by Thorne, Kip
Kip’s discussions with Christopher Nolan about what the equation should be, 9, 213
and the Professor’s struggle to understand gravity, 213–220
and controlling gravity’s strength, so as to lift colonies off Earth, 212, 221, 223, 263, 273–274
specific form of the equation, 220
explanation of equation, 220–221
solving the equation—what that means, 221
iterations in solving the equation, 221–222, 221
quantum data, see quantum gravity data
quantum fluctuations, 28–29, 155–156, 197, 223–225, 268, 273, 287
quantum foam, 134–135, 224–225
quantum gravity data
what these data are, 224–225
encoded in the singularities inside a black hole, 225–227
extracting them from a singularity, 170, 223, 266
quantum gravity, see laws of physics, quantum gravity laws
quantum physics, see laws of physics, quantum laws
quasars:
discovery of, 88–89
explanation by black-hole accretion disk, 89–91
jets powered by whirling magnetic fields, 91–92
revolutions that upend scientific truth, 24, 202
rocket technology:
twenty-first century, 68, 117
far future, 117–120
science:
the power of, for humans, 275
the importance of understanding science, its power and its limitations, 275
truth, educated guess, and speculation in, 30–34
science fiction:
contrast with science fantasy, 62
respectability in, 246–247
singularities:
what a singularity is, 225–226
as the domain of quantum gravity, 49, 225–227
naked singularities, 59, 227–230
inside black holes, see singularities inside black holes
singularities inside black holes:
the chaotic, lethal BKL singularity, 230–231, 246
the infalling (mass-inflation) singularity, 232–233, 246, 248–249
the outflying (shock) singularity, 233–234, 246, 248–249
“gentleness” of infalling and outflying singularities, 234, 246–247
Cooper sandwiched between singularities in Interstellar, 248–249
slingshots, see gravitational slingshots
solar system, 20–21, 21, 71, 71
solving gravity, see Professor Brand’s equation
space colonies, 273–275, 290
spacetime:
unification (mixing) of space and time, 185–186
causal structure of, 297–298
warping of, see warped spacetime
space warps, see warped spacetime
stars:
nearest, 115–117
Tau Ceti, 115–117
Proxima Centauri, 21, 116–117, 120
torn apart by black holes, 93–94, 148–149
Sun, 20–21, 20
space warped around, 37–39, 47, 32, 39
tidal forces of, 43
temperature of, 94
gravitational force of, and planetary orbits, 194–195, 202
particles flying out from, 24–25
superstring theory, 30, 187–188, 187, 284
tendex lines, 41–44, 41, 151–153, 151, 152, 153, 164–165, 165, 209–211, 209, 210, 214–216, 214, 215; see also tidal gravity
tesseract:
as a hypercube in a space with four dimensions, 253, 253
as a means of transport through the bulk, 34, 193, 196–197, 200–201
in the novel A Wrinkle in Time, 289
tesseract, in Interstellar:
saves Cooper from singularity, 251, 252
entrance to, 252
transports Cooper to vicinity of Murph’s bedroom, 254–255
Cooper sees six views into bedroom, 256–257
Cooper sends signals backward in time to Murph, via the tesseract, 263–266, 270–271, 297–298
see also tesseract, Nolan’s complexified
tesseract, Nolan’s complexified
images from Interstellar, 257, 261, 265
Christopher Nolan’s hand drawing of, 259
Kip’s explanation of, 256–261, 265–266, 270–271
sending messages backward in bedroom time, 263–266, 270–271, 297–298
Thorne, Kip, see Kip Thorne
tidal bores, 166, 167
tidal field, see tendex lines; tidal gravity
tidal forces, see tendex lines; tidal gravity
tidal gravity:
instruments to measure, 209–211, 210
Newton’s viewpoint, 42–43
and straightest paths through warped spacetime, 41, 44, 278
tendex viewpoint, 41–44
and ocean tides on Earth, 42–43
and gravitational waves, 151–153
on Jupiter’s moon Io, 168
on Miller’s planet, 58, 163–166, 284, 292
tears stars apart, 93–94, 148–149, 280
squeezes accretion disk, 98
and design of the Endurance, 180–181
pries Endurance apart from Mann’s planet, 237–238, 238
and gravitational anomalies, 213–216
near singularities, 231–233, 251
see also tendex lines
tides:
on Earth’s oceans, 42–43
on Miller’s planet, 163, 166
time travel:
what we know about, without a bulk, 266–269
with a bulk, 269
in Interstellar:
Christopher Nolan’s rule set for, 263
messaging Murph backward in time, 263–266, 265, 270–271, 270, 289–290, 297–298, 298
time warps, see time warps, Einstein’s law of; warped spacetime
time warps, Einstein’s law of, 35–37, 291
applications of, 47, 139, 162, 267
toxins, 108
truth, educated guess, and speculation in science, 30–34
tsunamis:
on Earth, 167, 274–275
on Miller’s planet, 166
universe, our:
overview of, 17–26, 277
laws that control it, 27–34; see also laws of physics
as a brane in a higher-dimensional bulk, 32, 187–188; see also branes
Viking spacecraft, 38–39
volcano’s rim, see critical orbit around a black hole
Vulcan, 203, 285
warped side of the universe, 154, 283; see also big-bang origin of our universe; black holes; geometrodynamics; gravitational waves; wormholes
warped spacetime, 35–41
space warps, 37–41
time warps, 35–37
underlies Einstein’s relativistic laws, 28–29
and tidal gravity, 41
whirling space, 48-49; see also black holes, whirl of space near
warping begets warping, 46–47
around black hole, precise depiction, 49
white dwarfs, 21–22
wormhole in Interstellar:
visual appearance, 145
visualization of, by Double Negative visual-effects team, 138–145
gravitational pull and time warping, 138–139
handles for its shape: radius, length, and lensing width, 139–140
influence of handles on its appearance, 140–144
gravitational lensing by, 142–145
discov
ering the wormhole by gravitational waves: my extrapolation, 146–151
bulk fields hold it open, in my interpretation, 218–219
see also wormholes
wormholes:
how they got their name, 127
mouths, 133
some history of research on, 128–129, 130–132
almost certainly do not occur naturally, 133–135
perhaps forbidden by laws of physics, 136–137
problem of holding them open, 129–130, 218, 218
problem of making them artificially, 135–136
in Contact (the movie), 130–132
Flamm’s wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge), 128–130
as seen from the bulk, 128, 129, 131
visualizing via gravitational lensing, 138–144
visual appearance, 132–133, 133, 141, 143, 145
microscopic wormholes (quantum foam), 134–135, 134, 224–225, 225, 287
see also wormhole in Interstellar
ALSO BY KIP THORNE
The Future of Spacetime (with Stephen W. Hawking, Igor Novikov, Timothy Ferris, Alan Lightman, and Richard H. Price)
Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy
Black Holes: The Membrane Paradigm (with Richard H. Price and Douglas A. MacDonald)
Gravitation (with Charles W. Misner and John Archibald Wheeler)
Gravitation Theory and Gravitational Collapse (with B. Kent Harrison, Masami Wakano, and John Archibald Wheeler)
Copyright © 2014 Itzy
Text © Kip Thorne
Foreword copyright © 2014 by Christopher Nolan
Film © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
INTERSTELLAR and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
WB SHIELD: TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
The following images from the book are included with permission from Warner Bros.: Figures 1.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 5.6, 8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.7, 9.9, 9.10, 9.11, 11.1, 14.9, 15.2, 15.4, 15.5, 17.5, 17.9, 18.1, 19.2, 19.3, 20.1, 20.2, 24.5, 25.1, 25.7, 25.8, 25.9, 27.8, 28.3, 29.8, 29.14, 30.1, and 31.1. Images © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
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ISBN 978-0-393-35137-8
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