Related papers: The Warped Science of Interstellar
It goes without saying that we are stuck with the universe we have. Nevertheless, we would like to go beyond simply describing our observed universe, and try to understand why it is that way rather than some other way. Physicists and…
Interacting galaxies are a natural arena for studies of non-equilibrium stellar dynamics, gas dynamics, and thermodynamics. Only galaxy formation itself is as deeply concerned with as many different aspects of dynamics, and the connection…
The disciplines of asteroseismology and extrasolar planet science overlap methodically in the branch of high-precision photometric time series observations. Light curves are, amongst others, useful to measure intrinsic stellar variability…
Long tails and streams of stars are the most noticeable upshots of galaxy collisions. Their origin as gravitational, tidal, disturbances has however been recognized only less than fifty years ago and more than ten years after their first…
We now know that the outer solar system is host to at least six diverse planetary ring systems, each of which is a scientifically compelling target with the potential to inform us about the evolution, history and even the internal structure…
Circumstellar disks are an integral part of the star formation process and the sites where planets are formed. Understanding the physical processes that drive their evolution, as disks evolve from optically thick to optically thin, is…
We describe how cosmology has converged towards a beautiful model of the Universe: the Big Bang Universe. We praise this model, but show there is a dark side to it. This dark side is usually called ``the cosmological problems'': a set of…
Understanding the matter cycle in the interstellar medium of galaxies from the assembly of clouds to star formation and stellar feedback remains an important and exciting field in comtemporary astrophysics. Many open questions regarding…
An introductory account is given of the modern understanding of the physics of the early Universe. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradigm of cosmological inflation, which postulates a period of accelerated expansion during the…
This paper outlines astrophysical issues related to the long term fate of the universe. We consider the evolution of planets, stars, stellar populations, galaxies, and the universe itself over time scales which greatly exceed the current…
Our understanding of space and time is probed to its depths by black holes. These objects, which appear as a natural consequence of general relativity, provide a powerful analytical tool able to examine macroscopic and microscopic…
Galaxy formation is at the heart of our understanding of cosmic evolution. Although there is a consensus that galaxies emerged from the expanding matter background by gravitational instability of primordial fluctuations, a number of…
The stellar astronomy has always been considered the fundamental source of knowledge about the basic building blocks of the universe - the stars. It has proved correctness of many physical theories - like e.g. the idea of nuclear fusion in…
In this short paper, we conjecture a correspondence between the creation of the universe in entangled pairs and eternal black holes. We shall see that this correspondence will restore the matter-antimatter asymmetry at the beginning of the…
In this paper, we suppose that the universe has an information processing layer, which coveys the informational contents accompanying the physical events. In this manner, universe is considered to be composed of several associative layers…
Cepheid stars are crucial objects for a variety of topics that range from stellar pulsation and the evolution of intermediate-mass stars to the understanding the structure of the Galaxy and the Universe through the distance measurements…
With the availability of nice images and amazing, dramatic stories, the fundamental questions it addresses, and the attraction is exerces on many, it is often assumed that astronomy is an obvious topic for the media. Looking more carefully,…
I will try to put the ultraluminous galaxy phenomenon into a broad cosmological context. Viewed from this perspective, the significance of ultraluminous galaxies and the `starburst vs. monster' debate becomes clear. Ultraluminous galaxies…
The problem of explaining the acceleration of the expansion of the universe and the observational and theoretical difficulties associated with dark matter and dark energy are discussed. The possibility that GR does not correctly describe…
In an age of media saturation, how can astronomers succeed in grabbing the public's attention to increase awareness and understanding of astronomy? Here I discuss some creative alternatives to press releases, public lectures, television…