cosmology

Is the Universe finite, with an edge, or infinite, with no edges? Or is it even stranger: finite but with no edges? It sounds far-fetched but the mathematical theory of topology makes it possible, and nobody yet knows the truth. Janna Levin tells us more.

Tags: cosmology : compact universe : connectedness : Möbius strip : klein bottle : tiling : curvature

Tags: gravity : cosmology : dark matter : lens

Tags: cosmology : group theory : higgs boson : wave-particle duality : cosmological inflation : particle collider : tau neutrino : Higgs field : standard model

What's the mysterious stuff that makes up 70% of our Universe?

Tags: cosmology : Big Bang : dark energy : cosmological constant : expansion of the universe

Tags: cosmology : supercomputer

One of the many strange ideas from quantum mechanics is that space isn't continuous but consists of tiny chunks. Ordinary geometry is useless when it comes to dealing with such a space, but algebra makes it possible to come up with a model of spacetime that might do the trick. And it can all be tested by a satellite. Shahn Majid met up with Plus to explain.

Tags: cosmology : astronomy : geometry : quantum mechanics : general relativity : relativity : non-commutative geometry : spacetime : quantum uncertainty : higgs boson

Was Einstein right?

Tags: cosmology : physics : Einstein : cosmological inflation

There might not be a Nobel Prize for mathematics, but maths is at the heart of the 2006 Nobel Prizes.

Tags: cosmology : Nobel prize : Big Bang : economics : cosmic microwave background radiation : cmb

Nurturing the future of observational cosmology

Tags: cosmology : string theory : m-theory

Plus is very proud to present Professor Stephen Hawking's own Birthday Symposium address.

Tags: gravity : cosmology : black hole : Big Bang : string theory : m-theory : entropy : general relativity : relativity : inflation : singularity theory : Cauchy surface : cosmic censorship : quantum gravity

This issue of Plus is a special, marking the occasion of Stephen Hawking's 60th birthday. Plus attended his Birthday Conference in Cambridge, where we interviewed some of the world's most influential mathematicians and physicists.

Tags: gravity : cosmology : curvature of space : Grand Unified Theory : black hole : Big Bang : quantum mechanics : general relativity : relativity : time travel : wormhole

Scientists have for the first time measured the speed of gravity and tested Einstein's assumption - or have they?

Tags: gravity : cosmology : Newtonian mechanics : general relativity : gravitational lensing : relativity : gravitational wave

Find out if the unchanginge features of the Universe really are unchanging

Tags: gravity : cosmology : speed of light : astronomy : constant of nature : fine structure constant

One of science's biggest prizes awarded for research into strings and knots

Tags: cosmology : Poincare Conjecture : topology : string theory : knot theory

Cambridge celebrates 25 years since the first very early Universe workshop

Tags: cosmology : geometry : Big Bang : relativity : cosmic microwave background radiation : theory of inflation

And what are gravitational waves?

Tags: gravity : cosmology : astronomy : gravitational wave detector : black hole : general relativity : Einstein : Newton : special relativity : gravitational wave