recruit size zero. The other key aspect of the theory is related to the dimensions that are not more than four (according to the Standard Model), but eleven and this implies the need to follow the time evolution of all of them this size. Just when you follow the evolution of the multiple dimensions of the Universe using the equations contained in the superstring theory is observed that when these fall below the Planck length, rather than decrease further, resume growth and the temperature goes hand in hand the variation of the size of the Universe: i.e., reached a maximum value, it starts to decrease. Based on the results which leads to string theory have been developed some new cosmological models, one of which is the existence of a cyclic universe without a beginning and without an end in time, alternating continuous contractions and expansions. It would be confined within two-dimensional membranes (we can imagine two identical cards thick flat and parallel) that evolve over time (ie, in the fourth dimension) and float in a fifth dimension within which you feel the force of gravity while the other six, the usually small and would be rolled up within the plot space. The particles that are inside of the two membranes evolve independently but may also interact through the carrier particle of the force of gravity, the graviton, which over that act within the brane could switch from one to another moving about in Universe spiral around one of the many extra dimensions. The particles of one of the two membranes behave as dark matter for the other, also the dark energy (a supplementary form of matter known) that the standard model was not justified by theory, the new model has a key role in driving the 'accelerated expansion in the Universe seems to be subject. The two membranes can also collide with each other at the conclusion of the long approach phase but immediately after would bounce and turn away to return subsequently to approach in an endless process.

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Chapter 2

THE GALAXIES

Galaxies are huge clusters of stars held together by mutual attraction, so as to constitute a system self-gravitating, the name derives from the greek γαλαξίας (Galaxias), which means milky. They are bodies with vast dimensions, ranging from the smallest dwarf galaxies, containing a few tens of millions of stars, to the most impressive giant galaxies, which come to rely on them even a trillion stars, all orbiting a common center of mass that generally evolves separately from other galaxies, although often, in turn, two or more 'neighboring galaxies interact with each other, approaching and deforming due to the mutual gravitational attraction, or collide giving rise to phenomena really striking. It's just a few decades ago that you understand what they are actually galaxies. When the instruments of observation were not so 'as powerful as those of today, they appeared as small bright regions looking vague, unresolved, present in all directions in the sky. Until the early 20's it was thought that these so-called spiral nebulae were objects belonging to our galaxy, which still did not know the exact size. In 1920 it was discovered that exploding stars called novae belonged in reality 'in two categories: novae and supernovae real, much brighter. This discovery was important because it was realized that a nova in the Andromeda nebula observed in 1885 was instead a supernova. The fact that it appeared as bright novae in our galaxy indicated that it was much more distant: the Andromeda nebula was therefore outside the Milky Way. It was only in 1924 that the astronomer Edwin Hubble, the telescope on Mount Wilson, he was able to study some regions of the Andromeda nebula, confirming that it is a galaxy itself, external to our own. Andromeda is one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way is that we only two million light-years. The galaxies have shapes, sizes and masses very different from each other. There are giant galaxies, which contain 10 trillion stars, and dwarf galaxies that contain a few hundred thousand. Spiral galaxies have average diameters of about 70 thousand light years, but one of the largest of this type galaxies, NGC 1961, has a diameter of 300 thousand light years and a mass of about 2000 billion times that of the Sun Among the elliptical galaxies and 'easy to find even more' large, measuring over 300 thousand light years across and masses up to 10 thousand billion times the mass of the Sun, always form part of this morphological type dwarf galaxies, which have dimensions of only 5000 light years and masses of only a few million times that of the Sun As the stars that are being born you can see, because this process is repeated continuously, it is difficult to see directly the initial development of galaxies, because it happened a long time ago, so , due to the expansion of the Universe, at an enormous distance: explain the birth of galaxies is therefore a very difficult task. Currently it gives more credence to the theory that galaxies would be formed by the accumulation of individual pieces, rather than one that derives from the collapse of a cloud of gas giant. All theories suggest that for galaxies exist, there must have been of small inhomogeneities in the uniform matter in the early universe, i.e. small local irregularities which would then evolved to give rise to larger structures. These inhomogeneities were observed for the first time in 1992 from the satellite Cobe in the form of small fluctuations of temperature in the cosmic radiation residue of the Big Bang that permeates the Universe homogeneously: their precise measurement is important because it allows to limit the period of time in which they are formed galaxies. The observations made on galaxies, both in the optical field and in the radio (which allows a more extended study) show that most of them are flat in the central regions of the disk and curved in the external ones. The outer regions are less bright, then the most difficult to observe in detail; the phenomenon of curvature is used, therefore, also to determine their physical properties, and also those of other parts of the galaxy that can not be well observed. The information obtained in this way depend, however, by the theoretical model assumed for explaining the curvature. Among the theories that explain the curvature is what he considers as the cause of the force of gravity: the outer regions of the galaxy are curved because they are less related to the gravitational forces that confine the disc in a plane, in addition, they suffer the most from the influence of nearby galaxies. According to another theory, the curvature arises from the fact that the magnetic field present in the galaxy change of intensity in the transition from the inner to the outer of the disc. Another model explains the phenomenon with the perturbation introduced by a continuous accretion of matter. The idea that galaxies are concentrations of stars and interstellar gas well located in the universe and not interacting with each other persisted until about the mid-fifties of the twentieth century. The observations made throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays, have significantly changed this vision has become apparent that collisions between galaxies are far from rare phenomena in the Universe. In 1956 he assumed the collision of two galaxies to explain the effect of the tide filamentary structures spiraling and sometimes that can be observed in their vicinity. The intense infrared emission observed during a collision between galaxies is due to the large number of stars that are born in this situation, in which there is a strong condensation of interstellar matter: the light emitted by hot newborn stars is absorbed by the large amount of dust that surrounds and then re-emitted at longer wavelengths, in the infrared. In the eighties, the IRAS satellite has searched the entire sky in infrared, identifying hundreds of galaxies, one of which has a brightness enormously greater than solar. During a collision between galaxies, the stars they contain rarely collide with each other, because their size is very small compared with the typical distances that separate them. The clash is inevitable instead for the material that lies between the stars, formed from clouds of gas and dust particles strongly in contact. The increase in pressure caused by the collision increases even more the density of the interstellar material and create the conditions necessary for the birth of new stars by gravitational collapse.

Galaxies can be grouped in large numbers (up to thousands of components) to form large structures. These huge clusters of galaxies span a range of typical 2-5 megaparsec and are in regular form, with a strong central concentration, or irregular (an example of the latter is the Virgo Cluster, the closest to the Earth). Despite these enormous concentrations of matter, the universe is large enough to be considered on a large scale homogeneous: in fact, among the piles are much larger regions that contain very few galaxies. The discovery of clusters of galaxies is very important from the cosmological point of view, because it helps you learn more about the value of the density of matter in the cosmos. From this value we can determine the curvature of the Universe and its destiny, if that will continue to expand forever, or if you stop its expansion, contracting on itself, so that the latter possibility is possible, the matter density must exceed a critical value, beyond which the gravitational attraction between the matter in the universe is able sooner or later to counteract the forces responsible for the expansion. The galaxies were formed shortly after the birth of the universe, that 'approximately fifteen billion years. At first they were only of huge clouds of gas, mainly hydrogen, with a certain percentage of helium. These clouds have undergone gravitational instability that led them to fragment and collapse in on themselves, forming stars. In the case of elliptical galaxies were formed almost simultaneously undergone many stars, and has remained very little gas available for the formation of other stars. These galaxies are therefore remained frozen in the form they had at the beginning of their evolution. In spiral galaxies, however, the stars were formed more slowly, still leaving a lot of gas available. The gas and the stars began to spin faster and faster, taking the form of a flattened disk, while the star formation continued in a gradual manner. The main components of galaxies are the stars. In a same galaxy can coexist stars young and old, that is, formed at different times, with frequency and procedures which vary from one type to another galaxy. The stars can be isolated or grouped into sets called clusters. The clusters contain stars more or less the same age, which were formed from the same cloud of gas. They are divided into two categories, those globular and open clusters. Open clusters are groups of a few hundred or thousand stars, they are irregularly shaped and contain young and massive stars. When they evolve, after a few tens or hundreds of millions of years, the cluster breaks down, because the gravitational attraction of stars that compose it is not enough to keep them together. Globular clusters are collections of spherical stars, which can hold up to 300 thousand stars, concentrated in regions of a few hundred light-years. Given the large number of stars that enclose, it is stable formations, gravitationally bound, unlike deli open clusters. It seems that the globular clusters are formed in the initial stage of the life of a galaxy. They are found both in elliptical galaxies, dispersed in the galaxy, that in those spirals, mostly grouped into spherical halos around them. After the stars, the most important component of a galaxy of type spiral or irregular is the gas; mainly is hydrogen, with a smaller percentage of helium, and traces of gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), methane ( CH4), ammonia (NH3) and water vapor (H2O). The gas