Cosmo-media

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36 discussions

the shape of the universe (fwd)
by Boud Roukema 17 Feb '06

17 Feb '06

hi everyone, We have a media question :). i don't want to spam people, so anyone interested, please respond on cosmo-media@ ... rather than cosmo-torun. Below are my proposed "compact" answers. Any corrections before i respond "officially"? Remember the number one rule of the dependent media: "anything you say may and will be misquoted against you". Which is why having this on the cosmo-media archive will at least, in principle, provide some defence... i don't know what time frame the journalist has in mind - but presumably the sooner the better for any answers. IMHO probably a day or two should be OK. pozdr boud > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:38:49 +0100 > From: t.rozek at fz-juelich.de > To: boud at astro.uni.torun.pl > Subject: the shape of the universe > > Dear Sir, > > I'm a physicist and scientific writer. Within the new project of Axel Springer publishing house (editor of Newsweek in Poland and Die Welt in Germany) in Poland I would like to invite you to the discussion about the shape of the universe. > > As I know scientific group you are the leader, in 2004 went public with the information that in the microwave background radiation picture there are some indications, that our universe has a shape of dodecahedron. > > Questions I'm asking you are the same like these I have sent to other expert in this field. I will not hide, that his opinion about the shape of the universe is different than your. > > I will be pleased to get from you compact answers to questions which are listed below. Please keep in mind that new Axel Springer daily will be addressed to nonspecialists in physics or astronomy. > > Let me thank you in advance for time you will spend to answer my questions. I'm looking forward to your respond. > > With the best regards > Tomasz Rozek ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Questions: > 1. Analysis of the microwave background radiation are the only way > - I guess - to collect information about the shape of the > universe. Isn't it risky to draw conclusions resulting from only one > experiment ? Yes, it is risky to draw conclusions from only one experiment. We expect other scientists to read our paper carefully and make their own analyses of microwave background and other data. The most independent test of our work will be testing the prediction that the average, total density parameter of the Universe, including ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy together, should be about 0.9% to 1.1% higher than the density which would make the Universe perfectly flat ("flat" means that Pythagoras' Theorem is true). This type of test is highly independent of our analysis method. > 2. Why this is commonly believed, that data from WMAP probe, brought > down the concept of flat and infinite universe ? The flat and infinite universe model is still consistent with the WMAP data. It is not the best model, but it is still consistent with the data and most observational cosmologists still take it as the best approximation we have. Please remember, however, that no theoretical cosmologists take the flat and infinite model as a serious model of the entire Universe - it is only treated as a limiting case inside the observable sphere. > 3. There are many ideas concerning the shape of the universe. Maybe > it is like a sphere, cylinder, funnel, but it can also be like bell, > horn or dodecahedron. Why do you claim that space is > dodecahedron-like ? We don't. The first misunderstanding is that "shape" means the shape of *space itself*, not the shape of *space inside of space*. Our intuition is developed to think of objects inside of three-dimensional, Euclidean, infinite space. In order to understand what is meant by the shape of the Universe, you first need to develop a method of thinking about the shape of space itself. A good place to start would be http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ksztalt_Wszechswiata . One example of a shape of space itself is a space with the name "Poincare dodecahedral space" (PDS). One "ordinary" shape, inside of space, which helps to think about the PDS, is the dodecahedron. The second misunderstanding is that so far our group only claims to have a "hint" of that the shape of space is the PDS. Our analysis follows that by Jean-Pierre Luminet's group. Ralf Aurich's group and Jesper Gundermann have also found similar (though not exactly identical) results. > 4. What are the errors or defects of the idea of horn-like space ? None as far as I am aware of. > 5. Could you in the very easy way explain the expression, that space > has a shape ? Imagine that space only has two dimensions, instead of three. Now we can use our existing intuition about three-dimensional space to imagine many different possible two-dimensional spaces inside of three-dimensional space. In this way, we use one dimension as a purely psychological dimension. It's used by our brain, but has no physical meaning for the two-dimensional space we're thinking about. Of course, real space has three dimensions (we can ignore the time dimension for discussion of "the shape of space"), so if you can now start thinking in four dimensions, then you can use the fourth dimension as a psychological dimension and think of differently shaped spaces, each having three dimensions. > 6. Do efforts to establish a shape of the universe have any > practical meaning or you are doing that just to know ? Both. It is practical to know the shape of a footpath or a tree or a mountain or an atom or a molecule, so it is practical to know the shape of the Universe. But it is also good to knowing the shape of a work of Picasso or a beautiful woman or man, even if this has no practical use. > 7. Did universe have a beginning, and ones will have the end ? The standard hot big bang model is very well established, and this model has a limiting time we can call "time equals zero". If we start today and think backwards towards "time equals zero", then our model of the Universe becomes more and more speculative as we get towards "time equals zero". So it is more realistic to say that we have a standard model which goes *towards* having a beginning rather than saying the Universe actually "had" a beginning. However, theoretical cosmologists have some ideas of universe models extending earlier than "time equals zero". ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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stuff for a film for the EU commission or something similar
by Boud Roukema 12 Dec '05

12 Dec '05

media stuff > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 15:35:17 +0100 (CET) > From: Boud Roukema <... > To: Eugeniusz Pazderski <... > Subject: stuff for a film for the EU commission or something similar > > The WMAP observations of the cosmic microwave background suggest that > the shape of the Universe is that of the Poincare dodecahedral space. > The red and blue curves show the location and amplitude of temperature > fluctuations in nearly opposite parts of the sky. As expected by the > hypothesis, these temperature fluctuations seem to have nearly equal > values, even though they come from oppose parts of the sky. Should be: values, even though they come from opposite parts of the sky. > > For more information, see Roukema, Lew, Cechowska, Marecki & Bajtlik, > 2004, "A hint of Poincare dodecahedral topology in the WMAP first year > sky map, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 423, 821 the picture is here: http://cosmo.torun.pl/twiki/pub/Cosmo/OswiadczeniePrasoweDodekahedron/dodec… pozdr boud

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Non-Profit Organization Debt Consolidation
by Cody Shook 15 Jun '05

15 Jun '05

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{Virus?} report
by degree-info＠ucl.ac.uk 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

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juz GazWyb publikowal...
by Boud Roukema 25 May '04

25 May '04

GazWyb nie czekał dla my... http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/nauka/1,34148,2086156.html szybka reakcja: oprócz błęd w moje imię, chyba nie jest złe. (dzięki do Magdę dla uwagi!) pozdr boud

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festiwal nauki (fwd)
by Boud Roukema 16 Apr '04

16 Apr '04

hi i propose we use cosmo-media to discuss festival nauki so as not to spam people. Kiedy spotkać? Boud/Bartek/Andrzej/Magda + ktokolwiek kto interesuje się piątek 16 kw. 14.00g @radiofizyki może byc? pozdr boud szybko odpowiedź do bartka: pamiętamy że potrzeba być na poziom *bardzo* pedagogiczny. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 14:12:45 +0200 (MET DST) > From: Bartosz Lew <blew at astro.uni.torun.pl> > To: Andrzej Marecki <amr at astro.uni.torun.pl>, > Boud Roukema <boud at astro.uni.torun.pl> > Subject: festiwal nauki hi. I write regarging 'restiwal nauki' to shere my point of view which I'm going to argue in due time, so that you - my opponents/or not/ could know what is going to happen, suggest some ohter concepts and wite your agrumantations - to obtain the general overview of the speach, time shering etc. There is still some time, so it's not that urgent, but I thing it's a good idea to keep in mind the big picture of it in advance and to synchronize and fine tune three of us. Below I put my general argumentation in points in polish - sorry Boud but since this is to be in polish, I didn't translate my notes. But I can put it into english if you find it hard to keep up fast for discussion. There are also some technical issues to discuss like about the presentaitons - big one or three separate, or maebe yet another number. I heard something about two projectors. what do you thing of it ? -------------------------------------------------------- opis - http://adjani.astro.uni.torun.pl/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Cosmo/FestiwalNauki2004 argumenty antyglobalistyczne by Bartek - najnowsze i najlepsze obserwacje CMBR - WMAP wskazuja na to ze wszechswiat jest prawie idealnie plaski - plaski z odkladnoscia do bledow pomiarowych - jest to znany w kosmologii problem plaskosci wszechswiata - nie ma naturalnych narzucajacych sie fizycznych przeslanek za tym zeby wszechswiat takim wlasnie mial byc inflacja w elegancki sposob usuwa ten problem poprzez wprowadzenie eksponencjalnej ekspansji na bardzo wczesnych etapach ewolucji wszechswiata - problem plaskosci wszechswiata (ogolne przedstawienie problemu i pokazanie jak inflacja go rozwiazuje albo raczej usuwa) - co wiecej obecnie obserwowane stuktury wielkoslakowe we wszechswiecie wydaje sie ze pozostaja w zgodnosci ze modelami komputerowymi (jak np VIRGO) jesali zalorzy sie warunki poczatkowe takie jakie w naturalny sposob wprowadza inflacja - adjabatyczne fluktuacje gaussowskie o przypadkowym rozkaladzie faz we fluktuacjach CMBR ktore sa sladem poczatkowych fluktuacji materii z ktorych nastepnie wskutek niestabilnosci grawitacyjnej uformowaly sie najwieksze struktury ktore mozemy dzisiaj obserwowac. - dodatkowo obserwacje tego samego CMBR pozostaje w zgodzie z zakladanym obecnie skladem wszechsiwata w ktorym ok 70 % gestosci reprezentowane jest przez pewna tajemnicza forme ciemnej energii - o dodatniej gestosci i ujemynm cisnieniu ktore przyspiesza ekspancje wszechswiata dokladnie tak jak w pustym modelu de-Sittera w ktorym ekspansja jest eksponencjalna dokladnie tak jak w przypadku inflacji - takwiec tak czy z inflacja czy bez niej i tak mamy problem z wyjasnieniem przyspieszonej ekspansji teraz czy na bardzo wczesnych etapach ewolucji wszechswiata. Byc moze wyjasnienie obu tych zjawisk ma swoje zrodlo ogolnie w czyms co mozna nazwac DE. - problem horyzontu w kosmologii (ogolne przedstawienie problemu - czemu jest problem i jak inflacja znowu go usuwa) - brak wyraznego piku w widmie mocy na rozmiarach katowych odpowiadajacych rozmiarom horyzontu czastek w czasie ostatniego rozproszenia. - problem entropii ( problem ewolucji entropii wszechswiata - o tym jeszcze dopisze - ale musze powtorzyc) - problem monopoli iinn. egzotycznych czastek ktorych nigdy nie wykryto a powinny instniec - ...+ morze jeszcze cos co mi wpadnie do glowy te argumenty sprowadzaja sie do agrumentow przemawiajacych za inflacja - bo strategia jest taka zeby pokazac ze jesli byla inflacja to nie widac calego wszechswiata :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- pozdr bartek

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festiwal (fwd)
by Boud Roukema 16 Apr '04

16 Apr '04

bartek, you forgot to cc: to magda. IMHO using cosmo-media at adjani.astro.uni.torun.pl is easier ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 21:02:29 +0200 (MET DST) > From: Bartosz Lew <blew at astro.uni.torun.pl> > To: Boud Roukema <boud at astro.uni.torun.pl>, > Andrzej Marecki <amr at astro.uni.torun.pl> > Subject: festiwal this is my general scheme of what I think the presentation could look like. please consider what else possibly could go in or out in the shedule, and who could say which part. THE GENERAL POINTS TO CONSIDER (version more general) 1) the topology can be non-trivial independently of the curvature of the univ. - general explanation what this is all about - "small universe" with topology - "big universe" without it (10 min) 2) what are the prospects for the topology to be ever detected (detectable) and approaches of doing that. - how can topology be detected (2-d, 3-d etc...) (10 min) - what are the limits of detection for selected approaches (CMBR (z=1000), quasars (z=3-6), gallaxies (z<1)) limits on a size of a fundamental domain (depending on a size of a the horizon which depends on W_tot) (10 min) 3) inflation as, by all means desired (why?), an mechanism of flattening the universe that makes many groups of topologies (in near flat spherical/hyperbolical models) undetectable - why inflation is needed (from cosmological/particle physics point of view) (10 min) - what are observational predictions of inflationary models (adiabacity, gaussianity, flatness, ..) (5 min) - how changing curvature radius makes topologies undetectable (and what injec. radii are already ruled out). (5 min) 4) what is more needed - inflation or topology - to make the model fit to the observations. sum: 50 min + 10 min in reserve

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Re: Article for New Scientist magazine
by Boud Roukema 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

Dear Hazel, I (and i expect my colleagues too) would be most happy to answer your questions regarding our article, but it would be best by email to our mailing list (cosmo-media at adjani.astro.uni.torun.pl) - i am one of the subscribers to this list. If you simply reply to this email, the automatic Reply-To: address is most likely to handle this correctly. If you email questions mid-morning tomorrow (Fri), i expect i should be able to answer them during the afternoon. Best wishes, Boud ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PS: To Andrzej, Bartek, Gary, Jarek: i cannot quote the content of Hazel's message, because that would a strictly prohibited, extremely dangerous criminal action, apparently, similar to actions by terrorists like Ossam bin Laden, Blair, Bush, ... ;) i guess mini-dictators at all levels of society (even New Scientist!) are getting as desperate to keep information secret and frighten people as the Communist Party was in the 1980's... On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 Hazel.Muir(a)rbi.co.uk wrote: > r============================ DISCLAIMER ============================= > This message is intended only for the use of the person(s) > (\"Intended Recipient\") to whom it is addressed. It may contain > information, which is privileged and confidential. Accordingly > any dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of this > message or any of its content by any person other than the Intended > Recipient may constitute a breach of civil or criminal law and is > strictly prohibited. If you are not the Intended Recipient, please > contact the sender as soon as possible. > > Reed Business Information Ltd. and its subsidiary companies > Tel: +44 (0)20 8652 3500 > > ======================================================================= i haven't disseminated, distributed nor copied the message or its content, so hopefully i won't be put in prison.

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test
by Boud Roukema 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

does cosmo-media@ adjani work?

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shifting cosmo-media to mailman
by Boud Roukema 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

witam, i'd like to shift cosmo-media from sympa@newton to mailman@adjani, so that it can be more easily opened up to non-subscribers without risking too much spam. i'll probably do this tomorrow Thurs afternoon unless there are objections - you will probably get some introduction messages from mailman saying you've been subscribed, welcome to the list etc. pozd boud

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