Gravity, Strings and Particles: A Journey Into the Unknown [Paperback]

New fundamental forces of Nature? New forms of dark'' energy? Signals from epochs preceding the Big Bang? Is our space-time unique? Only a joint study of the three topics examined in this book  gravity, strings and particles  may provide answers to these questions. Such a study may also provide the key to solving one of the most fascinating mysteries of modern science, namely: Besides time and the three spatial dimensions, how many other dimensions exist in our universe?

The book is primarily addressed to readers who do not necessarily have a specific background in physics but are nevertheless interested in discovering the originality and the possible implications of some of the amazing ideas in modern theoretical physics. The emphasis is on conveying ideas rather than explaining formulas, focusing not on what is known but -- mainly -- on what is still unknown. Many parts of the book are devoted to fundamental theoretical models and results which are potentially highly relevant for a deeper understanding of Nature, but are still waiting to be? confirmed (or disproved) by experiments. From this point of view, the material of this book may also be of interest to professional physicists, whether or not they work in the field of fundamental interactions.


From the Contents: Prologue: inside the energy walls of our \cradle .- Gravity at small distances.- Gravity at large distances.- Space, time and space-time.- Strings and fundamental interactions.- The past of our Universe.

Gasperini has written the book version of anexcellent colloquium talk outlining important questions in modern theoreticalphysics. & This book may be particularly useful to mathematicians working insubfields adjacent to theoretical physics, such as mirror symmetry. & if yourepreparing your own colloquium talk about the implications of string theory,Gasperini may provide some inspiration! (Ursula Whitcher, MAA Reviews,maa.org, November, 201lÓ#