Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces
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The 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics brings us tantalizingly close to the long-sought Grand Unification of Forces. And then takes us beyond. Publishers Weekly Grand unification theories have long been a holy grail in science. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wilczek, who has himself made notable contributions in this field, offers a survey of everything in the universe from quarks to black holes, elucidating the current scientific thinking on how matter and energy interact. The two main concepts are the "Grid" and the "Core." Wilczek says the grid is a conceptual descendant of ether, that mysterious substance scientists once believed filled empty space. Now some physicists theorize that space is highly structured by the grid, which is the "primary ingredient of physical reality" and the substance from which all physical matter is formed. Core theory, on the other hand, provides a "theory of everything," reconciling gravity with electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces. Wilczek reports a couple of problems with core theory: it's not very elegant (scientists love elegance in their equations), and it hasn't been reconciled with string theory. This book is not for most general readers, but will be a hit with hard-core science buffs. Photos, illus. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Title ixReader's Guide xiPart I The Origin of Mass1 Getting to It 32 Newton's Zeroth Law 113 Einstein's Second Law 184 What Matters for Matter 225 The Hydra Within 266 The Bits Within the Its 327 Symmetry Incarnate 588 The Grid (Persistence of Ether) 739 Computing Matter 11210 The Origin of Mass 12811 Music of the Grid: A Poem in Two Equations 13312 Profound Simplicity 135Part II The Feebleness of Gravity13 Is Gravity Feeble? Yes, in Practice 14514 Is Gravity Feeble? No, in Theory 14815 The Right Question 15116 A Beautiful Answer 152Part III Is Beauty Truth?17 Unification: The Siren's Song 16318 Unification: Through a Glass, Darkly 17719 Truthification 18220 Unification SUSY 18521 Anticipating a New Golden Age 192Epilogue: A Smooth Pebble, a Pretty Shell 199Acknowledgments 205Appendix A Particles Have Mass, the World Has Energy 207Appendix B The Multilayered, Multicolored Cosmic Superconductor 211Appendix C From "Not Wrong" to (Maybe) Right 217Glossary 221Notes 243Illustration Credits 259Index 261
