Measuring Spacetime: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
Max Tegmark
Space is not a boring static stage on which events
unfold over time, but a dynamic entity with curvature, fluctuations,
and a rich life of its own. Spectacular measurements of the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing, type Ia supernovae, large-scale structure, spectra of the Lyman
forest, stellar dynamics, and x-ray binaries are probing the properties of spacetime over 22 orders of magnitude in scale. Current measurements are consistent with an infinite flat everlasting universe containing about
30% cold dark matter, 65% dark energy, and at least two distinct
populations of black holes.
Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA 19104, USA. E-mail: max{at}physics.upenn.edu