Scientific American : [Explore] : A Recycled Universe
02/11/2002 A Recycled Universe Explore Physics newton, quantum, relativity, high energy, particle Crashing branes and cosmic acceleration may power an infinite cycle in which our universe is but a phase 11-FEB-02 Images: after animation by Paul SteinhardtA UNIVERSAL CYCLE of birth and rebirth occurs every ...

Scientific American : [Feature Article] : Been There, Done That
03/24/2002 Been There, Done That Feature Article The big bang may not have been a singular event A CYCLE BUILT FOR TWO BRANES Earlier models of the cycling universe had a fatal flaw: the big crunch is not a perfect mirror image of the big bang. As space contracts, photons gain energy at the expense of the gravitational field, so the universe ends up hotter than when it started. No true cycle could develop; the model requires an ultimate beginning as surely as the one-time big bang does. The...

Scientific American : [Feature Article] : The Big Bang: Wit or Wisdom?
02/18/2001 Feature Article Astronomy star, planet, galaxy, solar system WONDERS Philip and Phylis Morrison review the way the universe came into existence and how it continues to evolve. At the peak of the cosmic inferno, there was an abrupt failure of physical theory. 18-FEB-01 No cosmological concept is as widely known as the big bang: from a state ...

Scientific American : [Feature Article] : Making Sense of Modern Cosmology
01/18/2001 Making Sense of Modern Cosmology Feature Article Astronomy star, planet, galaxy, solar system Confused by all those theories? Good Report Card For Major Theories Our framework for the big bang theory is braced tightly enough to...

Scientific American : [News] : New Results Add Support to Hot Big Bang Theory
05/25/2001 New Results Add Support to Hot Big Bang Theory News Astronomy star, planet, galaxy, solar system 25-MAY-01 Despite repeated challenges from renegade theories, the big bang model of our cosmic origins remains the most convincing: it posits that the universe began in a violent explosion, creating a world filled with hot, fluidlike plasma that only later cooled as it expanded. For decades scientists have expected to be able to detect acoustic oscillations, or "waves," that pulsed through this...

Scientific American : [LinkPage] : First String
02/11/2002 First String LinkPage Physics newton, quantum, relativity, high energy, particle 11-FEB-02 Image: Courtesy of John M. PierreSTRINGS live in a 10-dimensional spacetime, which requires that every point in our four-dimensional universe is associated with a tiny ball of six-dimensional space. These tiny dimensions ...