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Particle Physics and Inflationary Cosmology
This volume is a complete and systematic monograph on inflationary cosmology and cosmological phase transitions. Dr. Linde, a primary developer of these theories, offers a thorough investigation of modern cosmology and its relation to elementary particle physics, including a large introductory section containing a complete discussion of inflationary cosmology for those not yet familiar with the theory.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 17, 1990
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About the author
Andrei D. Linde
2 books12 followersAndrei Dmitriyevich Linde is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and professor of Physics at Stanford University. Dr. Linde is best known for his work on the concept of the inflationary universe. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Moscow State University. In 1975, Linde was awarded a Ph.D. from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. Among the various awards he's received for his work on inflation, in 2002 he was awarded the Dirac Medal, along with Alan Guth of MIT and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2014
Informative, but not very user friendly. A substantial astrophysics background is necessary. While I know some of the material, it was a bit over my head in some areas. It's good if you're up for the challenge of learning what you don't know.
June 2, 2024
This is Andrei Linde's technical work on the inflation theory of the universe. He presented Guth's original model as well as his new inflationary model and the chaotic inflation model. The strength of this work is he explains in details the various phase transitions in inflation as well as how string theory fits in. This is the fullest account of inflation theory one can find from the original inception of the inflationary theory.
To begin the discussion, he starts with a chapter in scalar field, effective potentials, and symmetry breaking. Then, he goes straight into various phase transitions in subsequent chapters to expose the reader to transitions available in inflation covering simple transition from spontaneous symmetry breaking, phase transitions in weak, strong, electromagnetic interactions, first order phase transition, and phase transition in a hot universe. He touches on quantum tunneling one can encounter in phase transition.
After presenting various kinds of phase transitions, he moves on to detailed discussions of various inflation models by beginning with the original Guth's model which he discusses the bubble walls collision problem at reheating after the super cooling phase transition. The universe after collisons would become inhomogeneous and anisotropic, a result not consistent with observed data. Linde then proposed the New inflationary model. In the New inflationary model of Linde, the exponential expansion ceases at the moment the bubbles are formed. In this scenario, the entire observable part of the universe lies within a single bubble which sidestepped the bubble walls collision problem as well as its associated inhomogenities.
Linde later proposed the chaotic inflation model which he sees as a better theory. In the chaotic inflation model, one needs no longer to assume the scalar field lies at minimum of its effective potential or from the outset in the early universe. It offers the evolution of the scalar field for a variety of natural initial conditions to see whether or not inflation sets in. In the last chapter of the book, there is an interesting discussion of inflation and anthropic principle, and possible various compactification schemes in Kaluza-Klein theory for multi-dimensional spaces.
To begin the discussion, he starts with a chapter in scalar field, effective potentials, and symmetry breaking. Then, he goes straight into various phase transitions in subsequent chapters to expose the reader to transitions available in inflation covering simple transition from spontaneous symmetry breaking, phase transitions in weak, strong, electromagnetic interactions, first order phase transition, and phase transition in a hot universe. He touches on quantum tunneling one can encounter in phase transition.
After presenting various kinds of phase transitions, he moves on to detailed discussions of various inflation models by beginning with the original Guth's model which he discusses the bubble walls collision problem at reheating after the super cooling phase transition. The universe after collisons would become inhomogeneous and anisotropic, a result not consistent with observed data. Linde then proposed the New inflationary model. In the New inflationary model of Linde, the exponential expansion ceases at the moment the bubbles are formed. In this scenario, the entire observable part of the universe lies within a single bubble which sidestepped the bubble walls collision problem as well as its associated inhomogenities.
Linde later proposed the chaotic inflation model which he sees as a better theory. In the chaotic inflation model, one needs no longer to assume the scalar field lies at minimum of its effective potential or from the outset in the early universe. It offers the evolution of the scalar field for a variety of natural initial conditions to see whether or not inflation sets in. In the last chapter of the book, there is an interesting discussion of inflation and anthropic principle, and possible various compactification schemes in Kaluza-Klein theory for multi-dimensional spaces.
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December 30, 2008Recommended in Melia's The Edge of Infinity as the best technical guide to inflationary theory.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews